Titus Billings was born 24 March 1793 in Greenfield, Franklin county Massachusetts to his parents Ebenezer Billings and Esther Joyce. Titus grew up in a beautiful part of the country in a large family being the eighth child of twelve children in the E & E Billings family.
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| Greenfield, Franklin county, Massachusetts |
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| Franklin county location in Massachusetts |
The Billings were a religious family, their grandfather, Reverend Edward Billing (notice he styled himself without the "s" on Billings) was the first Reverend in Greenfield. Rev Billing started out in Belchertown, Massachusetts as their first minister having served the Congregational Church there in the years 1739-1752 and had graduated with honors from Harvard College 1731.
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| Rev Edward Billing first settled Minister of Greenfield Graduated Harvard 1731 |
The wife of Reverend Edward Billing was Lucy Parsons. Lucy also comes from a very religious family, her father, David Parsons, being a minister for Congregational Church in Malden and later Leicester Massachusetts. An interesting story about our Rev David Parsons, we learn...
"David Parsons' pastoral interlude at Leicester, begun with great promise in 1722, collapsed into acrimony and bitterness. In 1727, the newly founded, cash-strapped small town became arrears in paying his salary and undertook efforts to relieve themselves of their minister's salary. He was asked to accept a delayed payment and to relocate. In his mid-40's, having been at Leicester for some five years, under an agreement that he was settled there for life, David Parsons refused to consider any great modification in the terms of his call. There followed meetings, litigation, factions and divisions within the congregation. Finally, in 1835, there was agreement that David Parsons would no longer be church minister and therefore, no longer paid. He did however remain in the town.
Town records indicate efforts were taken to keep the former minister away from the property of the church. Apparently, the dismissed pastor who would-not / could-not leave Leicester, disputed the laying of town roads on property he claimed was his; he would secure firewood from forests titled to the church. The lingering dispute caused church attendance to decline and the church building to fall into decay and neglect.
David Parsons "carried to the grave the feelings of bitterness which had been engendered in his controversy with the town; and was buried by his special direction, on his own land, apart from the graves of his people. He was unwilling that his ashes should repose by the side of those with whom he had worshipped in the sanctuary, and to whom he had broken the consecrated bread. His grave, once visible on a mowing-field, about thirty rods north of the present (1863) meeting-house, has been leveled by the plow share; and the headstone, with his name inscribed upon it, no longer serves, as it did for more than a century, as a monument to human frailty." (Judd, History of Hadley, 1863, pp. 87-88, see also note, p. 414)
What became of the headstone? It was used in the building of a chimney, inside of which the inscription could be read: "In memory of Rev. Mr. David Parsons, who, after many years of hard labor and suffering, was laid here, Oct. 1, 1743, aged sixty-three." And also, "Sarah Parsons died June ye 17, 1759, aged seventy-three."
David Parsons is remembered in local history as "a man of strong passions and the people of Leicester were unyielding and after years of strife he died and was buried by his special direction on his own land, being unwilling to be buried with his people" (Judd, History of Hadley, 1863, note, p. 414). "Meekness does not seem to have been a distinguishing trait in his character" (Washburn, History of Leicester 1860 p. 387)."
Fun fact: Of this family it is interesting to note Titus' father Ebenezer was a twin (we have twins in our family too) to Edward, a preacher turned doctor that practiced in Greenfield and surrounding area.
Back to Titus, about 1817, Titus along with his brother Samuel and two sisters, Emily and Salome all moved to Ohio. Why did they move to Ohio? I am not sure.
However, we know that it was here in Lake County, Ohio Titus met and married Diantha Morley, February 16, 1817.
Titus and Diantha started their family right away in 1818 Samuel Dwight joined the family followed by Thomas in 1819, Ebenezer in 1820, Emily in 1821, Alfred Nelson in 1825, George Pierce (our ancestor) in 1827 and Eunice in 1830.
Things are about to get very exciting....
