Willow Creek Camp of Utah pioneers
Sketch of Harriet Delight Warner Henderson
Written by her daughter Lucy Henderson

     Harriet Delight Warner Henderson descended from a race of pioneers, her forefathers first
settled among the New England States of New Hampshire and Vermont, and also in New York.
at a time when these states were sparsely settled and open hostility existed between Great Britain
and the United States.  Therefore, we not only find them engaged at various occupations but also
find them engaged in taking up arms in defense of the American colonies.
     Harriet's great grandfather, Daniel Warner, served in the French and Indian wars and also
in the American War for Independence.  He was a sergeant in the U.S. Army.  Her grandfather,
James Billington, was a Major in the U.S. Army in the second war with Great Britain, the War of
1812.  Grandfather Solomon Warner served as a member of the Vermont Legislature in 1806. 
Her father Solomon Warner left his native state when a young boy and worked in different parts
of the country.  In 1830 he married Rebecca Billington (Mason) a widow while he was in Ohio. 
Soon after their marriage they learned of the story of the Angel Moroni visiting the earth with the
restored gospel message which they accepted as true and were baptized April 1, 1833 at Norton,
Medina Co. Ohio.
     Harriet Delight Warner Henderson was born September 9, 1830 at Coventry, Portage
County, Ohio, the eldest child of a family of 10 children.  She lived among pioneer surroundings
all her life, as her parents traveled from state to state before coming to Utah.  After her marriage
she lived the life of a pioneer in Willard, Utah and also in Idaho.
     She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints on April 1844 by
Samuel Bent at Nauvoo, Illinois.  She remembered the prophet Joseph Smith very well, as her
father's mother assisted Emma Smith occasionally when they had company.  Mother remembers
that one time when she was a young child the prophet took her on his nee and hugged her and
then continued his conversation with the other members of the household.  When she chipped
into the conversation with her childish talk, he patted her hand and said, "Children should be
seen and not heard."  She remembered the correction very keenly, but always remembered ow
Joseph and his brother, Hyrum loved children.  
     Mother attended the first Relief Society organized in Nauvoo, but did not join as her
parents did not have the fee required to become a member.
     She worked in the homes of different people in the localities where they were located to
secure money to aid in the financial requirements of the home.  On the journey across the plains
and mountains to Utah, she drove a team of two yoke of oxen, in the wagon rode an invalid lady
whom her parents were bringing to Utah.  One day the oxen became frightened at the buffalo and
ran.  She managed to get hold of the horn of the head ox.  He carried her down the hill at a rapid
speed and in a very rough manner, but finally she quieted the animals without accident, though
many thought she would be trampled to death.  After a long and tiresome journey they arrived in
Salt lake City, October 10, 1852, but instead of remaining there they traveled north and wintered
on the banks of the Weber River near Birches mill.  The next spring they moved north again, and
stopped at North Willow Creek, now known as Willard on April 10, 1853.  This pleasant spot of
fertile farm and garden lands lying between the Great Salt lake on the west and the mountains
with their tall sentinel peaks at the east, proved to be the first real resting spot her parents,
Solomon and Rebecca Billington (Mason) Warner had enjoyed since their marriage.  It also
proved to be their last resting place, for here they made their home and here they were buried. 
Most of their children were also buried here.  They had lived in Willard, but two years when the
mother died leaving her husband and six children, most of them grown to manhood and
womanhood.
     Soon after Harriet had arrived in Willard she met a young man, Robert Henderson, who
had left his home in Glasgow, Lanark Country, Scotland for the gospel, and they married.  He
proved a true and noble companion to her.  They were poor, as were the other saints, so she put
forth great effort to aid in a financial way by making soap, quilts, spinning, weaving, dying yarn
and cloth and so on, and she sold what she could.
     On November 24, 1956, a conference was held at North Willow Creek.  The saints were
instructed to renew their covenants and be rebaptized.  It was a time of general rejoicing in the
settlement.  She with her husband were rebaptized nov. 26, by Moses Dudley and confirmed by
George W. Ward.
     In 1857 trouble arose between the Mormons in the Territory of Utah and the United
States Government caused by false reports about the Mormons being carried to the President. 
Johnson's Army was sent west, and the saints began to make preparations to defend themselves. 
