Daniel Mark Burbank, Jr.
Daniel was born June 10 1846 in Farmington Iowa in a frontier home with scarcely the necessities of life. -
(After the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, there was a time of peace, but not for long. the mob soon began their plunder of homes, burning them, -killing the animals and all kinds of horrible crimes. Daniel Mark Burbank Senior says " I rode for some time under Colonel S. Markum on Bear River, Green Plains and also Cartage and Warsaw, and in our scouring of the country, we saw much destruction on homes, animals and crops. In this we received no redress from the governor nor from the president of the United States and found a home where best we could. We started in the wilderness amidst rain, snow, and much high water; and most excess exposure, leaving our farms, orchards, homes and Temple. Many of our people were very poor and destitute for the comforts of life, yet we must go on or be killed. So, trusting in God, we prayed often and after a while came to Farmington Iowa.")
In the fall the family moved on again to a place called Old Agency, where they spent the winter. In the spring they moved on again to the Bluffs called Hanerville. in 1852, they started with the Saints for Salt Lake Valley, when Daniel was but six years old. As they were crossing the plains cholera broke out and his mother Abigail Blodgett Burbank, was among the first to die, leaving four small children two younger than Daniel. He was fortunate in having a step-mother who was very good to him and gave him a mother's care.
They went south of Salt Lake City to Springville, in Utah county, Utah until the next spring. In April 1853, one year later, they moved to Grantsville. Here the family lived ten years until Daniel Mark Jr. was seventeen, when in June 1863 they moved to Brigham City. When Daniel Mark Jr. was fourteen, he crossed the plains once more to assist others to come to Utah, returning the year 1863, after the family had moved to Brigham City, Utah.
He was married to Sarah Adeline Lindsay, daughter of Edwin Reuben and Tabitha Cragun Lindsay, 20 April 1867 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. On 2 January 1871, he married Mary Jane Lindsay as a second wife. She was a sister of his first wife. His first home was in Brigham City, Utah. He was among the first settlers. About the year 1874-1875, he moved to Deweyville Utah again a pioneer to a new country. For more than twelve years he lived here helping to build up the area. Then in 1886 when the government started persecuting those who had entered into the plural law of marriage, he took His family's to Bennington Bear Lake Idaho. Again a pioneer in a new country. Here he lived until he died on 12 February 1931, at age 84 years and 8 months.
His second wife Mary Jane died 5 Jan 1918. Then just a little over a year 16 November 1919 Sarah Adaline died. He was the father of 21 children, nine boys and twelve girls. At his death he had 108 grand children and 36 great grandchildren. More of the life of Daniel Mark Burbank jr. as told to Mavin Sparks 21st day of January 1962 by two of Daniel Mark's daughters Olive Duke and Dortha Sparks.
Daniel Mark Burbank Jr., came to Bennington in 1886 and built a one-room log cabin on a plot of ground just north of the mouth of Red Canyon, about three miles east of Bennington. With him came his wife, Sarah Adeline, and eight children, there were nine children in the family at that time but the oldest one was married by this time. With a family of this size, it was rather hard to find a place for all of them to sleep in a one-room house. There was a big bed in each corner of the room and a trundle bed under each of the big ones. Each bed had a curtain of "bleach" a light cotton material, around it; and these curtains had to be washed every week.
There was a spring just above the house that had a spout or trough in the stream and their culinary water was taken from this. This was probably quite as asset at any time to have water so close that you could just step out the door and get a bucket full any time you wanted it, practically as good as having running water piped into the house.
Four or five years later, they built another room addition on to the west end of the original house and this then served as a kitchen and the boys also used it for a bed room. The first room was used as a bed room for the parents and girls. Daniel Mark probably moved his other family, Jane Lindsay Burbank up to Bear Lake from Deweyvill, Utah; sometime then, and settled them on a plot of ground about a mile and a half west of this home. This place is about half way between Red Canyon and Bennington. Before moving this other family to Bennington, they became ill and when Daniel got word of it, he strapped on his snowshoes, it being in the dead of winter, and walked over the mountains to Deweyville. He told of staying at nights, under big pine trees by a big fire. Sarah was worried that he would freeze to death, and had no way of knowing whether he ever made it or not for a long time.
At the time the twins were born, Daniel Mark was seated by the cook-stove in the kitchen. He was just rolling a cigarette when the midwife, Hannah McGowen, yelled out to him, "Come quick and help, there's another one." Daniel vowed that if he could have twin sons, he would never smoke another cigarette. So far as is known, he kept that vow. This Hannah McGowen, formerly Graham, was midwife for Sarah for Chester and Lester, and for Dortha the youngest child.
The family used to have a big long table with benches made of log slabs with pole legs. Each child had a special place to sit at this table, David had to set on one end because he was left handed and it wouldn't interfere with the others so much. Daniel and Great-grandfather made most of the furniture. They built cupboards, beds and so on.
