Plum Hollow/Studyville/Dutch Hollow/Green Hollow/Fremont City ~ Used with permission of Brigham Young University and the 'Winter Quarters Project'.

INTRODUCTION

It is a little-known fact that the Mormon exodus occurred in two parts, namely the journey from Nauvoo to the Missouri River and the subsequent journey to the Salt Lake Valley. These two journeys comprise the entirety of the Mormon Trail. However, a common emphasis on just the journey’s completion with historiography engulfs the realities of the early exodus. The destined blossoming of the desert Salt Lake Valley has grown to dominate the trek story throughout the years, while the early trials and struggles of Iowa are forgotten. Yet the early Iowa trek contains a powerful reminder of the challenges that LDS migrants faced, challenges that perhaps later enabled the blossoming of the Salt Lake desert. Moreover, it reveals that while many of these challenges faced were physical, perhaps the most difficult to overcome was the constant irregularity of family security and safety.

The first groups of LDS Church members to leave Nauvoo, including Brigham Young’s Camp of Israel, began arriving at the Missouri River on June 14 (1), much later than anticipated and wholly unprepared for the second wave that left Nauvoo after them. This second group of almost 10,000 people began their journey in the spring months of April, May and June, and they followed a different route from the Camp of Israel. As a result, many of them arrived at the Missouri River at the same time as Young (2). As migrants poured into western Iowa, it became evident that a larger site would be needed for winter. Parties were dispatched to seek large campsites, and several were considered between July and September (3). In many ways adding to the confusion, the famous Mormon Battalion was mustered on July 13, 1846, with 559 LDS men joining the longest infantry march in United States military history (4). In September, the Winter Quarters site was finally announced, a stretch of low, wet land along the banks of the Missouri River (5).

Upon reaching the Missouri River, many Church members realized they could not currently finish the journey to the Salt Lake Valley. For some it was impossible to buy the necessary supplies and equipment (6). Mob violence in both Missouri and Nauvoo had shorn them of their means, and they would have to earn money in order to continue their trek west. Coupled with this was the murky difficulty of reconciling the doctrine of plural marriage (7). These two factors, along with many others personal to each situation, drove many members to create their own family-based settlements separate from Winter Quarters, spurring a haphazard opening of Western Iowa. Many of these small and far-flung settlements became the first of future Iowa Counties. Surviving records of these settlements are meager, but they do establish that the first non-native settlements in Fremont County, Iowa were established in the mid-1840s (8). Driven by family ties and commitment, Plum Hollow and several other communities in the Plum Hollow area were settled by migrant LDS church members in and around the year 1846. The story of these settlements is a reminder of the value Western-American migrants placed on family security and prosperity.

The following was taken from an email received by David Forney, family historian and direct descendant of John Forney and Mary M Benner, correcting and adding details to the history of these families. It serves as a wonderful addition to this website:

"In an attempt to identify the first member of these families to become members of the LDS church, I believe you will find the first member was Elias Benner. Elias was the third child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman. He was the younger brother of Mary M. Benner who apparently married David C Study after the death of her first husband John Forney. Mary M. Benner was the first child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman. The third child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman was Barbara Benner who married John Study.

"Elias Benner was born June 05, 1795 most likely in Maryland on land that was in dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Elias joined the march of Zion's Camp 11 May 1834 at the age of 39.

"Source: “Sunday 11.—Elder Sylvester Smith preached, and the company received the Sacrament of bread and wine. Here we were increased in number by eight brethren, in company of Elder Elias Benner, from Richland and Stark counties, most of whom were Germans” Volume 2, Chapter 5, Page 66, History of the Church (BYU Studies).

"You will note he is by that date described as an “Elder” although my information indicates he received his license at Kirtland March 31, 1836.

"According to the 1820 Federal Census for Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio Elias Benner lived next door to John Forney who was then married to Mary M. Benner, Elias’s older sister. Elias was also married at this time to Mary Clapper daughter of Mathias Clapper and Mary King. The Study family was not located with the family group above in fact they lived in Richland County, Ohio. The Study Family was in the company of the Forney, Benner Ettleman and Clapper’s in Maryland and Bedford County, Pennsylvania prior to moving to Ohio.

