Microfilm of the autobiography of John Langston, covering his childhood through 1875. Langston recalls growing up in England and briefly moving to the United States before his father's interests failed and the family returned to England. Langston worked at iron works in Staffordshire and Wales before returning to the United States at the age of sixteen. He writes of working at iron works in New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and of spending the early 1840s looking for work in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. He eventually got hired as a steamer fireman in St. Louis and settled in Independence, Missouri, in 1844. Langston then describes a serious illness he suffered and his subsequent decision to join the Carmelite Church. He briefly covers his time in California, his journey to Council Bluffs, and his decision to join the Mormon Church after much internal debate over the practice of polygamy. After briefly writing of his overland journey to Utah, Langston focuses on the Utah War of 1857-1858, including his time in the Alpine militia at Echo Canyon. He believed that the U.S. Army was "sent out...with the intent of hanging and killing all the leading Mormons." The last few pages of the volume trace Langston's move to Rockville and his cotton growing experiences through about 1875. All inquries about this item should be sent to the H. Russell Smith Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Microfilm. San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library Photographic Dept., 1948? 1 microfilm reel : negative 35 mm. Forms part of the Manuscripts Department's Mormon file, c.1805-1995. John Langston (1822-1882) was born in England and came to the United States in the late 1830s. He worked at iron works in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before settling in Independence, Missouri, in 1844. He mined for gold in California from 1850-1851, and after returning to Missouri started for Council Bluffs in 1852. While there he became interested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was baptized in 1854. He arrived in Salt Lake City in 1855 and settled in Alpine, Utah. He was a member of the Alpine militia at Echo Canyon during the Utah War. Langston was called to Dixie in 1862 and lived in Rockville, where he grew cotton. He died in Rockville in 1882.
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
