SARAH THORNTON COLEMAN, daughter of William Thornton and Elizabeth Christian, was born June 11, 1806, in Paxton, Huntingdonshire, England. With her family she joined the Church of Latter-day Saints in the year 1841 and emigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, soon after. The family lived. on the farm of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here her husband, Prime Coleman, and the oldest daughter died. The mother, with her seven children, was left to share the hardships and mobbing with the other Saints.

After the martyrdom of the Prophet and his brother, Sister Coleman and family moved to the Eleventh Ward, in the city of Nauvoo. Here she became acquainted with Bishop David Evans through receiving help from the ward. Trouble for the Saints was steadily increasing, and     when    companies were formed to move, she and family were placed in Bishop David Evans' company. For three years they moved from place to place in Missouri, and then made the final move to Utah, arriving in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1850. They remained there that winter and the next spring moved to Lehi, then known as Dry Creek.

Sarah T. Coleman passed through the hardships of pioneer life, raised a highly respected family, and lived the life of a Latter-day Saint. She was respected and loved by all who knew her, and was president of the first Relief Society organized in Lehi. She died March 1, 1892, at the ripe age of 86 years, nine months.

SYLVANUS COLLETT Among the early settlers of Lehi were Daniel Collett and family, the eldest son being Sylvanus, then a young man about 21. Sylvanus' mother's name was Esther Jones, a native of Wales, while his father was an Englishman of Norman ancestry. The youth of "Syl" Collett, as he was familiarly called, did not prevent him from playing a prominent part in the early days of Lehi and Utah county. Where there Indians to subdue, he was always one of the first to respond to the call to  arms.     He was  of heroic physique tall, straight, broad shouldered, and athletic, and he was entirely without fear. If a parley with the Indians was necessary, "Syl" was usually chosen, as he talked the vernacular of the natives as though to the manner born.

While living at Lehi, Sylvanus Collett married Lydia Karren, a daughter of Thomas Karren, and their first son, Sylvanus, Jr., was drowned in the creek near Lehi.

In the early "sixties" Sylvanus Collett removed to Cache Valley, acquiring an extensive ranch where Cache Junction now stands, his father meanwhile being one-of the first four men to settle in Plain City, Weber County.

At Logan, "Syl" Collett was a colonel of militia in the Nauvoo Legion, and took part in the Indian war at Smithfield in 1863. After one or two men had been killed, the Indian chief was captured and held under guard by Colonel Collett, E. R. Miles, and Thomas Winn. The chief's sons came near to the settlement, and at a signal the father made a dash for liberty. Three shots rang out, the redskin leaped high into the air and when he struck the ground he was a "good Injun." The writer of this sketch once asked Mr. Winn his opinion as to whose shot put a quietus on the desperado, and he laconically replied: "I am no marksman, and Miles was but little better; "Syl" could hit a fly's heel a thousand yards with a blank cartridge."

In the winter of 1863 occurred the famous fight with Indians on Battle Creek, in southern Idaho, when General Connor of Fort Douglas wiped out a combination of Bannocks, Snakes, and Shoshones, but with a loss to his own men that made a decided nucleus to the military cemetery on the bench east of Salt Lake City. A short time previous to the engagement, Colonel Collett and Thomas E. Ricks went as special envoys from the Cache Valley settlers to the entrenched Indians on Battle Creek, and secured the return of some animals that the redskins had stolen a short time before.

When the Fort Douglas army reached Logan, General Connor summoned Messrs. Collett and Ricks and went over the situation with them. When a suggestion was offered as to the mode of attack, the intrepid general curtly replied: "Gentlemen, I am asking for information, not advice." From a nearby eminence, Colonel Collett and Dudley D. Merrill witnessed the slaughter of General Connor's men, until late in the day, when a wicked fire from howitzers mounted on mules' backs ended the affray in the almost complete annihilation of the Indians. Colonel Collett always averred that Chief Pocatello was not in the Battle Creek fight, local history to the contrary notwithstanding, and he knew thoroughly well where of he spoke.

After leaving Cache Valley, Sylvanus Collett lived for a while in Nounan Valley, Bear Lake County, Idaho, where he grazed large herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, from whence he removed to Smith's Fork, now Cokeville, Wyoming, where he lived the remainder of his life, engaged in mining, stock raising, and kindred pursuits.

He died while on a visit to Salt Lake City, April 10, 1901. "Syl" Collett possessed characteristics that endeared him to all who had his acquaintance. To his bravery, before alluded to, were added a loyalty to friend and a kindly and charitable consideration for foe in remarkable degree. Of the latter phase of his disposition note the following incident: Through his instrumentality a malefactor was being turned over to officers of the law. The man raved and swore vengeance at the first opportunity. "Syl" unbuckled a horse pistol from his belt and handed it to the culprit with the remark: "Please don't shoot me in the back." The weapon was returned unused.