"In the company of Elias Benner on the march of Zion's Camp 11 May 1834 was Frederick Forney age 21, Philip Ettleman age 43, and Henry Benner age 34. Frederick Forney was almost certainly the first member of the Forney family to become a member of the LDS Church. George Forney of whom you reference at the time was only 14 years of age when his older brother Frederic departed on the march of Zion's Camp.

"Elias Benner’s wife Mary Clapper died June 15, 1830 in the same year he married Christina Cramer. Elias died October 30, 1838, killed by mob at Haun's Mill.

"David C Study married first Betsy Griffin on August 24, 1820, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. She was the daughter of George Griffin. They were married by the Presbyterian Minister - James Morrison.

"David C Study was the son of Mathias Christian Study and Margaret Long. Mathias went by the names of Mathias, Christian and MC Study. Mathias Christian Study was a minister of a German Reformed and Lutheran Church located at Rural Route 3, Little Cove, in Warren Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania known as the “Study Stone Church”. This Church is still standing and Mathias Christian Study is buried there.

"David C Study no doubt received land from his father, as Mathias Christian Study and David C Study are listed in the Pennsylvania, Septennial Census in 1821. Mathias Christian Study and John Study are listed in the 1814 Pennsylvania, Septennial Census. John Study is listed in the 1820 Federal census for Jefferson, Richland County, Ohio, married with two male children living in the home under the age of 10. John Study was of course married to Barbara Benner sister of Elias Benner. Elias Benner is also listed in the 1820 census however living in Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, in the same location as his older sister Mary M Benner and her husband John Forney.

"There is no doubt that David C Study knew Mary M Benner and his then sister in law Barbara Benner when he returned to in Warren Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania from Virginia from his participation in the War of 1812. I would also concur that although he may have supported the Benner family with regard to their association with the LDS Church he was probably not a member.

"By the time they reached Fremont County Mary M Benner (Forney/Study) was the matriarch of the Benner and Forney families and her connection to the LDS Church would have constituted her as being the most influential and the foundational center of the group of five families in Fremont County. It is still unclear if John Forney, the first husband of Mary M Benner was in fact instrumental in the family association with the LDS Church however it is quite possible. He followed the Mormon migration to Ray County Missouri where he purchased land. From there he moved to Hancock County, Illinois, not far from Nauvoo, he died there on September 10, 1841. His death may well be a result of the violence aimed at the Mormons in that area. In his Will he named his wife as sole executrix, certainly a testament to her strength and will. The Mormon community was a close knit group and the two witnesses to his Will dated July 15, 1841 were known members of the LDS Church, Philip Ballard(1) and George Benner son of Elias Benner

"(1) Page 115; Author: Church of Jesus Christ; Title: Claims presented against the state of Missouri for losses of property, 1839; Page 120; Author: Church of Jesus Christ; Title: History of the Church, 6 volumes. 3:253; Page 166; Author: Platt, Lyman D. ; Title: Nauvoo, 1839-1846. 1:146; 2:(176, Page 198; Author: Hancock County; Title: 1842 Tax List of Hancock County. ); Page 179; Author: U. S. Government; Title: Pottawattamie County, Iowa 1850 Census, 35

"I can assure you that although some members of the five families continued on to Salt Lake, the issue of plural marriage divided the family. Some returned to Fremont County as they could not abide plural marriage. Most that returned became what I understand were called RLDS.

"I am a direct descendent of John Forney and Mary M Benner through their son Jacob Forney, his son Aaron Henry Forney, his son Jacob William Forney, his son Clifford Leroy Forney.

"David Forney, dforney1949@gmail.com, Tucson, Arizona"

Mr. Forney has kindly permitted us to post this message, as well as his email address for those that may have further questions that this history does not answer.