Diantha and her older brother Isaac Morley were members of Sidney Rigdon's congregation of Campbellites in Kirtland, Ohio. When Sidney Rigdon joined the Church, he held a two-hour sermon explaining to his congregation why he was making the commitment. The next morning, November 15, 1830 he was baptized. Upon calling for more converts, Titus Billings stepped forward and was the second person baptized in Kirtland, Ohio.
Titus Billings was a stonemason and among the first appointed by revelation to move to Jackson County, Missouri. In August 1831 the Lord gave Joseph Smith the revelation contained in D&C 63:39, for Titus to sell his land in Kirtland and move to Missouri, the land of Zion.
In obedience to this revelation, Titus sold his acreage and led a small company of Saints from Kirtland to Jackson in the spring of 1832. Upon arrival he consecrated his property to the Church. His first calling in Zion came in June 1833, in a letter from the First Presidency, Parley P. Pratt and Titus Billings were appointed as counselors to Bishop Partridge. Things did not go well in Jackson County for the Saints, and Titus was among those who were forced to leave by an armed mob. Titus did all he could to help the distressed Saints as they crossed the Missouri River into Clay County. Titus rented a small farm in Clay County, but was only there a few years.
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| Kirtland Temple constructed in the 1830s. First temple built by Joseph Smith of the Latter Day Saints. |
He then moved to Far West in Caldwell County, but violence broke out there at Crooked River. Titus wrote that bullets were flying all around him, and David W. Patten was killed. (we are related to David W Patten through Thomas Jefferson Patten, Sr, they were brothers)
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| October 24-25, 1838, "The Battle of Crooked River" by C.C.A. Christensen |
On October 25, 1838, Billings participated in the Battle of Crooked River, and as part of the aftermath was forced to flee from his home to the Des Moines River. For Titus Billings, his escape from mobocracy in Missouri was plagued with starvation and frostbite. “For three days and nights he had only slippery elm bark for food. His feet were ‘frozen so badly the flesh came off in pieces’” (Melvin Billings, comp., “Titus Billings: Early Mormon Pioneer,” n.p., n.d., in author’s possession, p. 21). Yet, like Samuel Bent, he praised God for his faith.
Of the Battle of Crooked River, Titus' youngest daughter Eunice recalls,
"My father was in the Crooked River Battle. He stood close to David Patten when he was shot and killed. Brother Hendricks was shot on one side of my father and David W. Patten on the other. Brother Hendricks was not killed but he was wounded in the neck. He lived to come to Utah but died from the effects of his wound. My father, Titus Billings, said the bullets were flying all around him but he had no fear until he saw brother Patten fall. Then he stepped behind a large tree until the firing was over. When he came home he was completely worn out as he had no rest for four or five nights. He told mother he wanted to sleep two hours. He wore a pair of new shoes which made his feet very sore. He asked mother to wash his feet while he was sleeping. She did as he asked, but he had only slept one hour when a knock came on the door. It was someone asking if Brother Billings was at home. Mother said "yes, he is asleep". It was Brother Stout that came for my father. He had spoken only a few words when father awoke and asked what was wanted. Brother Stout told him all the brethren that were in the battle had to flee within two or three hours. Mother baked him as much bread as she could and he left the family without a spoonful of flour in the house. There were about thirty of the brethren who had to flee at that time. Brother Abraham Smoot was one of the number. After these brethren had left, Diantha gathered her children around her and had to submit to a mobocrats search. The brethren that left suffered a great deal from cold and hunger. They were ten days on their trip. For three days
and nights they had only slippery elm bark for food. Father's feet were frozen so badly the flesh came off in pieces. Mother did not hear from him for six days. On the sixth day she received a slip of paper telling her where to write to him under a false name. It explained that the postmaster would destroy any letters if he knew they were from their family. The brethren in the company stopped at Lima, Illinois about forty miles from Quincey. Father was laid up for three months with his frozen feet."
As a result of the battle, Governor Boggs signed the infamous Extermination order. Billings signed a petition documenting the losses of property during this time which were never recovered. Escaping the mobs, 1839 he found safety and his family moved to what became known as Morleytown or Yelrome, which is near modern-day Lima, Illinois, and is a short distance from Nauvoo, Illinois.
