This document provides a biography of John Egbert and Susannah Hahn Egbert, who were early converts to Mormonism. It details their lives, marriage, family, and experiences migrating multiple times to escape religious persecution, including moving from Kentucky to Indiana to Missouri and eventually settling in Nauvoo, Illinois. Key events included joining the Mormon church after reading the Book of Mormon, being driven out of Jackson County, Missouri by mobs, temporarily settling in Clay County before being asked to leave, and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844 which led Brigham Young to guide the Mormons west to Utah.

1. John Egbert (1779-1873) &
Susannah Hahn Egbert (1786-1857)
John Egbert
Birth 12 July 1779 Staten Island, Richmond, NewYork
Death19 December 1873 Kaysville, Davis, Utah
Susannah Hahn
Birth 10 August 1786 Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland
Death1857 South Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah
MARRIAGE: 1802 Nelson County, Kentucky
History - As a boy John Egbert had been apprenticed out to a devout Catholic Cobbler that he might
learn the harness making and shoemaking trade, as was the custom of the times. He eventually found his
way to Western New York and later landed in Buffalo where he secured employment with a harness
maker. A number of years later he owned a shop of his own.
Somewhere along the Ohio River in Kentucky John fell in love with Susannah Hahn. Her parents were of
sturdy Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Their acquaintance ripened into an engagement and John decided to
go back to Buffalo and get his tools and supplies, promising to return.
After gathering his belongings and transporting them to navigable water, he built a raft on which to float
them down the river. After he had shoved out into deep water the raft started to sink with too much
weight, and it went down with everything he had, and he barely escaped with his life. It was a
heartbreaking loss and almost irreplaceable.
Sorrowfully he made his way back to Susannah and told her he released her from all obligations to
marry him as he was penniless. Her reply was that she had fallen in love with him and not what he might
have accumulated and assured him that with the cooperation of working together they need not change
their plans.

2. They settled in Breckenridge, Harrison County, Kentucky, which lies about 60 miles south of Cincinnati,
Ohio, and here four children were born to them. And here they had their first great sorrow, for in 1812
they lost their oldest child, Grant.
CHILDREN
Grant Egbert, birth: 1803 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky death: 1820Sullivan, Sullivan, Indiana
John Egbert, birth: March 1815 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky - death: 1842, , Illinois
Mary Polly Egbert, birth: 1811 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky
marriage: about 1832 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky spouse: Enoch SEXTON
William Egbert, birth: 26 March 1812 Breckinridge, Harrison, Kentucky
Samuel Egbert, birth: 24 March 1814 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky
Joseph Teasdale Egbert, birth: 10 March 1818 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Corilla Egbert, birth: 10 June 1820 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Robert birth: 10 June 1820 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Cowden Egbert, birth: 12 May 1821 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Elvira Egbert, 10 September 1822 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Andrew Jackson Egbert, birth: 1825 / 1826 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana-death: 1837 Missouri, Illinois
Elizabeth Egbert, birth: 22 March 1824 Sullivan, Indiana
Hannah Egbert birth: 27 May 1829 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Annie Egbert birth: 1831 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
In 1816 they moved over the Ohio River to the north and west in the state of Indiana. While on their way,
their son John was born. They settled in Carlisle, Sullivan County, Indiana which was about 175 miles
west and north of Breckinridge, their first home, but like it, they were favored with water transportation,
it being only five miles east of the Wabash River, which empties into the Ohio, and kept them in touch
with the doing of the day. In the sixteen years they lived here, they had eight more children born to them.
In 1831 and 32 this whole frontier country was electrified by the news that a young man had found a
golden book hidden in a hill in Western New York State, that the book had been given him by an angel,
and that he had even seen God, himself, who had instructed him to form a new church.
The Egbert’s had heard that there were missionaries in the Eastern part of Indiana and in Ohio, who had
a book that had been translated from these golden plates.
While John Egbert, from the experiences of his boyhood, was disgusted with religion, he felt that this
might be something different, so he walked several hundred miles over the eastern part of the state and
secured a book of Mormon. He read it eagerly, and believed its message. One comment he made has come
down was that it had made plain many passages in the Bible that he could not previously understand.
Soon after, an Elder of the Mormon Church by the name of Allred, came to their home and explained
this new religion. The father and the mother with some of the older members of the family, were
baptized. Their life was now to be associated intimately with the new faith. Little did they dream of the
heartaches and trials they were to pass through in their next few years in following a leader who claimed
to have communed with God and angels.
Like all who accepted the leadership of this new church, they got the spirit of wanting to be among the
main body of saints, and as Jackson County, Missouri had been designated as the gathering place for the
New Zion, they accordingly, in 1833, set out for a new home with the eleven of their twelve children. The
going was hard and the trip was slow and especially trying with this large family. After several days
travel through mud, they began to wonder if their move was ill advised, and naturally they thought of
turning back. It became a serious matter with them, as the family was divided as to what to do.