THOMAS R. CUTLER. An essential requirement for success in a pioneer country is adaptability. New conditions must be met, new methods of life adopted, new problems solved. He who possesses this quality and with it the power of application is bound to achieve success. Thomas Robinson Cutler was such a man, Born June 2, 1844, in Sheffield, England, his parents were Thomas Cutler and Elizabeth Robinson Cutler. His father was also a cutler by trade.

Thomas R. received an ordinary education, and at the age of fifteen he entered into the work of his life-business. For a number of years he was a clerk in a foreign shipping house, and then with his family, all of whom had been converted to the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he emigrated to Utah. He arrived in Salt Lake October 6, 1864, and lived for a year in a little house near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Next year he moved to Lehi and again took up his business career, this time in the employ of the firm of T. and W, Taylor. When this concern later sold out to the Lehi Union Exchange, he arranged for them the terms of the sale. For a number of years he engaged in sheep and cattle raising.

It was when the formation of the Utah Central Railway became a fact that the business acumen of T. R. Cutler made its first step and launched him upon a career which has had few equals in the commercial life of Utah. Recognizing what the railroad would do for Lehi commercially, he conceived the idea of establishing a store near the proposed depot, so in 1871, in connection with James W. and Thomas Taylor, he built a small adobe structure where now stands the Utah Banking Company. For a year he conducted a store here. When, in 1872, the railroad reached Lehi, The concern was in a position to realize upon their foresight.

Accordingly, the People's Co-operative Institution was organized,   and   Cutler   became the manager. This company has prospered since its establishment, due in no small part to its successful management. Thomas R. is now the president of the organization.

When the Utah Sugar Company was organized in 1890, the promoters experienced no trouble in deciding whom they desired to control the affairs of the new industry; they immediately selected the young man from Lehi who had made so great a success of his business there. He was therefore designated general manager of the Utah Sugar Company. The success of the beet sugar industry in the West has been due in no small part to Thomas R. Cutler. His foresight, business sagacity, reliable judgment, and untiring industry have enabled him to conduct the company which employs him, from its possession of a single factory in Lehi, to a gigantic corporation which owns eight factories in Utah and Idaho, furnishes employment to thousands of people, and gives to the farmers of the two states immense sums of money each year for their beets. The company is a monument to his success. But the sugar business is not the only field in which Mr. Cutler has been active. He was one of the promoters of the Lehi Commercial and Savings Bank and the Union Hotel. Other concerns which have benefited Lehi only indirectly, which he has been instrumental in forming, or active in conducting, are the Provo Woolen Mills, and Cutler Brothers Company. In addition he is a director in the Utah State National Bank, president of the Continental Life Insurance Company, and an important member of numerous other companies. He has also engaged to some extent in the mining business.

His public work in Lehi embraces various offices with which the people have honored him. He has been a member of the City Council and city treasurer. In politics he has been a Republican, but in spite of the earnest solicitation of his friends, he has almost universally refused to run for office.

But it is in his ecclesiastical capacity that the people of Lehi will longest remember Thomas R. Cutler. When Bishop David Evans resigned, on September 5, 1879, Thomas R. was the choice of all the people as his successor. For twenty-four years he directed the fortunes of the Lehi Ward, and by his ability to lead, his sympathy for each of those over whom he presided, his broad-mindedness, and his unbounded charity, he won a permanent place in the hearts of the people.

In 1904 the ever-widening scope of his business compelled him to change his residence to Salt Lake City. It was with intense sorrow that the people accepted his resignation as Bishop and saw him depart for his new home. But always they will claim him; always will they think of him as Bishop Cutler of Lehi.

ELISHA HILDEBRAND DAVIS, the son of Isaac and Edith Richards Davis, was born in West township, Columbia County, Ohio, October 22. 1815. His great-great-grandfather, John Davis, came from Wales and settled in Salem County, New Jersey, where the great-grandfather, Thomas Davis, and the grandfather, Isaac Davis, as well as the father, were born.

While the family were living at West Township, Ohio, they were converted to the gospel as taught by the Mormon elders, and in 1838 most of the members of Isaac Davis' family, including Elisha, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after, the family moved to Illinois, and after residing in several places, settled near Nauvoo.

