Nathaniel Rudolphus Bennett and Mathilda Josephine Anderson Burns Bennett ~~~ Pioneers of the Month ~~~ May 2021

Back in 2015, we posted Nathaniel Rudolphus Bennett as our 15th of June  "Pioneer of the Month"; written by Olivia Burns 

We have since found more information on Family Search that includes his wife Mathilda Josephine Anderson

Burns Bennett. 

The Posting of June 2015 can be found here: Bennett:

Nathanial Rudolphus and Mathilda Anderson Burns Bennett

 

The memory of Rodolphus Bennett told by his daughter Effie

 

 

In August, 1871 or 1872, a band of Indians riding some horses they had stolen from the bishop came across the hills to Fairview where my Grandfather and two other men were taking the town herd home to Fairview. It was a dark rainy night and as the herders passed a stone quarry, at the point of a hill near the river they were fired upon by some of the Indians lying in ambush. My Grandfather, Peter Larsen Sr., saw one of the Indians just as he was firing, he jumped just in time to save his life but was shot in the hand and an arrow pierced the back of his neck. He mounted his horse and rode for home where his wounds were treated. One of the men made it home but died a few days later. In one instance, in the early spring of 1866. Mr. Bennett with his Captain, caught nine Black Hawk Indians, and put them in the jail at Manti, Utah. About April 14, they broke jail, three of them being killed while trying to escape, the others going as far North as Fountain Green, then called Uinta, going into the mountains on the West. On April 18 Chief Sanpitch was killed in Birch Creek Canyon. Mr. Bennett and others followed the other Indians until dark that night. The next day he was detailed with others to take up the tracks. They followed on over the big mountains south east of Nephi, over taking one Indian, and killing him. Four miles farther on they over took another one. (This was an Indian called Tankwitch). Mr. Bennett had a hand to hand fight with this one, he having a big butcher knife and Mr. Bennett a pistol. Kill or be killed, Mr. Bennett finally killed him. Not long after, they were sent to surround a camp of Black Hawk warriors in Juab Valley, where they captured a number of them, killing five.

 

 