Rather than submit to the tyranny of rude soldiers, they decided to move south and seek a place
in which to establish a new colony.  April 10, 1858, Harriet with her husband and family ,a dn
their neighbors traveled 130 miles south, but when on June 1, two United States Commissioners
came into the Territory and investigated conditions, they found no cause for trouble and the
people returned to their villages and homes.
     In 1863 Harries received her endowments and was sealed to her husband by Daniel H.
Wells at the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City.  It was in this year, 1863, that her father's
cousins, the Hodges, came from Scotland bringing their family of seven children.  Father and
mother welcomed them into their home which consisted of two small rooms, though mother had
just given birth to a small daughter while their prospective guests were on the way from Salt
Lake City.  They also had two young babies with them.  Sister Hodges had given birth to twins
while crossing the plains in a cattle car.
     During 1863 most of the field crops were damaged by frost, bu the peaches escaped
damage and there was a good crop of them, but no market.  It was necessary to cut and dry them
so the crop wouldn't be wasted.  Most of this work fell to the women and Harriet labored very
hard with her co-workers to save the crop of peaches.
     Father's brother, William Henderson, came from Scotland in June 1871 to visit the west,
and returned home in September while his sister Ellen arrived from Scotland during September
and made her home with them for a short time.  She was a cheerful happy person.
     Father responded to a call to fill a six month mission to southern State in 1871.  His
absence made it necessary for mother and her small daughters to attend to the stock during his
absence, as well as managing the household duties.  On the night when Father and Brother
Bankhead, his companion returned home the storage room containing most of the eatables, extra
clothing, grain and books was destroyed by fire, lighted from a match dropped by a person
stealing grain.  When George Mason heard of the fire, he came bringing two bushel sacks of
flour and a ham; Brother Thane stepped in with enough beef for breakfast of such good quality. 
Such was the neighborliness in pioneer days.
     Mother was a slender person of medium height, light complexioned with blue eyes and
fine light brown hair, which in her younger days she wore in long strands.  During her early
married life she was very frail and had the misfortune to bury four boys and three girls.  This
broke her health.  Though her trials seemed severe she relied very much on the assistance of her
Heavenly Father who gave her strength to bear her trials and who greatly blessed her.  She had
the blessing of raising one son and five daughter so maturity.  These children have remained true
believers and workers in the Church of Jesus Christ and good citizens in the communities where
they reside.   
     She received great promises in a patriarchal blessing from Patriarch Hyde.  In 1880, my
parents moved to Three Mile Creek, now known as Perry.  Mother was very unfortunate in
breaking her bones.  In 1885 she had a severe accident crushing her right arm badly.  In 1894, the
Three Mile Creek Reservoir broke its bank and flooded the valley below, and washed away our
home at Perry.  The family operated a fairy for a number of years.  The home at Willard and farm
were maintained and the ranches at Perry, Mount Springs, and Malad were also established an
operated.
     After the herds ere driven to Mt. Spring or to the Malad ranch in the spring, Mother and
her children would run the dairy, with the assistance of hired help when needed and father
worked in the store at Willard and worked the Willard and Perry farms, at 3 mile creek.
     Many times Harriet drove the team with the wagons loaded with dairy products down
from the ranch having with her one or two of her small children and crossing the Bear river at the
Hampton Bridge with the steep dugways leading to it.  In the spring the river overflowed its
banks and the road was lost.  Because of this, the road was staked out with posts on the north side
of the bridge to aid travelers from driving into deep holes.  Driving over this road was a very
trying experience for a woman with a nervous temperament as mother had.  She also greatly
dreaded meeting Tope Indian because of his very ugly disposition and because he loved to
frighten white people.  She could speak the language of the Indian s about here fairly well.
     They continued to run a dairy, moving to Mt Springs and Malad in the summer and to
Perry in the winter, until in 190 when mother suffered a stroke form which she never fully
recovered.  Although she was able, at one time to walk for a few weeks, she fell and injured her
hip.  For 7 years she was not able to take a step and during the last five years of her life she was
not able to lie down in bed.
     She was the mother of 13 children, a true industrious wife and loving mother.  May her
reward be great in the world beyond.  She departed this life Nov. 28, 1905 at her old home in
Willard, Utah.  
By Lucy Henderson, historian