Eiisha was baptized August 19, 1838, by Edwin D. Woolley, and on the 8th of the following January he was ordained an elder under the hands of Lorenzo D. Barnes, H. Sagers, and Edwin D. Woolley. The next day, in company with three elders who had ordained him, he started on a mission to the Eastern States. He labored for about two years in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, assisting in raising up several branches of the church.

On this mission he was instrumental in bringing the gospel to Bishop Edward Hunter, Bishop Elijah Sheets, Bishop Jacob Weiler, the Rhodebach family of Cedar Fort, the Bushman family of Lehi, and many others who afterward joined and became prominent and faithful members of the church.

He often worked in the harvest fields with the people and in this way earned sufficient means  to  supply  himself with clothing and food, and at the same time won the love and confidence of those with whom he associated. In the fall of 1840 he started for Nauvoo, traveling with a family he had baptized. He arrived some time in the following March, and was present at the laying of the cornerstone of the Nauvoo Temple, April 6, 1841.

Having had a brief visit of about six weeks with his father's family, on the 27th of April, 1841, he started on his second mission east of the mountains, which lasted about three years, when he was called by Brigham Young, who had now become the president of the church, on a mission to England, arriving in Liverpool August 19, 1844. on the sixth anniversary of his baptism.   During his entire time in the British mission he presided over the London Conference, and at the close of his ministry, on Christmas day, 1846, he took to wife Mary Ann Mitchell. In company with John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, Joseph Caine, and others, he set sail for the United States on the good ship "America." After a perilous journey, they landed at New Orleans, March 7, 1847, and proceeded up the river to Saint Louis, and thence to Winter Quarters, where Elisha found that his father and sister, Sabina, had died a few days before his arrival.

Elisha and wife remained in Winter Quarters about a year, when they re-crossed the river to Iowa, and built a house on the ground where the Liberty pole stood, and where the Mormon Battalion was rallied. They lived there two years, their daughter, Mary Ann, and son, Elisha, being born at this place. They then removed ten miles east to Keg Creek, where Sarah Agnes was born; remained there a year; and emigrated to Utah in 1852. Mr. Davis tended Bishop Gardner's mill on Jordan River the first winter, as he was a miller by trade, and in the spring of 1853 the family moved to Lehi. In the spring of 1854 they moved to Bountiful, Davis County, and for over a year Elisha ran a grist mill for Heber C. Kimball.. In  1855 they lived in Bingham Fort, near Ogden, and in 1857 returned to Bountiful.

Elisha took part in the Echo Canyon war, and in the "Move" south he once more brought his family to Lehi, where they have since resided. From 1858 to 1869 he had charge of Samuel Mulliner's grist mill, which stood on the present site of the sugar factory. From then to the time of his death, he followed farming and stock raising.

Mr. Davis lived to a ripe old age, beloved and respected by all who knew him. As a result of his early training in the church, he was a theologian of marked ability, and a clear, logical, and forceful speaker, very devoted to his church and a good citizen. He was one of the early members of the City Council, and held other positions of trust and honor.

MARY ANN MITCHELL DAVIS, the daughter of Robert and Sarah Hunt Mitchell, was born in London, England, October 19, 1822; was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in 1842; and was married to Elisha H. Davis in London, December 25, 1846. She set sail with her husband for the United States on the day of her marriage, and settled in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where she lived one year. She was in Iowa three years, and then emigrated to Utah in 1852.

In Lehi, Mrs. Davis has held many offices of trust and honor in the organizations of her sex. For many years she was the treasurer of the Relief Society; was the third lady teacher called to labor in the Sunday School, in 1866; and continued to act until the time of her death. On the 16th of October, 1888, she was set apart as a president in the Primary Association, a work with which she was connected for a number of years. She had great influence over the young, whom she won to her by strong affection and undying love. She was a true wife and a most affectionate mother. As a Saint she lived a holy life, and had the gift of interpretation of tongues, which she received in her early association with the church, and which she retained through life.

She died September 14, 1892. Her family consisted of the following children: Mary Ann, born near Council Bluffs, Iowa, October 31, 1848; living at present in Lehi. Elisha Hildebrand, born near Council Bluffs, February . 7, 1850; now living in Lehi. Sarah Agnes (Mrs. Charles Karren), born on Keg Creek, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, March 21, 1852; now living in Magrath, Canada. Orinda Jane (Mrs. Dilbert H. Allred), born at Bountiful, Davis County, Utah, April 14, 1854; now of Lehi. George Edward, born in Bingham Fort, near Ogden, February 4, 1857; now of Lehi. Alphonzo Mitchel, born February 19, 1859, near Lehi; still residing in Lehi. Edith Richards, born near Lehi, December 17, 1860; died. Sabina Ann, born near Lehi, December 9, 1862; now of Salt Lake City

WILLIAM WALTER DICKERSON, son of James W. and Winnie L. Rice Dickerson, was born July 1, 1880, at Lamar, Benton County, Mississippi. I was baptized into the Mormon Church July 4, 1897, in Mississippi, and married Effie Bell Curtis, October 24, 1897, near Lamar, Mississippi, where we remained until 1899, at which time we moved to Tennessee, and lived in the city of Memphis until August,  1901    We then came to Utah and settled in Lehi, August 21, 1903, where I have remained since.