Rudolphus Funeral Grave Site 

~~~~~

Matilda Bennett 

Birth:10 March 1852

death: 13 February 1936burial: Mount Pleasant, Sanpete, Utah, United States 

marriage: 22 March 1869

Rudolphus Nathaniel Bennett ~ Pioneer of the Month ~ June 2015

Birth: Oct. 7, 1843
Nashville
Jackson County
Iowa, USADeath: Dec. 29, 1927
Manti
Sanpete County
Utah, USA

Rodolphus N. Bennett, Indian war veteran, pioneer settler and colonizer, and the oldest man in Mt. Pleasant, died at the family home Thursday after a long illness due to the infirmities of old age.

Mr. Bennett was born October 27, 1843 in Nashville, Iowa. His parents, David and Johannah, Lovelith Bennett and their ten children were among the earliest converts to the L. D. S. faith, coming to Utah in 1850 in the company of which David Bennett was captain.

Mr. Bennett came to Mt. Pleasant among the earliest settlers in 1852, and had resided here ever since, with the exception of some years spent in colonizing settlements and on missionary labors.

His first wife died May 2, 1900, and two years later he married Mrs. Matilda A. Burns, widow of Sheriff Milton Burns, who survives him. Three sons and three daughters by his first marriage also survive.


Family links:
 Parents:
  David Alma Bennett (1801 - 1853)
  Joanna Lowell Bennett (1803 - 1856)

 Spouses:
  Hannah E Allred Bennett (1848 - 1900)*
  Mathilda Josephine Andersen Bennett (1853 - 1936)*

 Children:
  William Rudolphus Bennett (1864 - 1930)*
  Ann Laura Bennett Madsen (1885 - 1976)*
  Isaac Rowlin Bennett (1887 - 1964)*

 Siblings:
  Laura Elizabeth Bennett Young (1826 - 1880)*
  Alma Harrison Bennett (1831 - 1905)*
  Mahetable Mahala Maria Bennett Beers (1834 - 1888)*
  Rudolphus Nathaniel Bennett (1843 - 1927)
  Emma Euphrasia Bennett Porter (1848 - 1928)*

*Calculated relationship
 Burial:
Mount Pleasant City Cemetery                              
Mount Pleasant
Sanpete County
Utah, USA
Plot: A_36_3_8
Maintained by: Penne Magnusson Cartrigh...
Originally Created by: Utah State Historical So...
Record added: Feb 02, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 141772

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hannah E. Allred Bennett 
Birth: Aug. 24, 1848
Death: May 3, 1900

Family links:
 Spouse:
  Rudolphus Nathaniel Bennett (1843 - 1927)

 Children:
  William Rudolphus Bennett (1864 - 1930)*
  Ann Laura Bennett Madsen (1885 - 1976)*
  Isaac Rowlin Bennett (1887 - 1964)*

*Calculated relationship
 Burial:
Mount Pleasant City Cemetery
Mount Pleasant
Sanpete County
Utah, USA
Plot: A_36_3_7
Maintained by: Penne Magnusson Cartrigh...
Originally Created by: Utah State Historical So...
Record added: Feb 02, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 141773

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mathilda Josephine Andersen Bennett

Birth:	Mar. 10, 1853, Sweden
Death:	Feb. 13, 1936, USA
Mrs. Matilda Josephine Anderson Burns Bennett, 82, died Thursday evening following a lingering illness of causes incident to age. Mrs. Bennett was the widow of former Sheriff James Burns, early peace officer of Sanpete county, who was shot and killed by outlaws during a cattle foray in the mountains east of Spring City. Her oldest son, James Milton Burns, deputy sheriff, was killed while on duty as a guard at a Utah Fuel company mine in Castle Gate. He died of injuries suffered when beaten by a negro who later was lynched by a mob. Born in Jutland, Sweden, March 10, 1853, Mrs. Bennett was a daughter of Joseph and Marie Hogenson Anderson, who came to Utah in 1860,. She was married to Sheriff Burns in Salt Lake City in 1869 and lived Manti until his death in 1894. She married Rodolphus N. Bennett, an Indian war veteran, in 1902, and lived here. He died in 1926. Five sons and two daughters survive: Mrs. Lydia williams and A. A. Burns, Willow Creek, Mont.; Mrs. Beatrice Olson, Mt. Pleasant; J. H. Burns, Marysvale, and Reed Burns, Manhattan Beach Cal.; a brother, Oscar Anderson, Mt. Pleasant; 19 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Salt Lake Tribune February 15, 1936. Family links:  Spouses:   James Christopher Burns (1849 - 1894)   Rudolphus Nathaniel Bennett (1843 - 1927)  Children:   James Milton Burns (1873 - 1925)*   Clifton Thomas Burns (1879 - 1934)* *Calculated relationship
Burial: Mount Pleasant City Cemetery Mount Pleasant Sanpete County Utah, USA Plot: A_108_2_4
Maintained by: Penne Magnusson Cartrigh... Originally Created by: Utah State Historical So... Record added: Feb 02, 2000 Find A Grave Memorial# 142614

Burns, James ------ December 2008

WHO WAS SHERIFF JAMES BURNS?
James Christopher Burns was the son of John and Lydia Ann Porter Burns. He was born in Linden-Rock Port, Atchison Missouri in September of 1849. His parents were headed for California in the Great Gold Rush of 1849.At the place known as “the Last Crossing of the Sweetwater”, in the State of Wyoming, two-month old baby James Burns was found by a company of other travelers. He was lying at his mother’s breast. Both parents lay cold in the embrace of death. They had succumbed to the deadly disease of cholera. Deadly cholera is a very contagious disease. One brave soul from the company by the name of Milton Dailey risked his life to save the baby, if possible. The kind-hearted people of the wagon train did what they could for the baby, and they put forth efforts to find any relatives.
Arriving in Salt Lake City, they found the Saints gathering for conference, and Milton Dailey, gave the baby to Brigham Young who held him in his arms before the conference gathering, told of his parents tragic death and asked for information. The baby’s aunt, his mother’s sister, was among the saints and claimed the child.
He was then taken to the home of his grandmother at Provo, Utah. His early boyhood and manhood was spent in Mt. Pleasant, where he was educated and grew to the type of man that earned the love and respect of all who came in contact with him.
He fell in love with Matilda Josephine Anderson. It was thought by many to be “love at first sight”. James Burns often remarked that when he gazed into Matilda’s eyes of blue, he knew she was the one being in the world to make him happy. They were married on the 22nd March 1869.
After the Blackhawk War, he made friends with the red men, allowing his children to play with them, learn the Indian songs and dances, and many of their phrases.
James Burns prospered and progressed and became the Sheriff of Mt. Pleasant, and later served the people of Sanpete County in the same capacity.
Then on the 24th of September 1894, he received a telegraph notice from Scott Bruno, asking him to meet him in the morning at Moroni, as there had been a sheep stealing case.
The following is taken from the writings of Niels Heber Anderson:‘Bill Brewer, Scott Bruno, Niels Heber Anderson and Sheriff James Burns confronted sheep rustlers at Reader’s Ridge back of the Horseshoe Mountain. Evidence of the changing of the ear marks and brands made it quite clear that certain sheep had been stolen.
Sheriff Burns made an attempt to place the rustlers under arrest without first disarming them. As he approached them, they shot and killed the sheriff, then warned the other men that if they did not stay out of the affair, they would receive the same treatment as had been given the sheriff.
Bill Brewer and Anderson brought the news to Spring City and Mt. Pleasant. Thomas Braby, with the Mt. Pleasant Militia, was soon on the scene of the shooting, and the body of James C. Burns was taken to Mt. Pleasant. Although the Militia searched and guarded for a couple of weeks in the ledges and dense timber, the murderers were never apprehended.
“James Burns’ life was short but some there are who do not have to live long to accomplish big things. He was killed in the performance of his duty.” Olivia Burns – daughter in law and author of James Burns History