Early in the year of 1849, an Indian party confronted some Mormon settlers and took their cattle. The Indians and cattle were later found camped by a stream and a battle erupted. Three Indians were killed, and the area became known as Battle Creek.

In the summer of 1850, Mormon leader Brigham Young assigned a group of pioneers to start a new settlement. On September 13, 1850, seven extended families arrived in the Battle Creek area and began to clear land and construct homes. However, these pioneers, who had nothing to do with the original battle, changed the name to Pleasant Grove, after a nice grove of trees with a beautiful stream running through it. These seven families consisted of George S. Clark; Richard Clark; John G. Holman and his brother, Ezekiel; Lewis Harvey, his aged parents, and widowed sister, Celia Taylor; “Widow” Harriet Marler and her wagonmaster, John Wilson; Charles Price; Henry Jolley and “Little Sammy Lamb,” a black orphan boy who was too young to be freed with the other Jolley slaves in 1842.

The winter was unusually mild, and the settlers were able to continue building. By summer, all were settled and the community was thriving.

Check out all of the historic markers placed by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers at JacobBarlow.com/dup