3. Two of the older boys were determined to go on whether the family went or not, so the parents decided to
make a camp along the creek nearby, and reach the final decision the next morning. During the night
there was a hurricane with a drenching rain, the tents were blown down, and wagon covers torn off. By
morning there was not a dry rag in camp, they were all drenched to the skin. The boys who wanted to go
on the night before, were determined as ever but Father Egbert made the final decision. He said the
storm was a chastisement to them forever thinking of turning back, and they would all go on together.
A few more weeks they settled just outside of Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, but they were not
permitted to enjoy their new home long, as the mobocrats were soon busy. They had destroyed the
printing press that had published the Evening and Morning Star, the first paper published by the
Church.
Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Algernon Sidney Gilbert, Bishop Partridge, and his two
councilors had been sent from Kirtland, Ohio to preside and take charge of the work there. Every move
by the Saints to establish themselves had been resented by the old Settlers. Bishop Partridge and Charles
Allen had been stripped, tarred, and feathered on the public square, and there was trouble in the air.
The home of the Egberts being on the outskirts of the settlement was one of the first to be raided. The
family, on being appraised of the approach of the mob, hurriedly cut a bolt of homespun cloth, then being
woven on the family loom, hid it in the loft of their dwelling. The home was ransacked, everything of
value was taken. The barn was raided, and one of their most valuable horses was stolen. Later the leader
of the mob was seen riding him.
During the raid, Father, John Egbert, asked one of the mob for some tobacco, the robber replied he
would rather give him a hot piece of lead, where upon Grandfather opened his shirt, barred his breast,
and told him to shoot. This display of nerve evidently cowed the bravado of the mobber.
They were forced to leave their crops, nearly ready to harvest, and they left for Clay County, Missouri
just across the Missouri River to the north, where they had been invited to come and live by the kindly
people. And for about five years they were permitted to go about peaceably growing and helping to build
up the church. Wards and stakes were organized, and here we have information that Elvira and Robert
were baptized by Apostle David W. Patten.

4. John Egbert was now approaching sixty years of age, and the worry of making new homes, providing for
a large family, the common chills and fever or malaria that troubled so many at that time was preying on
his constitution and he fell sick. His boys he depended on to help with the Spring farm work had not
returned from an extended hunt in the woods where they had gone to hunt for gee trees and honey.
Spring time meant that their crops should be planted. Elvira, now in her sixteenth year, hitched up the
oxen and plowed and planted twelve acres of corn. Corn was a very important part of the diet of those
times and this incident was common to the children of the saints, who felt they were responsible with
their parents to plant, and to weed and harvest the crops.
The harvest in converts by the Church Missionary system was being felt in Clay County. From all over
the United States, Canada, and Europe they came and many settled there. Their once kind friends, the
old settlers became alarmed as they could see they were fast being outnumbered. The conditions were
aggravated by the old enemies in Jackson County, and by the preachers of the Christian Churches there.
The Latter-day Saints were friendly with the Indians and their enemies used this as an excuse to accuse
them of coalition with the Indians to drive out the old settlers and take over political control of the whole
state.
The main part of the Clay County people didn't want to resort to violence, so they reminded the
Mormons of their previous kindness to them and asked them to move to avoid possible hostilities. The
Saints had built for permanency and it was a real sacrifice that they were forced to give up their homes
again but it was the advice of their leaders that they do this, and most of them got out of Clay County the
best they could.
The City of Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. (Approx 60 miles north of Independence, MO) had
just been laid out to be a city of Zion, and Caldwell County, Missouri was recently being surveyed and
opened for settlement, and it looked like there was a chance to plant and make their homes in peace,
there almost in a body. Hyrum Smith lead a large group on from Kirtland and it wasn't long before there
were as many as 15,000 saints in the neighborhood.
This infuriated the Missourians, and together with some apostates, the expulsion of the saints was openly
advocated, and the old spirit returned with increasing violence. The saints had settled in several of the
adjoining counties, and were buying up the rights of the old settlers in the sparsely settled frontier. An
election was to be held at Galletin, Davies, County Aug. 6, 1839 where hostilities broke out. The saints
had been advised by a Judge Morin [sic] a candidate for the state senate, that there was going to be an
attempt to prevent them from voting. On that day when a few of the brethren went to the polls, a Co.
Wm. P. Penniston, who had previously led a mob against the saints in Clay County, Missouri mounted a
platform and told about 100 of the old timers that if they allowed the Mormons to vote they would soon
lose their suffrage. He accused the Mormons of the most ridiculous outrages, stealing cattle and horses,
also scheming to get hold of the offices of county and state; and he made light of the saints' sacred right to
worship God and their belief in prophets and in healing the sick. There were only 11 or 12 brethren there
but they were determined to vote, and when prevented, fights followed and noses were broken. One of the
Mormons by the name of John D. Buhler filled with patriotic American indignation seized a club and
knocked down men right and left. The crowd disbursed and the brethren went home, hid their families in
the brush, and stood guard over their homes that night.
About that time two of the Egbert girls, Corilla and Elvira, were to meet two young men who were to
influence the rest of their lives. They were William Carson and John Carson; perhaps they had met
before as the two families had landed in Jackson County about the same time. But now these young
people were to be drawn together seriously in a most unusual way.