LOCATION

At the time of its settlement, Plum Hollow was located at the point where Plum Creek flowed through bluffs running between Scott Township and Ross Township (9, 10). One of the earliest LDS settlements in the Middle Missouri valley, Plum Hollow grew slowly, eventually being incorporated as a village 33 years after its initial settlement (11). It is also possible that the original Plum Hollow settlement and several family settlements in Dutch Hollow to the north were made by the same families. The general area was originally settled by the Benner, Study, Forney, Clapper and Ettleman families. Family historian Charles Forney describes them as “so closely connected by both ties of blood and marriage, as to be almost as one family” (12). Unfortunately, the dates of General Land Office land patents belonging to members of these families are not sufficient to show when either place was first settled, and family accounts do not give adequate information to determine this question (13). Abraham Fletcher is often incorrectly credited as the man who created Plum Hollow in 1856, building his residence, opening probably the first store, and serving as the first postmaster. Yet Fletcher had lived in Plum Hollow since 1851, so he could not have been the original founder. It is more likely that Fletcher revitalized the settlement as it was slowly being abandoned by its original inhabitants. He changed the name to Fremont City, seeking to begin anew (14). Eventually, though, even Fletcher would be forgotten, and the village would become known as Thurman (15, 16). Over time, the original settlers of Plum Hollow came to be associated only with the settlements of Dutch Hollow, obscuring the common history of both settlements. For the sake of clarity Plum Hollow will first be examined, followed by a brief discussion of the Dutch Hollow family settlements and finally ending with Abraham Fletcher and Fremont City.

PLUM HOLLOW

John Study married Barbara Benner sometime prior to 1821, when their first child, Catherine Study, was born in Ohio. Their fourth child, Leonard Study, recounts in his personal history that the family moved to Missouri sometime in 1834-1835. Though they barely mention it, the Studys endured difficult circumstances in Missouri. Whether members of the family had already been baptized into the LDS church is not known, but their time in Missouri is definitely associated with Church persecution. Harsh treatment by Mormon-intolerant mobs drove the family from their new home in 1835. John later signed an affidavit in appeal to Congress for losses of $1500 (17). Fortunately the Studys were able to escape to the town of Quincy in Adams County, Illinois, and after a year they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois (18). Having reached Nauvoo and safety at last, the Study family settled into their new home. The two oldest daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, were married during this time, Catherine to George Forney in 1840 and Elizabeth to John Martin Ewell in 1842. John and his brother were both baptized for their deceased father Christian in 1841, and John was baptized further for twelve more deceased relatives (19). Yet the family’s greatest trials began on March 1, 1843, when John Study passed away (20). The murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith little more than a year later plunged the Studys, and all of Nauvoo, back into the flickering torch-light of mob scrutiny. The future of the family was once again tenuous.

Christopher Study’s second son, David C. Study, now came to the aid of his brother’s family, taking Barbara and her children into his home (21). Barbara had an older sister, Mary Benner, who herself shared in their grief, having lost her own husband just two years earlier (22). Taking care of his brother’s family, David naturally came into contact with Mary, and the two were eventually married.

Forney writes that many in the Study family were members of LDS Church (23), and their movements across the Midwest certainly support this claim. Yet the degree of activity for each family member is still questionable. David C. Study in particular lived with his family and first wife in Ripley, Illinois, at least 50 miles from Nauvoo (24). David’s only surviving associations with the LDS Church are an unrecorded marriage to his second wife, Mary Benner Study, and a proxy baptism for his deceased father in 1841. While the baptism shows that David was a member, the unrecorded marriage questions the extent to which he participated in the Mormon religion. To further cast doubt on David’s activity, there is no record of him in Susan E. Black’s Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848. Mary Benner is recorded in Black’s compilation (25), is also mentioned in Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, Nauvoo, 1840-1845 (26), was granted an 1843 land patent in Sonora Township, Hancock County (27), under her married name, Mary Forney (28), and was endowed in the Nauvoo temple on January 31, 1846 (29). Clearly, David C. Study’s second wife was an active member of her faith. And while Mary’s 1843 land patent is a fair distance from Nauvoo, it is unlikely, in the event that she and David were married by 1843, that Mary’s name would be used instead of David’s, especially as Mary chose to use her deceased first husband’s surname (30). The evidence of Mary Benner’s membership in the Church strongly contrasts with the lack of records concerning David C. Study, again questioning the extent of his participation in the LDS Church.