I have been engaged in the business of carpentering and building in Lehi. My wife and children were sealed to me November 3, 1904, in the Salt Lake Temple. I was ordained an elder March 7, 1904; was called to work in the Sunday School of Lehi Third Ward, in 1905; was set apart as president of the M. I. A., in 1906. I did my first baptizing October 27, 1906, when I baptized twenty-five children. I was ordained a seventy February 4, 1906; called as an aide in the Alpine Stake Religion Class work, in 1908; was called to the Bishopric of the Third Ward as First Counselor to Bishop Lewis, in 1910; and was  ordained a  high  priest in 1910.  I was elected school trustee July 8, 1911.

JOSEPH A. DORTON. son of John Dorton and Catherine Carl, was born June 5, 1821, at Stockport, Cheshire, England.

He came to Utah in 1855, and moved to Lehi in 1857. He was the first butcher in Lehi, also the first one to move outside of the old fort wall, moving over on the divide between this valley and Cedar Valley. He had remarkable skill in dealing with the Indians.

He crossed the plains with the Saints to enjoy freedom of worship, and made two trips back to pilot two more immigrant trains to Utah.

He married Martha Clayton in 1858, and was the father of twelve children.

In I860 he conducted the stage line between Salt Lake and Cedar Fort.

He died November 5, 1898.

MARTHA CLAYTON DORTON, daughter of   George Clayton and Jane Bingham,  was born July   16, 1837,   at Greenlane, Cheshire, England. She emigrated with her parents to Utah in 1855, and moved to Lehi in 1856. She was a member of the first choir in Lehi.

She married Joseph A. Dorton, in 1858, and was the mother of twelve children. She has been a resident of Lehi 57 years.

EDWARD WILLIAM EDWARDS was born in Carmarthenshire, Wales, March 3, 1831. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints September, 1849. He moved from Carmarthenshire to Llanelly, where he was appointed counselor of that branch of the church. In the spring of 1854 he left his native home for America, landing in New York in June, 1854. In August. 1854 he moved west to Illinois. In the spring of 1855 he moved to Saint Louis, Missouri, and a company of fifty, under the direction of Erastus Snow, went to Fort Riley to build the fort.

He was appointed teacher of the camp by Bishop Charles Chord.    The  camp  broke up and they went in the fall of the same year to Saint Louis, where he acted as nurse in the cholera plague, and secured means by which to cross the plains.

The spring of 1856 he moved to Florence, Nebraska, and remained there until the camp was ready to move out on the plains which was with the first hand cart company, in charge of Captain Edmond Elsworth. They arrived on the public square, Salt Lake City, October 3, 1856.

He hired out to Bishop Woolley to work in the saw mills in Little Cottonwood canyon. The latter part of 1857 he moved to Spanish Fork and worked for Bishop Butler until the move south before the arrival of Johnston's army. When he returned, he went to the White Mountains on an exploring expedition. After the army had arrived, he moved to Camp Floyd and worked at his trade tailoring for the soldiers. While employed at Camp Floyd he was shot in the leg by an intoxicated soldier, who, after finding out what he had done, did everything in his power to shield himself, paying all expense of doctors and medical treatment.

After his recovery he moved to Lehi in the spring of 1859, and married Amanda Evans, April 29, 1859, who was the daughter of the late Bishop David Evans of the Lehi ward. She was born April 21, 1844, at Hancock County, Illinois. She passed peacefully away on March 25, 1881. They had born through their union eleven children, eight boys and three girls.

He was ordained in the Fiftieth quorum of Seventies, at Spanish  Fork, and was transferred to the Sixty-eighth quorum, in Lehi. He was a block teacher for many years in the Lehi Ward, and was ordained a high priest about two years before his death. He died in American Fork, November 29, 1903.

The funeral was held at Lehi, December 1st, Counselor A. R. Anderson having charge of the meeting. The deceased was laid to rest in the Lehi cemetery, the grave being dedicated by Joseph Kirkham. He was assistant chorister in the Lehi ward for many years.

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