Nelson Higgins was born September 1, 1806, in Milford, New York, to Daniel Higgins and Mary Daggets. Higgins converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was baptized in 1834. He was ordained a Priest and appointed to preside over a branch of the Church where he resided.
As a member of Zion's Camp in 1834 he marched to Missouri under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was ordained an Elder at the time of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple and soon afterwards ordained a Seventy, becoming a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
In 1837 he moved to Missouri and experienced the mobbings and persecutions endured by members of the LDS Church in that State. Subsequently he relocated to Nauvoo, Illinois, and then left in 1846.
Having arrived on the Missouri river, he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion and was elected captain of Company D. He spent the winter of 1846–1847 with the sick detachment of the Battalion at Pueblo, and arrived in Salt Lake Valley July 29, 1847. In 1849 he was called to Sanpete Valley to assist in establishing a settlement there and thus he became one of the founders of Manti. Later he moved to Moroni, where he also became one of the first settlers. In 1855 he was called to Carson Valley, now in Nevada, to assist in establishing a colony of Saints there, and remained there until 1857. In 1864 he was called to go to Richfield to preside over that infant settlement, being ordained a Bishop under the hands of President Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.
Richfield was temporarily abandoned in 1867 because of Indian troubles, but in 1871 when the place was resettled, Higgins again returned to his post in Richfield as Bishop until 1873, when he was honorably released and moved to Brooklyn, a small settlement between Elsinore and Monroe.
Higgins was successively captain, major and colonel in the Nauvoo Legion and served as general in the absence of Charles C. Rich. He was successively captain, major and colonel during the Walker war while living in Sanpete, and was a major and commanding officer all during the Black Hawk Indian war.
Higgins married Sarah Blackman in 1827. In 1852 he married Margaret Duncan, and in 1856 he married Nancy Meribab Behmin.
He died in Elsinore, Utah, on November 20, 1890.
(Biographical note extracted from the
The Nelson Higgins papers consist of certificates and other materials pertaining to his military appointments and service in Nauvoo, Illinois and in Utah. Also included are certificates and documents related to his involvement with the LDS Church. The collection contains personal and family materials such as correspondence, patriarchal blessings and widow's pension documents. The collection also contains biographical sketches and other materials written and collected by descendents of Higgins. Some of the documents within the collection contain signatures of Joseph Smith (1805-1844) and Brigham Young (1801-1877).
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Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Marvin Lewis Higgins, Gene Higgins and Kent Higgins in 2013.
Donated by J. Lindroth and Vennis Kay Hansen Lundell (box 3) in 2014.
Processed by Betsey Welland in 2014.
This folder contains both professional and personal correspondence.
Effie Higgins Sellers was the daughter of Joseph Higgins.
Foy Lewis Higgins was a grandson of Nelson and Nancy Higgins. Ella Peason Chavis was Foy's half sister, raised by Lewis Higgins.
Irene Harmon Hult is the daughter of Loretta Higgins.
This speech was given at the 31st annual meeting of the Mormon Battalion Association, in Murray, Utah.