5. The road leading to the towns occupied by the saints were being guarded and the two boys were
called on to do this duty. At night the young ladies made good company and at times they
shouldered the muskets and did the duty themselves so the boys could get some rest. William was
twenty-one and Corilla was 19 and soon they were married. John and Elvira were to remain
sweethearts for a few months more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crooked_River
The battle of Crooked River had been fought in which the beloved Apostle David W. Patten had been
killed. Several of the Saints had been killed at Hahns Mill and governor Boggs had issued his infamous
extermination order wherein all the Mormons must leave the state or die. They were not without friends,
however. The story of the inhuman treatment had been heralded in the adjoining states, and there were
kind hearted people who extended sympathy in the State of Illinois, also in Iowa.
The Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt and others were in chains
in prison. The plans of the leaders had been frustrated, the Zion of the dreams of the Saints had
vanished; several of the leaders had turned traitor. Where could they go for hope?
The Prophet advised them to go East and settle some place between Far West and their old home in
Kirtland. Who was to lead them? Thomas B. Marsh, the President of the Twelve had turned traitor.
There remained a majority of the Twelve and Brigham Young was next in line. He had been busy doing
the things that came to his notice that needed doing. We now hear him pleading with his brethren to help
him get the poor out of the reaches of the mob among friends where they could get food and a chance to
make a living. Friends were raised up in Illinois; collections were taken up to help them. John Egbert and
family did their share of moving and helping others. They located in Adams County near Quincy, Illinois.
In the meantime, the Prophet Joseph Smith had been released from Liberty Jail and had purchased for
the Church a large tract of land about 40 miles to the north of Quincy at Commerce, Hancock County,
Illinois (Rename Nauvoo, Illinois). He had been able to do this by giving his notes to new friends he had
made. Some of the Egbert family moved to Hancock County. Here we have a record of Elvira being
married to John Carson Jan 31, 1841. And of returning to Adams county and [word unreadable] two
years. They later moved to La Harpe, Illinois twenty miles east of Nauvoo.
In late 1839, arriving Mormons bought the small
town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was
renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith, who led the
Latter Day Saints to Nauvoo to escape religious
persecution in Missouri. The name Nauvoo is
derived from the traditional Hebrew language
with an anglicized spelling. The word comes from
Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the
mountains...” It is notable that “by 1844 Nauvoo's
population had swollen to 12,000, rivaling the size
of Chicago” at the time.[
 Engraving of Nauvoo, ca. 1855
While here, a day never to be forgotten is remembered. The Prophet Joseph Smith had been arrested and
taken to Carthage, the Hancock County seat, for trial. While in jail under the supposed protection of
Gov. Ford, the jail was mobbed, and Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed, and John Taylor their
friend, and now one of the Twelve apostle was painfully wounded.

