Haight, Isaac Chauncey, 1813-1886

Born in New York, joined the LDS Church in 1839, and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842. Crossed plains to Utah in 1847. He was involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but makes no mention of it.

Mormon leader in southern Utah.

Isaac Chauncey Haight (1813-1886) was an early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He traveled with the Mormons as a pioneer as they traveled to Utah. Brigham Young sent Haight on a three-year mission to England, where part of his duties included studying iron making. Upon his return Haight was made president of the "Iron Mission" in Cedar City. He served as the town's mayor and as an important church leader. His alleged involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre and his practice of polygamy forced him to flee from Federal officers and become an exile late in life. While a fugitive Haight assumed the name Horton (his mother's maiden surname) and freighted material for the construction of the St. George temple.

Isaac Chauncey Haight was born in Windham, New York, on May 27, 1813. He originally worked on his family's farm, but a severe case of pneumonia in his early twenties damaged his lungs and he gave up farming for a teaching career in Moravia, New York. In 1838 he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1842 moved with his family to Nauvoo, Illinois. He briefly served as a bodyguard for Joseph Smith before joining the Nauvoo Legion. Following Smith's death, Haight followed the Mormons to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Haight served on a mission in England from 1850-1853, and on his return to Utah was placed in charge of the Deseret Iron Works in Iron County. He was involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, for which he was investigated and excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1870 (he was reinstated in 1874). Haight served on the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition, but was still sought by secular authorities for Mountain Meadows and left Utah for Mexico and later Arizona, where he died on September 8, 1886.