Given his reduced involvement in the Church, it does not seem likely that David was the one who decided the family should follow the Mormons west. Forney’s Five relates that George Forney, David C. Study’s step-son and son-in-law, “was a man of deep religious beliefs . . . [and] helped in the building of the Nauvoo Temple” (31). Now leaving behind that shining monument to his faith, George was willing to continue that sacrifice by following the church to a place of greater safety. George’s biography in Forney’s Five relates that when he left Nauvoo, he and his family “crossed the Mississippi River on the ice” (32), beginning their journey in the late winter month of February. The only group to cross a frozen Mississippi in 1846 was Brigham Young’s advance company, the Camp of Israel (33). Catherine and her husband were definitely members of this group. The second wave of Nauvoo emigrants left Nauvoo during the summer months of April, May and June, when the mighty Mississippi was certainly not frozen (34). Whether the rest of Study family went with George and Catherine is unknown, but given David’s apparent reluctance to be recorded among the Mormons, probably not. In keeping with his family’s safety and wishes to remain together, however, David C. Study eventually followed George. He and those he cared for most likely left Nauvoo in the spring months, perhaps arriving about the same time as George and Catherine (35).

After his arrival at the Missouri River, George, tracking some stray stock in July, encountered country that, “well pleased” him (36). It is not clear when exactly George moved to his new home. Possibly he waited to confer with the entire family to see if they were in agreement. This hesitancy is especially convincing if David C. Study was reluctant to travel west in the first place. Under his familial obligations, George took his proposal slowly, not wanting to seem like he was cutting the elder Study’s family role out from under him, wanting instead to support his step-father/father-in-law. Given the mechanics of the Study family at this time, this idea is certainly plausible. There is, however, one other aspect that supports George’s forbearance, and may be a reason that the families felt to stay together in one place, rather than continue on in their dispersed trek west. Barbara Study’s son-in-law John Martin Ewell, his brother William Fletcher Ewell, future Study son-in-law Simon Dyke, and David Study (son of John and Barbara and nephew of David C. Study), all joined the Mormon Battalion in July of 1846 (37). The sudden dispersal of these family members may have acted to push the remaining family members closer. In reaction to her son’s and son-in-law’s enlistment, Barbara Benner Study and her other son Leonard set out for their old home in Missouri. On their way they stopped at George Forney’s reported land. Leonard, in an effort to make a decision once and for all said, “‘Mother, we will stop here’” (38). For David C. Study, there really wasn’t much choice in where he would anchor the family, whether with the Mormons or not. With the Ewell brothers, David Study and Simon Dyke mustered to Company E of the Mormon Battalion on July 13, 1846 (39), and Barbara leaving to make a point about where her family loyalties lay, David C. Study was forced to follow after her, and accept her and George Forney’s inclinations to settle in Fremont County.

Exactly when in 1846 the rest of the family moved to what is now Plum Hollow is not known, but the original settlers are listed in an 1881 History of Fremont County, “among them D. C. Study, Barbara Study, George Forney, Mrs. John M. Ewell and Mary Ann Dike” (40). On October 19, 1846, a son, George Washington Forney, was born to Catherine and George Forney (41), and the first marriage in Fremont County took place a year later, on October 10, 1847, between Samuel Ettleman and Susan Forney (42). The settlement was strong enough to support these and other events, and soon other family members and friends began arriving in Plum Hollow.

The land claims of the Studys and many of their relatives were solidified and formalized on April 11, 1847, when Congress passed the first of four acts “granting over sixty million acres of public lands to more than a half-million veterans, widows, and heirs” (43), an act which encompassed the budding settlement in Fremont County. Probably the family members that participated in the Mormon Battalion did not specify the location of their land claims until they returned to Iowa, thereafter claiming land near Plum Hollow. But John Study, a son of David C. Study and his first wife, had been a private in Captain Moses’ company ‘D’ of the first regiment of Illinois volunteers (44). He evidently lost his life before reuniting with this family, and in lieu of his son’s death, Mr. Study was given a land warrant which claimed a small piece of land in section 30 of Ross Township. As David C. Study was the head of the family, his plot of land in section 30 can be considered the center of the settlement.

