Overlook Memorial at Mountain Meadows Massacre Site

This is one of the four memorial sites for the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. See this page for more information.

The Arkansas Wagon Train

The Arkansas emigrants were members of respectable families. The lists to the right and the left include information about heads of household in the group. More is known about some families than others, and these are not exhaustive lists of names. A more complete list of names is etched into the memorial wall in front of you.

About 140 people were in the caravan that arrived at Mountain Meadows in early September 1857.

About 10 of those people were murdered in the the initial attack and siege.

About 110 were murdered in the final massacre. Of those 110:

35 were children ages 17 and younger (at least 20 were ages 12 and younger)

13 were women ages 18 and older, 11 of whom were mothers.

33 were men age 18 and older.

The identities of the others are uncertain or unknown.

17 children, ages 6 and younger, survived. They were distributed among local Mormon families – including families of some of the men who had carried out the massacre. The children were held by those families until 1859, when the United States government returned them to relatives in Arkansas.

John T. Baker was a husband, father, grandfather, landowner, prominent farmer and cattleman, and slave owner. Abel Baker was a young son of John T. Baker. George W. Baker, an older son of John T. Baker, was a husband and father. He had owned land, and he had a substantial herd of cattle. His group traveled with two ox wagons.

Manerva A. Beller Baker, George’s wife, was a mother and homemaker. Her siblings Melissa Ann Beller and David W. Beller were orphaned children of the late William Beller, a prominent landowner and farmer and a former treasurer for Carroll County, Arkansas, and his wife, Lovina.

John Beach, a young adult, was 4 feet 6 inches tall. His parents lived west of present-day Berryville, Arkansas, near Beach Iron Works and the mouth of Osage Creek on the Kings River.

William Cameron, a husband, father, and grandfather, was the owner of a herd of cattle and a prize horse. One of his sons had been a merchant in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Allen P. DeShazo, a young man traveling along, brought 17 head of cattle, his clothes, and a violin.

Jesse Dunlap Jr. was a husband, father, farmer, and merchant and had been a justice of the peace. His family traveled with three wagons.

Lorenzo Dow Dunlap, Jesse’s brother, was a husband, father, farmer, and bear hunter and had been a justice of the peace. His family traveled with one wagon.

Silas Edwards had a large bay horse.

Alexander Fancher was a landowner, first in Carroll County and then in Benton County, where he served as justice of the peace. He was a farmer, western traveler, stockman, and veteran of the Black Hawk War in Illinois. He was a nephew of Colonel James Fancher, who was a wealthy landowner and a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1842 and 1843.

Robert and James Fancher were also nephews of Colonel James Fancher.

Saletha Ann Brown Huff was a widow, mother, and homemaker. Her husband, Peter Huff, had been bitten by a poisonous creature east of Fort Bridger and had died on the trip west.

John Milum Jones was a husband, father, and farmer who traveled with his wife and children. He also traveled with his brother Newton Jones; his mother-in-law, Cynthia Tackitt, and some of her children; and the family of Pleasant Tackitt. The Jones brothers’ wagon was large and heavily loaded.

Lawson A. McEntire was a son of Champion McEntire, a farmer and wagon maker.

Josiah (Joseph) Miller was a husband, father, and farmer. His wife, Matilda, was a daughter of William and Martha Cameron.

Charles R. Mitchell, a husband, father, landowner, farmer, and stockman, and Joel D. Mitchell, a farmer and stockman, were sons of William C. Mitchell, who was an Arkansas state senator and a Confederate Colonel, and his wife, Nancy Dunlap Mitchell, who was a sister of Jesse and Lorenzo Dow Dunlap. The Mitchells traveled in one large ox wagon.

John and William Prewit were sons of the Reverend David Prewit, a Baptist minister. Their father and their brothers David and Elijah were Union soldiers in the Civil War. Relatives in North Carolina sent a letter in 8157, asking how John and William were doing in California, how much gold they could find there, and which county they had settled in.

Milum L. Rush, a widower, father, and hunter, was a son of Lorenzo D. and Frances Rush. After the Civil War, Lorenzo Rush was a landowner and was active in the development of the new town of Harrison, Arkansas.

Cynthia Tackitt was the widow of Martin Tackitt, who had served in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1844 and 1845. Martin’s sister was the wife of a judge in Pope County, Arkansas.

Pleasant Tackitt, a son of Martin and Cynthia Tackitt, was a husband, father, and farmer, and he traveled with one wagon. He was a nephew of another Pleasant Tackitt, a noted Methodist minister, missionary to the Indians in Arkansas and Texas, Confederate officer, and Indian fighter.

Richard Wilson, a husband, father, and farmer, was from Marion County, Arkansas.

William Wood, a husband, father, farmer, and deer hunter, and his brother Solomon R. Wood were sons of George Wood, a miller, and grandsons of a judge in Marion County, Arkansas.

Five young men in the wagon train, probably including some of those listed on these signs, were hired to care for John T. Baker’s livestock, and two were hired to care for George W. Baker’s stock. It appears that some of these drovers also had livestock of their own.

A few members of the caravan, including those listed below, were from states other than Arkansas:

Will Aden was a writer, artist, poet, and western traveler. He was a son of a physician in Paris, Tennessee. The heroic young man was murdered outside the meadows on an errand for the emigrants.

William Eaton, a husband, father, and landowner, was from Indiana.

Those believed to have been killed at or near the Mountain Meadows were:

William Allen Aden, 19
George W. Baker, 27
Manerva A. Beller Baker, 25
- Mary Lovina, 7
- Melissa Ann Beller, 14
- David W. Beller, 12
John T. Baker, 52
- Abel Baker, 19
John Beach, 21
William Cameron, 51
Martha Cameron, 51
- Tillman, 24
- Isom, 18
- Henry, 16
- James, 14
- Martha, 11
- Larkin, 8
- Nancy, 12
Allen P. DeShazo, 20
Jesse Dunlap, Jr., 39
Mary Wharton Dunlap, 39
- Ellender, 18
- Nancy M., 16
- James D., 14
- Lucinda, 12
- Margerette, 11
- Mary Ann, 9
Lorenzo Dow Dunlap, 42
Nancy Wharton Dunlap, 42
- Thomas J., 17
- John H., 16
- Mary Ann, 13
- Talitha Emaline, 11
- Nancy, 9
- America Jane, 7
William M. Eaton
Silas Edwards
Alexander Fancher, 45
Eliza Ingrum Fancher, 32
- Hampton, 19
- William, 17
- Mary, 15
- Thomas, 14
- Martha, 10
- Sarah G., 8
- Margaret A., 7
James Mathew Fancher, 25
Frances Fulfer Fancher
Robert Fancher, 19
Saladia Ann Brown Huff
- William
- Elisha
- Two Other Sons
John Milum Jones, 32
Eloah A. Tackitt Jones, 27
- One Daughter
Newton Jones
Lawson A. McEntire, 21
Josiah (Joseph) Miller, 30
Matilda Cameron Miller, 26
- James William
Charles R. Mitchell, 25
Sarah C. Maker Mitchell, 21
- John, infant.
Joel D. Mitchell, 23
John Prewit, 20
Milum L. Rush, 28
Charles Stallcup, 25
Cynthia Tackitt, 49
- Marion, 20
- Sebron, 18
- Matilda, 16
- James M., 14
- Jones M., 12
Pleasant Tackitt, 25
Armilda Miller Tackitt, 22
Richard Wilson
Solomon R. Wood, 20
William Wood, 26
Others Unknown