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John Garrett (1815–1899)

Probably the Gloucestershire shoemaker who crossed to Utah in 1853, lived at Moroni beside other Morrisite families, and ended his life near Blackfoot, Idaho, where he took up land under four different federal land laws.

On the roll
Garrett, John, in the 1861–62 roll of membership printed in 1886, with Thurza, Fenetta E., Hennage, Richard W. and Jane Garrett
Identification
Probable: the Family Tree person fits the roll’s family by his children’s names, and the 1880 census finds him at Blackfoot with his wife Thirza
Born
June 11, 1815, Gloucester, England, son of William Garrett and Rachael Jones (Family Tree)
Died
May 9, 1899, Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho (Family Tree)
Wives
Finetta Nancy White (1815–1853), married January 1, 1845, at Bedminster, Somerset; then Thurza, the roll’s Thurza Garrett, aged 55 in 1860 and 75 (as “Thirza”) in 1880. Family Tree records a second marriage in 1855.
Children
With Finetta: Richard White (1846–1874), Finette Elizabeth (1848–1932) and Heneage Amelia (1851–1934), the roll’s Richard W., Fenetta E. and Hennage (Family Tree)
Family Tree
FamilySearch K2W8-44D, John Garrett (1815–1899) (probable match)
Connected names on the roll
Garrett, Thurza; Garrett, Fenetta E.; Garrett, Hennage; Garrett, Richard W.; Garrett, Jane

Life

  1. 11 Jun 1815Born at Gloucester, England. (Family Tree)
  2. 1 Jan 1845Marries Finetta Nancy White at Bedminster, Somerset. (Family Tree)
  3. 1851A shoemaker in Gloucestershire. (1851 census of England and Wales, in Family Tree)
  4. 1853Crosses to Utah in the Joseph W. Young Company with his children Richard and Heneage. Finetta dies the same year. (Church History Biographical Database; Family Tree)
  5. 1860A shoemaker at Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah, with real estate worth $200 and personal property worth $250. The household is Thurza, 55, Richard, 14, Phenetta E., 12, and Amelia, 10 (Heneage Amelia). Niels R. Beck, also on the roll, is on the same census page. (1860 U.S. census)
  6. 1861–62John, Thurza, Fenetta, Hennage, Richard and a Jane Garrett are on the roll of membership. John is not on the list of men brought before Judge Kinney after the siege (Deseret News, June 25, 1862).
  7. 1870Probably the “Jno. Garrett,” 50, born in England, a fur trader, with Martha, 50, at a mining camp in the Snake River district of Oneida County, Idaho, enumerated August 4, 1870. His daughters were in the next district, Upper Snake River, counted by the same enumerator, A. J. Borland, a week earlier: Fenetta, married to F. S. Stephens, and next door Heneage, entered as a 19-year-old man working at mining (read as “Hemage Jarret” and, by the USGenWeb transcribers, “Honage Ganet”). (1870 U.S. census)
  8. 1874His son Richard dies in Idaho. (Family Tree)
  9. 1880Living at Blackfoot, then in Oneida County, Idaho, with his wife Thirza: John, 65, and Thirza, 75, both born in England. (1880 U.S. census)
  10. 1882–92Receives four federal land patents near Blackfoot, all in the same township (Boise Meridian, T3S R35E), each under a different law: 158.45 acres by cash entry (January 20, 1882, Oxford land office); a 160-acre homestead (April 18, 1888, Oxford); 200 acres under the Desert Land Act of 1877, which required the claimant to irrigate the land (September 23, 1890, Blackfoot land office); and a Timber Culture Act claim, granted for planting trees (March 17, 1892). (BLM General Land Office records)
  11. 9 May 1899Dies at Blackfoot, Idaho. (Family Tree)

Thurza, not Martha

The roll names John’s wife Thurza, and the 1860 census at Moroni has Thurza, aged 55. The 1870 census in Oneida County gives the wife of “Jno. Garrett” as Martha, aged 50, which raised the question of a second wife. The 1880 census answers it: John Garrett, 65, and his wife Thirza, 75, were living together at Blackfoot. The 1870 “Martha” was most likely the enumerator’s mistake.

The land at Blackfoot

John’s four patents lie close together in one township near Blackfoot, more than 500 acres in all. Using cash entry, the Homestead Act, the Desert Land Act and the Timber Culture Act together was a common way to put together a larger farm than any one law allowed. A homestead normally needed five years’ residence before final proof, so John was probably living on that land by about 1883, when he was in his late sixties. The case files at the National Archives would show when he made each entry and who witnessed his proofs.

Open questions

  • Who is the Jane Garrett on the roll?
  • Did family members help him work the Blackfoot land, or join him there?
  • Where were the Garretts between the siege of 1862 and 1870? Did they go to Soda Springs with the other Morrisites before moving north toward Blackfoot?

If you can answer one, write to contact@morrisite.org.

Sources

  1. Roll of membership, 1861–62. Printed by George S. Dove & Co., 1886. See Roll of membership.
  2. “The Davis County Bandits.” Deseret News, June 25, 1862, p. 412. See Documents.
  3. Church History Biographical Database: John Garrett, Joseph W. Young Company (1853). Church History Department
  4. 1860 U.S. census, Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah Territory: John Garrett household. FamilySearch image
  5. 1870 U.S. census, Oneida County, Idaho Territory (NARA M593, roll 185), enumerator A. J. Borland: Snake River district, p. 168B (handwritten p. 4), dwelling 11, Jno. Garrett household (FamilySearch image); Upper Snake River district, p. 171B (handwritten p. 6), dwellings 1 and 2, F. S. Stephens household and Heneage Garrett (FamilySearch image). Transcription: USGenWeb Census Project, 1870 Oneida County, Idaho, transcribed by Robert E. Lane, proofread by Linda Talbott.
  6. 1880 U.S. census, Blackfoot, Oneida County, Idaho Territory, enumeration district 27, p. 323b, dwelling 9: John and Thirza Garrett. Ancestry, 1880 United States Federal Census (NARA T9, roll 173).
  7. Bureau of Land Management. General Land Office Records: land patents to John Garrett, Boise Meridian, T3S R35E: January 20, 1882, cash entry (accession STA-ID0010__.017); April 18, 1888, homestead (STA-ID0110__.415); September 23, 1890, Desert Land Act (STA-ID0020__.148); March 17, 1892, Timber Culture Act (TC-0144-330). glorecords.blm.gov
  8. FamilySearch Family Tree: John Garrett, K2W8-44D; Finetta Nancy White; Richard White Garrett, LZD7-CXH; Finette Elizabeth Garrett, K2W8-4G8; Heneage Amelia Garrett, LWFJ-F6L. Consulted November 4, 2026.

Cite this page

Rogers, Eric Paul, ed. “John Garrett (1815–1899).” Morrisite.org. https://morrisite.org/person/john-garrett.html. Updated November 4, 2026.

Last updated November 4, 2026. Corrections and additions: contact@morrisite.org. Back to the roll of membership

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