STUDYVILLE

As new and familiar faces alike began settling in Plum Hollow, the core family value of solidarity again began to materialize. This time, however, family connectedness served to push the settling families into isolation, rather than exhibit the previous spirit of consolidation by settlement.

Privates Ewell, Study and Dyke were discharged July 16, 1847, and they immediately began their trek home. Travelling together in a loosely-bound company (45), they walked home by way of Fort Sutter, leaving on August 25 or 26 and arriving in Iowa in October (46), perhaps just in time for the wedding of Samuel Ettleman and Susan Forney. A great friendship had already existed between David Study and the Ettlemans, and he and lifelong friend Mary Ann Ettleman were themselves married on June 28, 1849. Forney’s Five relates that David built his home in Dutch Hollow shortly after his marriage, eventually including an orchard with apple and peach trees (47). It is significant that David built his new home specifically in Dutch Hollow, rather than Plum Hollow. It appears that by this time the founding families of Plum Hollow had distanced themselves from establishing a viable settlement, instead being content to live in vague family-named settlements. David built his home near his family instead of in Plum Hollow perhaps because he agreed with them. He and the other Study family members began to call their home Studyville.

By 1856 a clear distinction existed between Plum Hollow and Studyville. But before this time came, other family settlements began to spring up. The Clappers built their own Clapperville on land very close to the Studys, while Simon Dyke and his family intermittently inhabited the Dyke Settlement. These other family settlements serve to confuse the history of Plum Hollow and Studyville, though they specifically belong in the Dutch Hollow group of settlements with Studyville, their ties being to David C. Study and Barbara Study.

CLAPPERVILLE

On the fringe of the Study clan was the Clapper family. Christian Clapper, his brother Jacob, and sister Christena all lived at one point in Dutch Hollow, specifically in Clapperville. What Charles William Forney claims to be the first half of Christian Clapper’s self-written personal history is included in Forney’s Five. This account is very helpful in tracking his movements, giving dates for his various marriages and telling about his move to the Salt Lake Valley in 1853. Additionally it sheds light on his sibling’s movements. Christian, Jacob and Christena all had ties to the Studyville settlers, though these ties were mostly by marriage and not through direct blood relation. Jacob Clapper married the step-daughter of David C. Study (48), and Christena married Margaret Ettleman’s step-son, Henry Ettleman (49), both of whom lived in Plum Hollow. Christian as well married someone with ties to the Studys, and also eventually ended up in Plum Hollow with his siblings. However, Christian’s account in Forney’s Five reveals a long and winding road to his settlement in Iowa, once again emphasizing the importance of strong families to frontier pioneers.

Christian Clapper’s first wife died in Mills County, Iowa in 1848. A year later, Christian first encountered Plum Hollow, where he was married to Margaret Ettleman. Forney’s Five refers to this marriage as one of convenience, as both Christian and Margaret had recently been widowed. They lived on Christian’s land in Mills County until 1853, when they travelled to Salt Lake with his sister Christena and her family in the Henry Ettleman Company (50). They eventually settled in Boxelder, and shortly afterwards both Christian and Margaret received their endowments. Susan Ettleman, Margaret’s daughter from her first marriage, was also sealed to Christian at this time (51). The fact that they were sealed indicates that their union was indeed sanctioned by Church leaders. But strangely, Christian left Utah with his family sometime between the birth of Susan’s second child in 1859 and 1860, as Christian and his family are found in Plum Hollow in the 1860 U. S. Census (52). One obvious conclusion for this move is that polygamy became something Christian and his family could not live with, so they simply left. But this conclusion trivializes the difficulty and expense of moving across the plains. Christian had been forced off land in Missouri, had sold his land in Iowa for “a mere trifle,” had already crossed the plains with his family 7 years earlier, and had only been stable in Boxelder for four years (53). Given his situation, there must have been a better reason for Christian to move all the way back to Iowa.

Christian’s siblings, Jacob and Christena, help to solidify Christian Clapper’s motivations to leave Utah. After marrying Barbara Forney in 1832 (54), Jacob apparently began farming on two plots just South of George Forney’s property. Jacob’s land was probably part of Studyville, he having become one of David C. Study’s many sons-in-law. This stronger tie to the Study family also helps to explain why he stayed in Iowa rather than follow his siblings to Utah in 1853. Eventually, however, word of their younger brother’s success in Iowa reached Christian and Christena, and their desires for stronger family and financial safety were found in the idea of Clapperville. Christian and Christena and their families moved back to Iowa together (55), settling probably near Jacob’s land and finally founding Clapperville in Dutch Hollow.