In February 1841 the Nauvoo Legion was organized and Billings was made a captain. By September, Billings was promoted to the rank of colonel in the legion. On August 22, 1842, Billings was called on a mission to the New England states. Luman Andros Shurtliff was his companion. They returned in June 1843 after suffering much and having only small successes.
From 1839 to 1845 he served as president of the Lima Branch and as a colonel in the Sixth Regiment of the Silver Greys. In September 1846, the burning of homes and small shops including Isaac Morley's cooper shop in Lima forced Titus and his family to flee the settlement. The Billings family and all of the residents of Morleytown moved to Nauvoo.
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| Nauvoo, Illinois Temple dedicated May 1, 1846. Burned to its foundation October 9, 1848. |
Titus worked daily on the Nauvoo temple until it's completion in 1846 and was in attendance at the dedication May 1, 1846. After the exodus from Nauvoo, Titus and his family then moved to Iowa. In Iowa Titus was selected to be the president of the small Running Water encampment until he migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, serving as a captain of fifty in the Heber C. Kimball company of 1848. The company arrived in Salt Lake Valley in the winter of 1848.
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| Similar scene for Titus as he traveled to Salt Lake City |
In February 1849 Billings was called to the Greater Salt Lake City Stake High Council.
SANPETE SETTLEMENT
After Ute Indian leader Walkara invited church president Brigham Young to send colonists to the Sanpitch (now Sanpete) Valley in central Utah, Young dispatched Isaac Morley and a company of about fifty families, including the Titus Billings family, to what is now the location of Manti, Utah.
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| Chief Wakara invited the pioneers to Sanpete. This statue represents the story and can be seen in the Pioneer Heritage Gardens located a short walk east of the Manti LDS Temple |
The original company of 50 pioneer families arrived in the winter of 1849. Isaac Morley led a company of 224 men, women and children out of the Salt Lake Valley on Oct. 28, 1849.
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| Similar scene for our Billings family |
The pioneers found limestone, sparse grasses, clumps of rabbit bush and sagebrush as they struggled to establish the oldest town in Sanpete County. The pioneers, whose first camp was established on what is now Temple Hill, spent their first winter enduring hardships of scant food and clothing, hostile Indians and makeshift housing.
Settlers were forced to use wagons and dugouts for protection against the severe cold and the 700 Indians camped about a mile away. About half of their cattle froze to death and they were unable to get more food and supplies from Salt Lake City.
Winter was not the only problem, as spring approached the ground thawed and the pioneers were faced with hundreds of rattlesnakes. Miraculously not one of the settlers died from snakebite.
In 1850, Brigham Young decided on the name Manti, a town mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The Indians were outnumbered as more settlers arrived and grew hostile, venting their frustration in constant harassment.
Manti was incorporated by the legislature in Salt Lake City, and the area was surveyed in 1851. Upon completion of the survey, the settlers left their temporary shelters at Temple Hill and moved to their city lots. Billings and Jezreel Shomaker built the first houses, and were followed by others before the next winter. The Billings home still stands . Billings lived in Manti and was a member of the Stake presidency there in 1851.
Initially the native tribes of the area were friendly towards the settlers while still at war with one another. When one tribe had a victory over another, often the women and children of the opposing tribe were taken as slaves. Upon seeing the cruel treatment of the newly enslaved children, the pioneers would sometimes purchase the children from their captors to liberate them. Titus Billings purchased a young Indian girl and gave her to Diantha to raise as a daughter. Diantha named the girl Rose Billings. After a few years the pioneers were able to convince the tribes that the Great Spirit was displeased with them for their cruelty to prisoners, and the practice gradually died out.
On January 20, 1854, Titus married Mary Ann Tuttle as his second wife under the practice of polygamy. Mary Ann was the divorced ex-plural wife of Howard Egan. She bore four children with Titus before they too divorced.
In 1863, Titus moved to Provo where he died three years later at the age of seventy-two. He is buried in the Provo City Cemetery.
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