Question: What special blessing was Stephen A. Hadlock allowed to give his wife at Winter Quarters?
Answer: Stephen Hadlock was born February 12, 1790 in New Hampshire to Jonathan Hadlock and Betty Petty. Stephen’s father, Jonathan Hadlock was from Massachusetts and fought in the Revolutionary War. Stephen enlisted in 1814 during the War of 1812
Stephen Hadlock married Sally (Salley) Alton on December 5, 1816. Sally was born November 23, 1796 in Connecticut to Abel Alton and Irene Sanger. We don’t know how they met, but they were married in New Hampshire and then moved to Vermont before their first child was born. Mormon missionaries found them there, and in 1833 Stephen and Sally joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They soon had a desire to join with the Saints in Ohio.
Early in 1835, Stephen and Sally, with their family of seven children left their lovely home in Jay, Orleans County, Vermont, and gathered with the Saints in Kirkland, Ohio. Here they made their home for three years; and here another child was added to the family. Stephen was a member of the Kirkland Elders’ Quorum.
In 1838 they became members of the Kirkland Camp, a group of faithful Saints, who didn’t apostatize and were asked by the Prophet Joseph to move to Missouri. Two weeks after they arrived at Adam-ondi-Ahman, the mob came in and forced them to leave town. Stephen and his family then headed to Illinois with the other Saints leaving Missouri. They settled in Brownville, Illinois, where two other children were born, the last of their ten children. Stephen and Sally heard of the death of the Prophet Joseph while living here. They left this home at the time the Saints were leaving Illinois to head West under the direction of Brigham Young.
Kanesville Tabernacle
While at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Sally became ill, but regained her health. Then Stephen took sick and died on September 9, 1847, and was buried there at Council Bluffs in an unmarked grave. He was fifty-seven years of age. Sally and her children stayed in Council Bluffs until 1850 before starting for Utah.
Sally (Salley) Alton Hadlock
One winter after Stephen had passed away, Sally was injured while trying to help build them a small home there. As she was in bed thinking of the plight of her family, her husband, Stephen, came to her in a dream and told her she would get well and go to the valley of the mountains to live. This gave her courage and she was soon well once again.
In 1850, Sally started the trek West with her mother (Irene Sanger Alton, age 79), six daughters and two sons. On the Pioneer Overland Travel site of the Church, they are listed as traveling West in 1850 in an “unknown” company. They started out with the two boys driving the oxen. They hadn’t gone far when their son, Oren, took sick, and Sally had to drive the oxen on one of the wagons. As they were going to cross the Missouri River, the oxen didn’t want to go across, and they started going down stream. Oren raised up from his sick bed in the back of the wagon, and called to the oxen. They knew his voice, and after some persuasion, Sally succeeded in getting them across the river. Oren improved and was soon able to drive the ox team again.
After they arrived in Utah, they settled in the Ogden area. Sally died on February 29, 1880 in Marriott, Weber, Utah at the age of eighty-three and was buried in the Ogden Cemetery.
Source: “Stephen A. Hadlock and Sally Alton,’ FamilySearch.org; FindAGrave.com; Kirtland Elders’ Quorum Record 1836-1841, Edited by Lyndon W. Cook and Milton V. Backman, Jr. Provo, Utah: Grandin Book Co., 1985, Source: Kirtland Elders’ Quorum Record, RLDS Archives.
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