DYKE SETTLEMENT

Not all of the family members were willing to consolidate themselves for the duration of their lives. Simon Dyke, George Forney’s brother-in-law, returned from the Mormon Battalion along with David Study and John Martin Ewell in 1847. Simon’s wife, Mary Ann Forney Dyke, had been one of the original settlers of Plum Hollow in 1846 (56), and when Simon returned, they became the only known inhabitants of Dyke Settlement. But their stay in Dyke Settlement was short. Two children were born to them in 1849 and 1851, both near Plum Hollow. In 1856, however, Joseph James Dyke was born in Troy, on Beaver Island in Michigan (57), far from the established Dyke home and relatives. Simon and his family apparently lived for a time among James J. Strang’s Strangite Mormon sect, which had shifted their gathering from Voree, Wisconsin to Beaver Island, Michigan in 1850 (58). Simon and his family abandoned their home in Iowa and followed Strang to Michigan.

Strangite missionary activity in the Missouri River area was extant almost immediately after the Camp of Israel arrived. Their claim that James Strang was the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith restricted their missionary efforts mostly to converting baptized LDS members (59), and relative to their numbers, their presence in the Iowa area was strong. Strangite missionaries Uriah C. Nickerson, John Shippy, and Benjamin Wright all served in Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, and Fremont Counties for several years. Evidently convinced by these missionaries, Simon Dyke moved with his family to Michigan sometime after 1851, though strangely without other family members to support him in his beliefs. He returned to Iowa probably following the assassination of James Strang in 1856 (60). In 1859 a daughter, Mary Jane, was born northeast of Thurman (61), and following another child’s birth northeast of Thurman in 1862, the Dyke family again moved, living in various places throughout Fremont County (62). The Dyke settlement seems after this time to have been absorbed into Studyville and the general Dutch Hollow area.

Dyke Settlement is difficult to pinpoint, but according to the 1850 Census and existing GLO records, Simon Dyke’s early property was located in section 19 of modern-day Ross Township (63). This area is scarcely separate from Studyville, and is probably only distinguished from the Study settlement because of Dyke’s ties to Strangism.

PLUM HOLLOW/FREMONT CITY

The first settlers closest to what would someday become Plum Hollow central were John Martin Ewell and his wife, Elizabeth Study Ewell. John returned from his service in the Mormon Battalion in the autumn of 1847, and purchased land first in Section 6 of Sidney Township, then bought more land closer to Plum Hollow, in Section 36 of Scott Township, bringing his land possessions to about 200 acres. Little is known about Plum Hollow’s early administration, but John Ewell’s respectable land holdings, military service, and family connections certainly made him an important figure in the emerging community. Several of the marriages in Forney’s Five were solemnized by “John Martin Ewell, senior, justice of the peace” (64). In 1852, John and Elizabeth lost their nine-day old daughter, Barbara. She was buried on a portion of John’s property. Ewell Cemetery, as the little grave came to be known, was actually the beginnings of today’s Thurman Cemetery and the Ewell addition. Other families who marked out their own private plots in the cemetery were the Forneys, Schooleys, Greenwoods, Baylors and Leekas (65). Before John died in 1893, he asked to be buried on the same plot, and to this day Ewell Cemetery is revered family ground (66).

More important and influential in Plum Hollow than the Ewells, however, was Abraham Fletcher, as he distinguished the settlement from the Study family. Fletcher arrived in Plum Hollow in 1851 (67). He is sometimes credited with founding the settlement, but the Studys had obviously arrived much earlier. Fletcher re-vitalized Plum Hollow, owing to the Study’s lack of interest in concentrating their settlements. Fletcher created the first town center, building “the first residence, [opening] the first store, and [becoming] the first postmaster” (68). Fletcher also re-named the community Fremont City, an attempt to exhibit the community as Fremont County’s best and greatest. It was later discovered that a Fremont City already existed, so the name was changed to Thurman (69).

