Miles, Samuel, 1826-1910

Born in New York, converted to the LDS church, and moved to Far West, Mo., Nauvoo. Was a member of the Mormon Battalion. A farmer, he settled in St. George, and was a member of the United Order.

From the description of Autobiography, 1826-1881. (Utah Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 86147032

Samuel Miles (1826-1910) was a teacher and farmer in St. George, Utah. He served in the Mormon Battalion.

Samuel Miles Jr., son of Samuel Miles Sr. and Prudence Marks, was born on April 8, 1826 in Attica, New York. During the winter of 1833-1834, after moving to Freedom, New York, near to the Warren A. Cowdery (brother to Oliver Cowdery) family and receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ though Elders John Murdock and Orson Pratt, the Samuel Miles Sr. family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1835, to follow the saints, the Samuel Miles Sr. family left Freedom, New York for Missouri, and then in 1839 to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Samuel Miles Jr. was educated at the University of the City of Nauvoo under the tutelage of Orson Pratt, and became a teacher in various schools and counties, including Hancock County. He left Nauvoo with the Saints in 1846, but enlisted freely in the Mormon Battalion after arriving in Council Bluff, Iowa in July of that same year. After arriving in San Diego and moving to San Francisco for work near Sutter's Mill, he traveled with a group of Battalion men to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving on September 10, 1848.

On September 6, 1849, Samuel Miles Jr. married Hannah Marinda Colborn in Salt Lake City, Utah. The couple had nine children, eight of whom grew to adulthood. In January of 1851, he was ordained a Seventy in the 8th Quorum. He farmed and ranched on his own land, but also returned to work as a schoolteacher. In the fall of 1861, the Samuel Miles Jr. family was called by the Mormon Church to assist in the cotton mission in St. George, Utah. The family moved and settled in St. George, and Samuel continued work as a teacher. In 1874, he took part in the short-lived St. George United Order as a laborer. By 1875 he began working on a farm in Price, Utah. The St. George Temple was dedicated in 1877, and Samuel Miles spent the majority of his time for the next several years farming and teaching to earn a living for his family and working at the temple, completing work for his ancestors. Samuel Miles died on May 22, 1910 in St. George, Utah.

From the guide to the Biography of Samuel Miles the son of Samuel and Prudence Marks, circa 1852-1881, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)