Thales Haskell

We come to the cabin of Thales Haskell.

Thales is not our ancestor, but it is interesting to note what kind of neighbors we had.

If you are going to send a group of pioneers into a no-mans-land between waring Indian tribes, hoping the make a peace between them, you had better send someone experienced in Indian affairs.  Thales was just such a man.

Many people are aware of the near legendary status of Jacob Hamblin as a missionary to the Lamanites, but if we were to compare Jacob to Batman, then Thales would be his faithful sidekick, Robin.  Thales had served under Jacob on many a dangerous mission.  Of all the stories told of Jacob Hamblin (and in which Thales was involved) the story of Agarapoots has to be the most famous.  Here it is as told by a renowned story teller, Juanita Brooks:

"Then the old Chief Agarapoots came into the area, angry and threatening to drive the white men out.  Jacob Hamblin, now the head of the mission, had tried kindness with him, always insisting that the Mormons were 'tooche-e-weino Tick-a-boo,' or very good friends who had come to help the Indians.  With ugly defiance, Agarapoots killed an ox belonging to the settlers, skinned it, and divided it up among his band.

"The other white men, Dudley Leavitt, Thales Haskell, and Zadoc Judd among them, thought that Agarapoots should be punished; whipped, perhaps, or forced to pay for the ox in horses or skins.

"Jacob insisted upon handling the affair in his own way.  He went to talk to Agarapoots, but was greeted with signs of disdain and scorn--the thumb on the nose, the wrinkled nose and shrugged shoulder, the pantomime of vomiting.  "Mormon poogi not good," he said repeatedly.  'Mormon poogi no hurt Agarapoots.'

"'You will make your own bad medicine,' Jacob made him understand.  Indeed it seemed so, for the very next day the chief sent post haste for the Mormon leader.  His little son had become severely ill and now he wanted some Mormon medicine or poogi.

"Jacob, looking at the child, could see that it was past human aid, so refused to pray over it, saying that the parents should first wash it and clean it up, as he had been trying to teach them.

"Agarapoots refused, and the little fellow breathed his last as they argued about it.  Now the chief accused Jacob of allowing the boy to die by not doing his poogi, while Jacob tried to make him see that the sickness was his own fault in the first place.  Did he not promise him that he would make his own evil medicine?  Did he not deserve this?

"Did he forget the time when the women and children were out of the fort, how he and his men had charged down upon them and almost run their horses over the Mormon papoose?  Did he not force himself into the Mormon fort when the men were away and frighten the women and children?  If Jacob's own little boy, Lyman, had not scrambled over the back wall, caught the mare that was feeding among the willows, and ridden up toward where the men were working on the dam, who knows what Agarapoots might have done?  Jacob did not need to remind the old chief of his fear when Lyman blew the cowhorn signal that echoed all along the valley.  This hideous sound was what really scared the marauders out of the fort and sent them galloping away.

"Next he had killed the ox.  Would he pay for it?  No.  So now his boy is dead.  See, Agarapoots made his own evil poogi.

"Agarapoots and his tribe moved toward Pine Valley for the burial rites and to be near the head of the stream and out of the heat.  But he left swearing vengeance against the settlers.  Then the friendly chief, Tutsegavits, came to report that Agarapoots was going on the warpath; the white men wanted to prepare to fight.  But Jacob would have none of it.

"'You pray him dead,' Tutsegavits begged with childish faith.  'Him heap bad man.  You pray him dead.'

"Jacob asked for volunteers to go with him to the Indian camp. The men sat silent for a long time before Thales Haskell said, 'I guess that means me.'

"The two men rode toward the Pine Valley camp of Agarapoots, but the Old Chief would not come out of his wickeup to talk to them.  Jacob distributed some bread among the braves who stood about and made them understand that he really wanted to be a friend to them all.  Then, stepping to the door of the wickeup, he said, 'Agarapoots make his own katz-at poogi' (evil medicine) and turned to ride back to the Santa Clara.

"When a few days later Agarapoots died, all the Indians believed it was Jacob's curse that killed him.  From that time forth, he had a much greater influence over the southern tribes than he could have won in any other way."  (Juanita Brooks, "John Doyle Lee", Utah State University Press, 1962, p. 194-195.)

As Jacob Hamblin himself told the critical part of the story (as far as my thesis goes) he said, "I invited all the missionary brethren, one by one, to go with me, but they all refused except Brother Thales Haskell. One of the brethren remarked that he would as soon go into a den of grizzly bears. When I went to the house of Brother Haskell and opened the door, he said, "I know what you want. You wish me to go with you to see Agarapoots. I am just the man you want." (See: Paths crossed on the Western Frontier.)

Thales knew much of grief related to frontier life, and he demonstrated a great quality of forgiveness.  Again we let Juanita Brooks tell the story:

"Thales Haskell had adopted an Indian boy who was now coming into his early teens.  One day while all the men were at work on the dam and ditch, this boy took Thales' gun from over the mantel, evidently wanting only to examine and experiment with it.  The girl wife, Maria, did not dare remonstrate and before either of them knew what was happening, the gun was discharged, the bullet entering her body near the hip on the left side, passing through the abdomen, and lying just under the skin on the right side.  Maria was more than six months pregnant, which meant that the child had been killed also."  ("John Doyle Lee", p. 196.)

This young woman suffered intensely for more than 24 hours before dying.  The young man fled to Jacob Hamblin (apparently to be judged) pleading that it was an accident.  "Thales was devastated but did not seek retaliation. . . ."  Thales believed the boy and did not seek to punish him.  (see: For more information on Thales Haskel click here.)

The above link tells another cute story about Thales, this time of his experiences dealing with Indians in the area near Bluff. An Indian called Navajo Frank had been stealing horses from the Mormon settlers. Borrowing from the example of his former leader, Jacob Hamblin, Thales told Frank that if he did not repent and stop stealing that he would get sick and die. Not long after, Frank did get sick, near death and pleaded with Thales that if he would ask God to remove the curse that he would never again steal from the Mormons.(see: See the full story here.)

 For more of the story of Jacob Hamblin click here.

See more of the story of Thales Haskel here.

OK, enough story.  Here are some pictures from the cabin that Thales Haskel's family built to honor his memory and to represent his cabin in Fort Bluff:

This is the view as we step in the cabin.

I took these close ups of this bench to examine the pioneer style joinery.

 This appears to be an authentic pioneer era trunk.  Did it belong to Thales?

If you click on these pictures you can see them in greater detail.  You may have to click on them a second time to get them to display in the largest size so that you can read these displays clearly.