We, descendants of Willard Glover McMullin, can only trace ourselves through our grandfather Willard Glover, through his father, Archibald, Jr., to our great-great-grandfather, Archibald McMullin, Sr., of whom we are only sure of eight positive facts. These are:
Birth of a son to him and his wife, Martha, in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1751. Martha died in Dedham, Massachusetts, January 14, 1753, at the age of 35.
Archibald married Anna Bacel in Dedham, June 15, 1754. Of these two women we know nothing prior to their marriage to our great grandfather, and of Martha, we do no even know her surname. Following are the remaining five dates known:
1st of September, 1755, birth of Martha at Dedham, Massachusetts
6th of March, 1757, birth of Mary at Dedham, Massachusetts
28th of February, 1758, birth of Olive at Dedham, Massachusetts
29th of March, 1759, birth of Archibald, Jr., at Needham, Mass.
14th of June, 1761, birth of John at Dedham, Massachusetts.
Archibald, Jr., is described in army records as being 19 years of age in 1778, reddish hair, 5 feet 4 inches tall, a husband man from Dedham. Archibald, Jr., served two enlistments in the Revolutionary War. First enlisted May, 1778, discharged March, 1779; re-enlisted July, 1779, discharged May 29, 1780. He had served under General Greene
Miss Winona Brown, Town Clerk, North Haven, Maine, wrote me, under date of March 11, 1954, that she had in her keeping the original Honor Roll of all of their soldiers who had fought in all of the wars, beginning with the Revolution, and Archibald McMullin's name is second on the list. The Honor Roll is read every year at their town Memorial Day exercises.
As near as can be learned he left Massachusetts and went to settle on what was known as Fox Islands in Penobscot Bay, ten miles from Rockport, Maine, in 1780 or soon after. Many Massachusetts men were given land in Maine as a payment for military services. I have been told that Archibald McMullin received a half of one of the Fox Islands known as Vinal Haven. Presumably after settling in Maine he married Sarah Robbins, and to them 4 sons and 3 daughters were born, the oldest being David. This David and one other member of the family discarded the Mc in their names and were know by the name of Mullin.
After Sarah's death, Archibald married a Miss Lufkin, and to them one child, a son they name Henry, was born. He lost this second wife and then married a widow, Abigail Shirley Currie, and they also had one son--Willard Glover--who is our grandfather.
Willard was an educated man for his day. His special training was for him to become a sea captain. However, Wilford Woodruff was sent to Maine on a mission and Willard was converted and baptized into the LDS Church by him. He had married a Miss Mary Richard, daughter of Ruth and Josiah Richards, of Searsmont, Maine. To them were born two children who died from an epidemic. He, his wife Mary, and her sister Martha, were members of a party of Saints led by Wilford Woodruff to Nauvoo. On January 9, 1846, Willard Glover went to the Nauvoo Temple and received his endowments with 105 other Saints.
When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, Willard, his wife, and sister journeyed westward as far as Winter Quarters, where they remained to help in the outfitting of many of the Saints for the westward trek. They also engaged in planting crops to grow and be harvested by others who would come later. Mary died during these trying times, and upon the advise of Brigham Young, Willard married his sister-in-law, Martha, on January 6, 1848. They left Winter Quarters early in 1848, and must have arrived in the spring, as a son, Willard Glover, was born in Salt Lake City, June 2, 1848. The child died April 27, 19499.
A second child, Martha, was born September 1849, and she only lived until May 10, 1850. Brigham Young was born March 29, 1851.
Willard Glover McMullin, our grandfather, was called to go on a mission to England. He was at this time living in East Weber. This he did, and Mary Ann Holmes, an English convert, born July 2, 1836, at Doddingham, England, came over on the same ship that he returned on. She was the only one of her family to embrace the LDS faith. She became a wife to Willard Glover after their arrival in Salt Lake City. She also went to East Weber to live.
Both wives--Martha and Mary Ann gave birth to sons in early spring of 1856. Some time after the birth of the boys, Willard Glover moved his family to Payson, Utah. There he taught school and was the official baptizer for the community.
He was called to help colonize Dixie, and the families came to Harrisburg, Washington County, in December of 1862 as part of the cotton mission, having left their home in Payson in November. He built two large comfrotable stone houses in Harrisburg for his families. One, and probably both, were of two stories, and both faced onto a large paved quadrangle dooryard of flag stones. He also built a fine large stone milk house, perched over a ditch of running water--one of the town's sources of irrigating water.
Willard Glover was a stone mason as well as a school teacher, and he taught his two older son, Brigham and Ira, the mason's trade. David, his third son of his wife Martha, became a blacksmith. His wife Martha, died in Harrisburg, June 11, 1867.
He worked a year on the St. George Temple. Later he took his older sons out to Pioche where they had a wood-cutting contract. Part of the time he spent in Pioche he did mason work. Seems that he had to go where work was, and be a wage earner to support his families, and no doubt help in the purchase of such building materials as had to be purchased, and for home furnishings for those families. After the opening of Silver Reef, he and his boys worked there.
Willard Glover McMullin was the father to thirteen children, by three wives. Grandfather had a custom of blessing his grandchildren when they were 8 days old.
On October 18, 1884, after a hearty supper, he retired, and then was suddenly taken vilently ill, hemorraging from the mouth, and died before anyone could help him. The family had had a supper of fresh fish, and I have wondered if a swallowed bone caused that sudden death.
We are descendants of Willard Glover's first daughter, born to his second wife, Mary Ann Holmes. Her name is Abigail, and she was born November 12, 1861, in Payson, Utah. She married Isaiah Cox, Jr.