Given Family Massacre

The Black Hawk War's first spring took a whole family here. War broke out in 1865 as Ute bands fought the loss of their land and the game settlement had destroyed, and it fell hardest on newcomers with no fort to run to. John and Eliza Given had just settled this meadow with their four children when a Ute raiding party struck at dawn on May 26. All six were killed; two hired men escaped and ran six miles for help that came too late. The family was buried together at Fairview. It is hard history, and true.

What the plaque says

In the spring of 1865 John Given with his wife Eliza and their four children, John Jr., Mary, Anna, and Martha, settled in the meadow land about 110 feet west of here. They built a cabin and willow shanty. Charles Brown and Charles W. Leah were helping them plow and plant crops. Early in the morning of May 26th they were attacked by a band of Indians. Brown and Leah escaped and ran six miles for help, which came too late. The entire Given family was massacred and their cattle and household furnishings taken. The murdered people were buried in Fairview.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Payson Lakes — 11 mi
  Three alpine lakes in the pines, twelve miles up Payson Canyon
• Nebo Loop Summit — 11 mi
  The byway's 9,300-foot high point, with Utah Valley spread out below
• Devil's Kitchen — 12 mi
  A pocket of red-rock hoodoos high in the green Wasatch — a "little Bryce Canyon"
• Fairview — 13 mi
  The north gate of the Heritage Highway, home to a near-complete Ice Age mammoth

More markers nearby

• Birdseye Marble Quarry — 7.8 mi
• Salt Creek Canyon Massacre — 13 mi
• An Inspiring Heritage — 13 mi
• Mill Stones — 13 mi