Richard Henry Sudweeks

Biography

Richard Henry Sudweeks

Richard Henry Sudweeks [This information is taken from a history written by Janiece S. Cooper.] Richard Henry Sudweeks was born in Northville Township, Illinois on May 13, 1851 to Henry and Sarah Sweet Sudweeks. His father was an Englishman who had been a sailor in the English navy. His mother was from Canada, where her father (Wait Sweet) owned 200 acres in Ontario, near Buffalo, New York. Later Wait Sweet and his wife moved to Northville, Illinois, where Sarah Sweet met Henry Sudweeks. They were married in 1843. After about ten years, his parents joined the Mormon church and decided to take their family to Utah. They had only a few problems crossing the Plains, occasionally shooting their guns to scare away buffalo herds getting too close to the wagons. After living in Salt Lake for a while, the family moved south because Johnson’s Army was coming. They lived in Nephi for a while, where they evaporated water from Salt Creek canyon to get salt. Then when Richard Henry was eleven, his father was called on the Cotton Mission to Dixie. Life in Dixie was difficult, as crops were washed away by floods, burned by drought, or eaten by insects. They tried to farm in Duncan’s Retreat, Virgin City, St. George, and Cedar Fort, but always struggled. Richard Henry married Hannah Eugenie (Gibbs) Elder and lived near Cedar and Johnson’s fort. He then found a place near a fork in the Sevier River, where he homesteaded and convinced his wife’s mother and his parents to move as well. They had 160 acres each. Hannah and Richard were married in the Endowment House on 12 July 1870. Richard also married his wife’s half sister, Maria, in 1881. Federal Marshals were looking for polygamists, and so Henry and other men who were being looked for hid in a barn in Circleville, among other places. They even hid out in places where the outlaw Roy Parker (also known as Butch Cassidy) hid. They later decided the coast was clear and went home. But the marshals found Richard and arrested him. On September 26, 1886, he was sentenced to four months in prison and $300 for each conviction (of unlawful cohabitation). When the judge asked if he would keep the law in future, he “respectfully declined to make any promises.” Wilford Woodruff was also in prison at the time. On May 30, 1887, Richard was released from prison. He refused to divorce either of his wives, so he was still hunted by the federal marshals. He finally found a place to live in Nephi and settled there with Mariah and her children. Hannah and her children were left on the property in Kingston, with her oldest boys helping on the farm. Her brother and mother were also close by. In Nephi, Richard Henry farmed land and also worked for the railroad. Once a handcar came up behind him and his velocipede jumped the track. The wheel of the handcar went over his legs, and the doctor could only save one of them. He made himself a wooden leg and later got one made out of cork. He farmed again, but had another accident when he fell from a load of hay and broke his leg in several places. He was taken to Salt Lake for surgery and never regained consciousness from the anesthetic. He died November 12, 1913 at age 62. He was survived by two wives and all fourteen of his children.