Correspondence: D. W. Garber, 1949-1969

File — Box: 1, Folder: 6

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Jacob Myers Sr. papers (1801-2009) consist of correspondence, documents, meeting minutes, autobiographical and biographical materials, articles, and photos. A considerable portion of the Myers papers focuses upon the Haun's mill massacre of 1838. Included in the collection is a handwritten record of the Freedom branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The person who played a seminal role in the development of this collection was Dwight Wesley Garber, a resident of Richland county, Ohio and a distant relative of the Myers family. After acquiring the Myers papers in 1949, Garber commenced a multi-decade investigation of the life of Jacob Myers Sr., aspiring to write a biography of this nineteenth century millwright and Mormon migrant. Within a few months following the purchase of the collection, D.W. (as he identified himself in his correspondence) contacted Dr. Bertha Ellis Booth, who had received a doctorate in classical literature from the University of Chicago in 1915. Booth lived in Caldwell county, Missouri, the site of the infamous Haun's mill massacre of 1838, and had been engaged in the research and the writing of a manuscript entitled "Driven Out of Zion," an account of the expulsion of the Mormons from that part of Missouri. She shared her considerable knowledge of the Haun's mill episode with Garber whose interest in the history of mills and the exploits of Richland county Mormons led him to collect materials pertaining to the Haun's mill murders and the Mormon Battalion. By 1969 Garber had written a ninety thousand word manuscript entitled "Jacob Myers, the Mormon Miller and the Massacre of the Mormons in Missouri." The existence of this manuscript is unknown. According to Garber, ninety per cent of Dr. Booth's books and papers were removed from her home before she died in 1964. Garber believed that a portion of these materials was donated to Drury College which is located in Springfield, Missouri. The Bertha Booth papers can be found in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection which is housed in the University of Missouri's Elmer Ellis Library. See Garber's letters to Richard Price and the correspondence between Garber and Booth, all of which can be found in Box 1. Several primary source materials related to the infamous Haun's Mill Massacre are located in boxes 2 and 3. Some of these documents have been published in Beth Shumway Moore's book, "Bones in the Well," which appeared in 2006. Several photos pertaining to the Myers family and historical sites are filed in box 5.

Dates

1949-1969

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.