There was a lot of water snakes that stayed around the little stream that run from their spring, and these snakes would crawl into doorstep and would often crawl up on a shelf in the kitchen where Sarah kept her home-made soap, if you weren't careful when you reached for a bar of soap, you might get hold of a snake.
To get clay for plastering the cracks between the logs or chinking, as it was called, they had to go to Soda Springs, Idaho, a trip of 26 or 27 miles with a team and wagon. It required one day to go down there, then a day to load and come back to a little spring just north of where the Bear Lake, Caribou County line is now, then on home the next day. This clay was used for "White wash" for the inside walls also. This was merely a thin mixture of the clay and water brushed onto the walls, and it would flak and rub off very easily and get into the food and onto the clothing. Also Daniel would make at least one or two trips to soda Springs for the famous natural soda water that is there. They would take fruit juice and mix with it and put it in quart fruit jars. This made a drink just like our 'soda pop' of today.
The children used to pick service berries and dry them for fruit in the winter. There used to be two big bushes or trees of this berry near the east end of the house, but they didn't have as good a flavor as the berries that grew in the mouth of the canyon. Also they had a patch of strawberries and raspberries which they had to pick. Usually one of the older girls would go to Deweyville, and spend the summer with their sister Abbie, the one that was married at the time the family moved here. They would put up fruit and dry it, then in the fall, Daniel would drive down with a wagon and bring the fruit back. Both going and coming at the hill between Mink Creek and Preston, everyone would have to walk and someone carry rocks to block the wheels of the wagon with when the horses stopped to rest. This was a very steep grade and was hard on the horses. Usually they would camp at the bend of Mink Creek just below this hill.
Agarden was raised, using water from the spring by the house and from a duck pond in back of the house, where a flock of ducks were kept. The cows were pastured up in Red Canyon during the summer. Sometimes they would climb halfway up the mountain that rises above the home, and the children would have to go after them.
Part of the winters were spent getting out logs for firewood. One time while Daniel was working in the canyon getting out wood, he reached to hook the tug of one of the horses, when the horse jerked and caught the end of one of his fingers in the single-tree hook. It took the end of his finger right off, and he tore his underwear off to wrap his hand in until he got home.
On December 7, 1896, one of the boys, Joseph Burbank, was killed when a gun that he was cleaning accidently fired and shot him in the head. Olive was home at the time and tried to do what she could, but there was nothing that could be done. She sent one of the twins down through the snow to ask aunt "Mandy" (Amanda Hawkins) to come up and help her. Lindsay's, with whom Mandy Hawkins stayed, lived about a half mile from Daniels house. Someone came into church at Bennington to tell Daniel and Sarah of the accident.
Bennington was a ward of the Bear Lake Stake at that time and the members would have to go to Paris, Idaho, a trip of about 20 miles, to go to conference. Daniel's family would go in the lumber wagon, cutting across the valley and fording Bear River below and south of Bennington. It would take all day to go to these meetings and back again. They used to buy sweet crackers, a cracker similar to a graham cracker only thicker, and a can of sardines or some cheese for their lunch while there.
Every year or two Daniel would go over to Crow Creek to a salt spring and get big blocks of rock salt for his stock. For table use, they bought a sack of coarse salt that is usually used for sheep, and ground it fine in a coffee grinder. Sarah used to put this coarse salt in a certain bowl, melt it in water, then used this water for making bread and other cooking uses. She used to have to make hot soda biscuits for Daniel for every meal. She would never let the children make the biscuits because they couldn't make them good enough.
Sarah took in washings some of the time to help make a living for the family. She would go to Montpelier, five miles south of Bennington, gather up the big bundles of clothes, bring them home, wash them, then deliver them for 50 cents a batch. In the summer, she would drive the big lumber wagon this distance, in the winter she would use a kind of toboggan behind the teem. This toboggan was made by putting a box on the front bob of a sleigh. Often the snow would be over the fences, and sometimes it would freeze a crust so hard on it that a horse could walk on it with out breaking through. Henry Hoff, a butcher, was one of her customers. She would have to wash the blood out of his big aprons and then starch them so stiff that the apron would stand alone.
Daniel and John Dunn had a dancing school where they would teach the young people to dance. Daniel played the drums and cymbals, and called the dances; while John Dunn played the violin. If the young people didn't do the steps right, John Dunn would be right along side them, doing the steps to show them how and still playing his fiddle.
Sarah Adeline was married when she was just a little past fourteen years old. When she was sixteen, her mother died, leaving two little babies for her to take care of in addition to her own little baby.
When Daniel Mark Jr. was courting Sarah Adeline Lindsay, he came for her one night to go to a dance. Her father said that she couldn't go, because her dress was still in the loom. They were weaving a new dress for her and it was not finished and she did not have a dress to wear to a dance.
The old house on the hill was torn down in 1920 or 21 and used for firewood in the home that was built on a lot on the north end of Bennington. David gave this lot to his mother before he went to Canada to live.