Lyman Wight and his Colony: A Brief History
By Lauren A. Langford and Jermy Wight
Texas has always attracted dreamers and schemers, but one man,
Lyman Wight, was attracted to Texas not for the love of gold, glory, or adventure,
but for the love of God and the desire to find a location where he and his
small colony of Saints could dwell in peace.
Lyman Wight, the son of Levi Wight and Sarah Corbin, was born in the township
of Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York on May 9, 1796. He honorably served
in the War of 1812. In 1823, Lyman Wight married Harriet Benton. They moved
in 1826 to Western Reserve, Ohio, where Lyman joined the sect of a Campbellite
preacher named Sidney Rigdon. Rigdon's converts, in turn, formed working communes
which had interests in farming and mechanics. In 1830, Wight and Rigdon were
baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Oliver Cowdry
and Wight was ordained to the office of high priest by Joseph Smith in Kirtland,
Ohio in 1831. Wight and his family, along with others, were directed by Joseph
Smith to move to Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, to help establish
a Mormon settlement.
The Beginning - Missouri
From the very beginning of most Mormon settlements, tensions between the Saints
and gentiles grew for multiple reasons. The Mormons had vastly different religious
beliefs than the locals, belonged to a very organized communal way of life,
often were more educated, their abolition attitude threatened the peace and
security of slave holders, and above all, the Mormons were from Yankee New
England stock whereas the Missourians were from Appalachian or southern culture.
The Mormons saw Jackson County, Missouri, as their final gathering place,
the sacred place to which Christ would come for the second resurrection. If
this place were lost to them, then they were to redeem it by force, if necessary.
They were persecuted, mob violence erupted, their printing facility was destroyed
and they were driven from Jackson County into the neighboring counties. With
each move, friction with the locals increased and finally quarrels gave way
to shootings, which in turn gave rise to a open conflict, known as the Mormon
War of 1837. Meanwhile, Lyman Wight had established a settlement, Adam-ondi-Ahman
("Adam's Consecrated Land"), in Daviess County, Missouri. Almost overnight,
the Mormons outnumbered the gentiles in this region. In 1838, Governor Boggs
of Missouri ordered the state militia to either exterminate the Mormons or
drive them from Missouri. About 18 Mormons were killed in the Haun's Mill
massacre. Rather than allow the Mormons to bury their dead, the militia threw
the bodies down a well. The Mormon leaders, including Elder Lyman Wight, surrendered
to the militia, were court martialed, and ordered shot, but the sentence was
not carried out. Instead six leaders of the Church including Joseph Smith
and Lyman Wight were remanded to Sheriff Hadley, Liberty Jail, Liberty, Clay
County. There were to be held without bail until the spring session of the
circuit court. They languished there for more than four months under the harshest
conditions. The case became such an embarrassment to the state that the prisoners
were allowed to escape to Illinois. Thus, Governor Boggs accomplished his
objective of driving the Saints from Missouri.
Illinois - Nauvoo
In Illinois they built a city, Nauvoo, where they enjoyed peace and prosperity
and brought in thousands of converts. Lyman Wight, now an Apostle, was the
head of the Black River Lumber Company, also known as the Pine Company of
the Church, which the Mormons had formed to acquire lumber for the construction
of a temple in Nauvoo. By 1843, once again the Mormons were having trouble
with their neighbors and again discussed looking for a new Zion. The Republic
of Texas offered an opportunity where Mormons could settle and live in peace.
Lucian Woodworth was twice sent to Texas by Joseph Smith to speak with Sam
Houston about colonizing an area in Texas. Wight was appointed the head of
the Texas project. He and George Miller were to lead the colony to Texas.
Joseph Smith, however, was murdered by a mob on June 27, 1844 in Carthage,
Illinois. The Church lapsed into confusion. Following the Council's May 6,
1844 directive, Wight led the Black River Lumber Company to Texas. Brigham
Young, President of the Quorum of Twelve, became the titular head of the Church;
however, Young was not declared President of the Church until December 1848.
