History of Edwin Ruben Lindsay
by Shirley L. Alleman
Born 25 September 1828
Leeds County Ontario Canada
Edwin was a young lad of only ten years when his father moved frorn Canada. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints July 1 1842 at the age of thirteen. He and his brother William Buckminster Lindsay Jr. were baptized at the same time. They joined about a year after their father did.
On December 25 1850 Edwin married Tabitha Cragun in the home of his uncle John Myers in Kanesville, Pottawattomie Iowa. Tabitha was a daughter of Elisha and Mary Osburne Cragun and was born March 5 1830 in Boom County Indiana.
He crossed the plains by wagon in 1852 with his wife and baby daughter, Sarah Adaline. He said, "We met great herds of buffalo. My brother Ephraim was a good shot with a gun and kept us in meat. It was a long journey and we were very tired when reached Salt take City." They traveled three months.
Edwin and his brother George were called to serve in the Salmon Buror Expedition far the Territory of Utah. He served 31 days, beginning the 11 March 1858, as a private in the company of Captain Christopher Layton. This expedition was sent to help protect a new colony of saints from raids by the indians.
Edwin learned the blacksmith trade before he came to Utah. He and a man named John Williams made and fitted horse shoes out of old wagon tires for the men freighting in the early days of Corrine Box Elder Utah to Butte and Helena Montana. They would make and fit horseshoes for sixty (60) head of horses on one day and put them on the horses the next day. He made many shoes for fancy show and race horses. In his later life, he was very slop- shouldered because of this life long occupation. He was a blacksmith for the saints under the order of Enoch in Utah. He did blacks-smithing for the Wells Fargo stage lines. He also made cradles, scythes and cycles for harvesting crops; and tin cups and other useful household articles. He always took pride in his work and gave the people good service.
He built a beautiful home for his family on Brigham City. He later moved to Deweyville and set up his black-smithing business there. Some twenty years after the first of the family moved to Bear take Valley, Edwin followed and settled in Bennington Bear take Idaho in 1889.
He was a man of six feet tall and weighed about 180 pounds. He had light blue eyes and very light hair. He was sociable to everyone but he never forced himself onto anyone. He was a man you could not talk too without learning from him. He played the violin for public dances and for weddings.
His wife Tabitha died in 1868 soon after the birth of twins. She left Edwin a large family of young children. He married Emma Bowden March 20 1871 and to this marriage was born ten children making a total of twenty one children born of both marriages.
Fourteen of Edwins twenty one children married and left him a large posterity. He died at the age of 65 years on the Pansy Blossom ranch on Dec 6 1893 at Benington Bear Lake Idaho where he is also buried.