But why did Fletcher decide to found Plum Hollow anew? Perhaps his reasons were similar to the Studys—that he had created Fremont City/Thurman in 1856 as a place of family security and safety. Two years later, however, Abraham’s wife Rebecca died (70). Having lost a large part of his vision, Fletcher despaired, explaining why the town was not incorporated until 1879 (71). Fletcher would eventually marry again, though this second marriage, like that of Christian Clapper and Margaret Ettleman, was seen as one of convenience. In 1860 Abraham married Sarah Ann Farley, and during their years together they had one son, Grant. The 1880 Census shows Sarah Fletcher was a patient at the Iowa Hospital for the Insane, probably the Mental Health Institute in Mount Pleasant, Henry County. She remained in the hospital for an indeterminate amount of time, during which Abraham lived with Sarah’s daughter, Almira (72). Nevertheless, Fletcher had achieved his goal. Though Fremont City would struggle as its most prominent and enterprising citizen waded through personal difficulty, graves in Thurman Cemetery indicate that most if not all of his immediate family eventually found their way to his side. Abraham was successful in the primary goal of re-founding Plum Hollow. He was able to establish the town as a solid rock by which his larger family could be anchored, just as the Studys had done before. Fletcher died in Thurman in 1891, and is buried in Thurman Cemetery alongside 12 of his family members (73).

CONCLUSION

The settlement histories of Plum Hollow and Dutch Hollow encourage a greater perspective in viewing LDS migrants. Though religious devotion certainly drove many in their separate journeys, motivations of family security were also tied into their actions. The Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys, and Studys essentially transformed Fremont County because of their desires to keep their families safe and in one place.