It was no coincidence that Wight's fellow Mormons had nicknamed him "Wild
Ram of the Mountain" for his stubbornness.
Texas - Fort Johnson
On March 25, 1845, Wight and about 150 followers, in four homemade boats,
started down the Mississippi River for Texas (Table 1). They began their overland
journey near Davenport, Iowa. They suffered Indian problems, disease, and
death throughout their journey. On November 10, 1845, the train of eight wagons
and 82 cattle crossed the Red River at Preston Bend into Texas after traveling
more that 850 miles in 165 days. Their first settlement in Texas was the old
Fort Johnson in Grayson County. They stayed there about ten months and, in
the spring, moved on south to Austin arriving June 6, 1846.
Austin
At the falls of the Colorado River, the location of today's Mormon Springs,
the Colony built their first gristmill. They built the city jail and worked
as carpenters and millers. Unfortunately the spring dried up and the mill,
though intact, became inoperative. Wight requested permission from the Adelsverein,
or German Society, to establish a colony on Grape Creek, twelve miles east
of Fredricksburg. The creek dried up so the group selected a location seven
miles nearer Fredricksburg on the Pedernales River. Within six weeks the grist
mill was completed and the community housing was under construction.
Zodiac - Fredricksburg
The Mormons, with their gristmill, sawmill and experience in lumbering and
construction were a godsend to the German emigrants. It was the Mormons who
introduced corn and other varieties of grain to the starving Prussian. The
community pride and joy became the grist mill with its huge revolving water
wheel and the special French buhrs (grinding stones) made it possible to have
ground cornmeal and flour with minimum effort. Today, a replica of the Mormon
millwheel stands in downtown Fredricksburg.
Sometime after the community was established, Lyman Wight gave it the name
Zodiac. There was no written explanation for this name. Zodiac was composed
of well-built houses, perfect fences and tidy dooryards. They had a blacksmith,
a turning lathe, a wagon shop, a general store, a shingle mill, a Temple-storehouse,
cabinet and furniture shops, and a two story community building that served
as a meeting hall, a Temple and a school for the children. The Mormons lived
congenially with their German neighbors. The Saints were well respected for
their business dealings, for their industry and high values. For the first
time there were no persecutions. The 1850 census recorded 160 residents living
on 2,217 acres of land with nearly $26,000 worth of improvements. But once
again, hard times hit the brave little group. In 1850, floods destroyed their
mills. This was an economic blow to them and the community. As they were recovering
from the flood, another flood hit and washed the mill stones away. This seemed
like the end of the world. The Saints, nevertheless, were resilient. An exploration
party of Stephen Curtis, Meachum Curtis, Ezra A. Chipman, Joseph Goodale and
Orange Wight were sent out to find a new location for the colony. They soon
reported that they had found a location near Marble Falls on Hamilton Creek.
Hamilton Creek - Mormon Mills
Thus, the group moved on to Hamilton Creek in Burnet County in 1851. Once
again, they set up mills and shops. They had lost their grinding buhrs in
the flood at Zodiac. They had no money to buy new buhrs so they went to a
nearby quarry and obtained stone from which to make replacements. Lyman Wight,
however had a vision of where the lost stones were in Zodiac. A group of men
took spades and shovels and set out to locate the stones. They found the stones,
as Lyman Wight said they would, in the middle of a sandbar deposited by the
flood. Now that they had the grinding stones, they could increase their milling
activities, add a sawmill and a lathe with which they manufactured chairs
and tables. They also operated a farm. The women made willow baskets for sale.
Despite the successes, they were in debt and were plagued by Indian raids.
Disease killed at least 23 members of the Colony. By the fall of 1853 the
Wight Colony was once again looking for a home. Because they had also become
herdsmen, they required about six months to herd their cattle to Bandera.
They arrived in Bandera in the spring of 1854.
