Pace, James, 1811-1888.

U.S. Army Lieutenant; Mormon Battalion.

James Pace (1811-1888) was born in Double Springs, Tennessee, the son of James Pace and Mary Ann Loving. In 1831 he married Lucinda G. Strickland and next year moved to Shelby County, Illinois. James first heard Mormonism preached in April of 1839 and both he and his wife were baptized into the church. The following year James was ordained a deacon and moved his family to Nauvoo, Illinois. He met Joseph Smith (1805-1844) and was chosen as one of his private security guards. He was elected to be a captain in the Nauvoo Legion and also joined the Mormon Battalion as a First Lieutenant in Company E. In 1850 he moved his family to Utah where they were called to settle along Peteetneet Creek in what was later known as Payson. Pace was elected president of the church branch there and also took a second wife, Margaret Hewit. In 1852 he was called to go on a mission to England that lasted for three years. Upon his return in 1855 he took a third wife, Ann Webb. Pace moved his family to New Harmony, Utah in 1861 where he would farm and build houses for the next twenty years. The last five years of his life were spent in southern Arizona along the Gila River at Thatcher.

James Pace was born in Double Springs, Tennessee, on June 15, 1811, a son of James Pace, who was killed in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The younger James married Lucinda Strickland in 1831 and moved to Illinois in 1833. In 1839 James and Lucinda were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and traveled to Nauvoo in 1840. In 1846 James joined the Mormon Battalion while in Iowa and arrived in Los Angeles in 1847. Later that year he was discharged and traveled to Salt Lake City, where his family had already arrived. From 1852 to 1855 he served on a mission to England, and also went on missions throughout Utah, including to Washington County. He married at least two plural wives, Margaret Hewit and Ann Webb. In the 1880s James and Ann moved to Gila, Arizona, and James died at Thatcher, Arizona, on April 6, 1888.

Facsimile of James Pace's 1856-1857 Mormon Battalion diary. Traces his travels from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to California; records the hardships of camp life; describes Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Luis Rey; and mentions Pace's tensions with his superiors, including a copy of a letter he wrote to Philip St.George Cooke asking to "be treated with a little more respect than I was on some occasions." Concludes with Pace's travels back to Salt Lake City by way of the Truckee route.