6. In 1844 Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum Smith
were murdered by a mob while in custody in the city
of Carthage, Illinois. In 1846, religious tensions
reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned the
Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo.
Carthage Jail,
Hancock Co., Ill.,
June 27, 1844
C. C. A. Christensen (1831–1912)
Oil on canvas, between 1882–1884
The body of Joseph Smith, dressed in white, lies in the center of the picture. From a second floor window
Willard Richards looks down at the martyred prophet. After the murder, the mob fled, fearing the
arrival of a Mormon posse that never came.
During 1846, Brigham Young abandoned
Nauvoo and began leading 1,600 Mormons west
across the frozen Mississippi in subzero
temperatures to a temporary refuge at Sugar
Grove, Iowa. (East of Des Moines, Iowa)
Young planned to make the westward trek in
stages, and he determined the first major
stopping point would be along the Missouri
River opposite Council Bluffs. (western Iowa
across Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska)
He sent out a reconnaissance team to plan the
route across Iowa, dig wells at camping spots,
and in some cases, plant corn to provide food
for the hungry emigrants. The mass of
Mormons made the journey to the Missouri
River, and by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000 Mormons

7. Spending most of two years (1846-47) at Council Bluffs, in mid year 1848 LDS members, lead by
Brigham Young, stared west to find permanent residence at Salt Lake City, Utah.
Brigham Young Company - 1848
Brigham Young Company (1848)
1220 individuals were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Winter
Quarters, Nebraska
Company Roster
Name Age Birth Date Death Date
Egbert, John 69 11 July 1779 19 December 1872
Egbert, Susannah Hahn 61 10 August 1786 1857
DAUGHTERS
Egbert, Hannah 18 27 May 1829 9 April 1898
Egbert, Ann 18 1830 April 1851

8. ============================================================
CHILDREN - DID NOT CROSS PLAINS TO UTAH
Grant Egbert, birth: 1803 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky death: 1820Sullivan, Sullivan, Indiana
John Egbert, birth: March 1815 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky - death: 1842, , Illinois
Mary Polly Egbert, birth: 1811 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky
marriage: about 1832 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky spouse: Enoch SEXTON
Assumed to have stayed in Kentucky
William Egbert, birth: 26 March 1812 Breckinridge, Harrison, Kentucky
Marriage 30 January 1834 Clay County, Mo Spouse: Elizabeth Lemmon; Mary Ann Lake
Died: 16 March 1892 Linden, Atchison, Mo
Andrew Jackson Egbert, birth: 1825 / 1826 Carlisle, Sullivan, IN - death: 1837 Missouri, Illinois
CHILDREN WHO CROSSED PLAINS WITH PIONEER COMPANIES TO UTAH
Samuel Egbert, birth: 24 March 1814 Breckenridge, Harrison, Kentucky
Allen Taylor Company (1849)
Joseph Teasdale Egbert, birth: 10 March 1818 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Brigham Young Pioneer Company (1847) & Willard Richards Company (1848)
& Allen Taylor Company (1849) with his family
1847 Member the original 1847 Brigham Young Company – Returned to Winter Quarter with Brigham Young
1848 Accompanied sister-in-law Seviah Cunningham Egbert with Willard Richards Company
1849 Brought his wife and children to Utah

9. Corilla Egbert, birth: 10 June 1820 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Corilla Egbert Carson Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851)
Cowden Robert Egbert, birth: 12 May 1821 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana (Mormon Battalion)
Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847)
Joined Mormon Batalliom at Council Bluff - Later meet up with Willard Richards Company
http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/trailExcerptMulti?lang=eng&pioneerId=3458&sourceId=4498
Spouse Egbert, Seviah Cunningham Willard Richards Company (1848)
Elvira Egbert, 10 September 1822 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Elvira Egbert Carson Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851), Age 28
Elizabeth Egbert, birth: 22 March 1824 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Hammond, Elizabeth Egbert24 Brigham Young Company (1848)
Hannah Egbert birth: 27 May 1829Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Brigham Young Company (1848) Traveling with Parents
Annie Egbert birth: 1831 Carlisle, Sullivan, Indiana
Brigham Young Company (1848) Traveling with Parents
Salt Lake City, Utah – 1850

11. Salt Lake City, Utah – 1870s
FIND A GRAVE
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=120902
John Egbert
Death 19 December 1873 Kaysville, Davis, Utah
Kaysville City Cemetery Kaysville, Davis Co., Utah
Plot: 19-2-A-12W
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16002771
Susan Hahn Egbert
Death:1857 South Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah
Union Cemetery Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah
< Sarah E. Egbert (1862-1864)
Daughter of Joseph Egbert 1818-1898
Grand Daughter of John Egbert
Prepared by J.E. Anderson for Aunt Polly Ruth Wardle 1904-1989
Great Grand Daughter of: John Egbert 1879-1873 & Susannah Hahn 1786-1857