Bandera - Mountain Valley - Mormon Camp
At first in Bandera, they camped on the north bank of the Medina River across
from the town. Eventually they bought lots in town, built a schoolhouse and
a furniture factory. Wight performed the first marriage in Bandera County,
wedding his son Levi Lamoni Wight and Sophia Leyland. They settled in to raise
their children. Jessie Hay, widow of Alexander Hay, was the first woman to
receive real property in Bandera. When she died she left an estate of 320
acres of land, lots 15 and 16 in Bandera and 80 head of cattle plus the house
and household goods. The Saints, established as taxpayers, decided to expand
and incorporate a farm into their enterprise. The best land for this purpose
was located downstream on the Medina River, about twelve miles from Bandera
City, but still in Bandera County. The farm land was leased and during 1854-5
some of the group moved to the farm site to prepare for the spring planting.
About sixteen families moved to Mountain Valley (called Mormon Camp by many)
but the pioneers suffered from the Indian depredations. Raiding Comanches
stole their horses and mules, burned their crops and drove off the cattle.
When Medina Lake was complete in 1912, the lake forever submerged Mountain
Valley, the sight of the last organized home of the Lyman Wight Colony.
In March of 1858, Wight announced that he had a vision of God warning him
about the coming war between the North and the South. Moreover, God warned
him to move back to the North. Wight announced his plans to move, but his
plan to go north was met with a great deal of opposition. Even three of his
sons refused to go. Those who chose to follow left with Lyman Wight. But only
2 days into the thousand-mile journey, Wight suddenly became ill and died
on March 31, 1858, in the camp on the Medio River (today the location of Lackland
Air Force Base). Lyman Wight was buried at Zodiac alongside his daughter Rosina
Minerva and other Saints including William Eldridge, William Leyland, Sophia
Leyland, and many others and the infants who died at Zodiac. Following his
death, the expedition fell apart. Many of the faithful affiliated with the
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which had established
its headquarters in Independence, Missouri, back in the Zion of Joseph Smith.
Looking back, the Saints were instrumental in the formation of three counties
in Texas: Gillespie 1847-8 and then Burnet County in 1851-2, and finally,
Bandera County in 1856. The history of the Lyman Wight Colony is no doubt
inseparable from the history of Texas and the United States. The Saints have
left a notable mark in opening the west (Table 3) to other pioneers. Finally,
the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, Texas, houses one of the millstones,
a hand made chair and other memorabilia from the Colony.
References:
1. Bandera County History Book Committee. History of Bandera County Texas.
Curtis Media Corporation. Dallas, Texas. 1986.
2. Bandera County Court House Records.
3. Banks, C. Stanley. The Mormon Migration into Texas, Southwestern Historical
Quarterly 49: 4.October, 1945.
4. Barkley, Roy. Ed. Handbook of Texas Online http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/
5. Hunter, J. Marvin. A Brief History of Bandera County: Covering More Than
Eighty Years of Intrepid History. Bandera, Texas. Frontier Times, 1936.
6. Hunter, J. Marvin. 100 Years in Bandera, 1853-1953: A Story of Sturdy Pioneers,
Their Struggles and Hardships, and Their Heroic Achievements. Hunter's Printing.
Bandera, Texas.1953.
7. Hunter, J. Marvin. The Lyman Wight Colony in Texas, Came to Bandera in
1854. The Bandera Bulletin for the Frontier Museum, Bandera, Texas, Undated.
8. Hunter, J. Marvin. Pioneer History of Bandera County. Hunter's Printing.
Bandera, Texas. 1922.
9. Wight, Jermy Benton. The Wild Ram of the Mountain: Lyman Wight. Afton Thrifty
Print. Star Valley, Wyoming. 1996.
10. Zelade, Richard. Hill Country. Lone Star Press, Houston, Texas. 1999.
For an in depth account of the Lyman Wight story you
may want to read "Lyman Wight, Wild Ram of the Mountain" by Jeremy Wight.
Jermy Wight, PO Box 4135, Bedford, WY 83112
List of the Colony members and Historical Marker
sites.