• Notes:
1. Richard E. Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 1846-1852 “And Should We Die…” (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 45.
2. William G. Hartley, “Spring Exodus from Nauvoo: Act Two in the 1846 Mormon Evacuation Drama,” in The Iowa Mormon Trail, ed. Susan Easton Black and William G. Hartley (Orem, UT: Helix Publishing, 1997), 61.
3. Bennett, 68.
4. Lloyd, R. Scott, “Monument Honoring Mormon Battalion to Regain its Luster,” Church News: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 6, 1992.
5. Bennett, 73. Jedediah M. Grant, Samuel Russell and Lorenzo Young opted for higher ground, and half the high council voted for the same, but were overruled by Young, Heber Kimball and Orson Pratt 73-74.
6. Elizabeth Hills to Brigham Young, January 3, 1847, Brigham Young Papers. Mrs. Hills’s letter, though an extreme example, offers a glimpse into the various conditions many of the poor from Nauvoo found themselves in even before arriving at Winter Quarters.
7. Julie Dunfey, “‘Living the Principle’ of Plural Marriage: Mormon Women, Utopia, and Female Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century,” Feminist Studies 10, no. 3 (Autumn 1984): 525-527. Even a cursory treatment of this subject would be too large to fit within the specifics of this settlement history. The opening pages of Dunfey’s article provide several examples of the conflict between faith and tradition that were inherent in early Church-sanctioned propositions of plural marriage.
8. History of Fremont County, Iowa (Des Moines. IA: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 611.
9. Charles William Forney, Forney’s Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 145.
10. History of Fremont County, 611.
11. Ibid.
12. Forney, ix.
13. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/beta/search/default.aspx?searchTabIndex=0&searchByTypeIndex=0 (searched “Fremont County, Iowa” with last names “Study,” “Ettleman,” “Clapper,” and “Forney” November 11, 2010).
14. History of Fremont County, 611.
15. Pearl G. Wilcox, Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, MO: The Author, 1989), 227-231.
16. Forney, 146.
17. Clark V. Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions: Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 360. A David Study is also listed as a petitioner in The Appeal en Masse, page 596.
18. Ibid., 336, 338.
19. Susan Easton Black and Harvey Bischoff Black, Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, 1840-1845: Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois (Provo, UT: Center for Family History and Genealogy, 2002), 6: 3544-3546.
20. Forney, 328.
21. “Barker Family Tree: John Study Obituary,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/3558888/person/-1714407743/media/1?pg=32810 (accessed November 11, 2010).
22. Forney, 131.
23. Ibid., 325.
24. “Joan McConnell Family Tree,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/14283075/person/521662492?ssrc= (accessed November 11, 2010). David C. Study married Betsy Griffin in Virginia in 1820. Betsy’s last and second-to-last children were born in Brown County, Illinois in 1841 and 1844, and she died sometime shortly after, possibly due to complications in childbirth.
25. Susan Easton Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1830-1848 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1984-1988), 5: 694-696.
26. Black and Black, Baptisms for the Dead, 2: 1297.
27. Susan Easton Black and Harvey Bischoff Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois and Surrounding Communities (1839-1859) (Wilmington, DE: World Vital Records, Inc., 2006), 2: 1346-1347.
28. Forney, 131.
29. Black and Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, 2: 1297.
30. Forney, 131. Johann or John Karl Forney died September 10, 1841 in Hancock County, Illinois.
31. Ibid., 146.
32. Ibid.
33. Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (Salt Lake City, UT: s. n., 1975.), 308-309; BX 8670.07, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. Eliza R. Snow records that Nauvoo had previously had, “very freezing weather, which bridged the Mississippi sufficiently for crossing heavily loaded wagons on the ice.”
34. Hartley, 61.
35. Ibid.
36. Forney, 146.
37. Carl V. Larson, A Data Base of the Mormon Battalion (Providence, UT: Kieth Watkins and Sons Printing Co., 1987), 1, 65, 69, 168.
38. Ibid., 338.
39. Larson, 1, 65, 69, 168.
40. History of Fremont County, 611. The Standard Historical Atlas of Mills and Fremont Counties, Iowa verifies the claim of the 1881 History of Fremont County.
41. Forney, 144-145.
42. History of Fremont County, 611.
43. James W. Oberly, Sixty Million Acres: American Veterans and the Public Lands Before the Civil War (Kent, OH: The Kent State Press, 1990), 3.
44. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Record, David C. Study,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?PatentDocClassCode=MW&Accession=1111-269&Format=PDF&Page=1&Index=8&QryID=65691.88 (accessed November 11, 2010).
45. Forney, 330.
46. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868, “Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847),” http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearchresults/1,15792,4017-1-400,00.html (accessed November 11, 2010).
47. Forney, 333.
48. Ibid., 132, 138.
49. Forney, 75.
50. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868, “Henry Ettleman Company (1853),” http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearchresults/1,15792,4017-1-113,00.html (accessed November 11, 2010).
51. Forney, 26-29.
52. www.ancestry.com, 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line] (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009) images reproduced by FamilySearch; Census place: Scott, Fremont, Iowa; roll M653_321, p. 28, image 68.
53. Forney, 29.
54. Ibid., 139. Records indicate that Jacob and Christena were married in Nauvoo in 1832, but the city of Nauvoo was not platted and built until the late 1830s, and would have even then been referred to as Commerce, or Venus, Illinois. Charles William Forney believes the date is correct on the grounds of their children’s birthdates, so the place of their marriage was probably somewhere other than Nauvoo.
55. Forney, 76.
56. History of Fremont County, 611.
57. Forney, 147.
58. Robin Scott Jensen, “Gleaning the Harvest: Strangite Missionary Work, 1846-1850” (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 2005), 136.
59. Ibid., 43-44.
60. Ibid., 136.
61. Forney, 147.
62. Ibid., 148.
63. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Detail.asp?PatentDocClassCode=STA&Accession=IA0320__.400&Index=2&QryID=70073.52&DetailTab=1 (searched “Fremont County, Iowa” with last name “Dikes” and first name “Simon,” November 17, 2010).
64. Forney, 39.
65. Fremont County Historical Society, Fremont County, Iowa, Cemetery Records (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 159.
66. Forney, 330-331.
67. Fremont County Historical Society, 159.
68. History of Fremont County, 611.
69. Fremont County Historical Society, 159.
70. Ibid., 171,
71. History of Fremont County, 611.
72. “Avenson Family Tree,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/34070/person/-1123818130 (accessed November 17, 2010).
73. Fremont County Historical Society, 169, 171.