Photo: Sybil Andress – Milo’s Oldest Sister
Milo Trivia!
How well do you know your history?
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Question 1: Which of Milo’s 11 wives divorced him only to remarry him later in life?
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His first wife, Abigail Jane Daley. They were married in 1833, divorced in 1851, and remarried in 1886.
Question 2: True or false? Milo emigrated to Salt Lake City in 1847 with Brigham Young.
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False. Milo remained in Winter Quarters in 1847 to grow crops for other Saints going west. He was then called on a mission to England and didn’t reach Salt Lake City for the first time until 1850.
Question 3: How many wagon trains did Milo lead across the plains to Salt Lake City?
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Three. 51 wagons and 206 people in 1850, 461 people in 1855, and 38 wagons and 620 people in 1861.
Question 4: How many sets of twins did Milo have?
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Two. Orson and Parley were born to seventh wife Ann Brooks in 1862, and Benjamin and Joseph were born to ninth wife Margaret Ann Boyce in 1877.
Question 5: How many of Milo’s 57 children lived to adulthood?
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41.
Question 6: True or false? The Andrus Half Way House was called this because it was half-way between Salt Lake City and Provo.
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False. There were many rest stops for travelers moving south from Salt Lake City. The Andrus house was half way between Travelers Rest near 6400 South and Porter Rockwell’s rest stop near the point of the mountain.
Map: Milo’s Big Cottonwood Property
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4690 S. Holladay Blvd., Holladay, Utah
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After moving to Utah in 1850, Milo settled in the Big Cottonwood area, 12 miles south of Salt Lake City. He lived here off and on between missions and other assignments from 1850-1870. Around 1858 we know he was serving as the LDS bishop of the Big Cottonwood ward. This area is now part of Holladay, Utah.
Currently
Currently the Holladay Pharmacy is on this property. Outside the pharmacy is a plaque telling about Milo and his wife, Ann Brooks, and about what Holladay was like when they lived there.
Close By
Four blocks south on Holladay Boulevard is Milo Way, presumably named after Milo. There is an LDS chapel on Milo Way and Andrus Family reunions have been held here in the past.
Milo is buried a few miles south of here in the Holladay Memorial Park cemetary (4900 Memory Ln, Holladay, UT — just east of the former Cottonwood Mall).
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Photos (Click each photo to see a larger version.)
Looking south from the Holladay Pharmacy. |
Looking east to Mt. Olympus. (This may have been the view out Milo’s front door.) |
Plaque erected by Holladay City about Milo and Ann Brooks in front of the Holladay Pharmacy. |
A close-up on the plaque. |
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About Milo
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Articles and Documents
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Photos
Milo in His 60s
Milo Andrus in 1883
Milo Andrus in 1885
Milo Andrus in the late 1880s
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Milo Andrus in 1890
Milo Andrus in the 1890s
Sybil Andress – Milo's Oldest Sister
Milo's Original Gravestone
Ruluf's Hotel (Milo's Father)
The Gravestones of Ruluf and Azuba Andress (Milo's Parents)
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Maps and Driving Tours
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Resources
Milo Andrus and the Founding of Mormon Grove
In 1852, Brigham Young, the current prophet of the Mormon Church, instructed new converts to “gather, without delay, to Zion.” 1 They came in waves of hundreds. As they immigrated, various outfitting posts were selected each year where the incoming immigrants could assemble.
In late August 1854 Brigham Young directed Milo Andrus, the stake president in St. Louis, to find a place on the western frontier where the European immigrants could safely and temporarily settle before continuing on to Utah. He wanted a place that was beyond St. Louis, closer to the frontier. He specifically named Kansas as a possible settlement and outfitting location. In his opinion, the immigrants would have a better opportunity “to labor for cattle, provisions, etc. in these healthier localities.” In previous years many shiploads of immigrants had been “unhealthily crowded into rooms at St. Louis,” 2 where they found it difficult to obtain short-term work.
On February 17, 1855, Milo Andrus and others left St. Louis bound for the western Missouri River frontier. They were to find an outfitting location that could be used for the spring emigration. On March 20th, Milo reported that he had secured land in a hickory grove approximately four miles west of Atchison, Kansas, that could be used for a staging ground. 3 It was on a bend of the Missouri River 12-miles farther west than any other outfitting point, and had good grazing land and water. He named it Mormon Grove. Atchison is 50 miles north of present-day Kansas City.
Atchison, Kansas [Click to enlarge.]
In May 1855 Milo returned to Mormon Grove with 550 head of oxen and cows that the Mormons would use in crossing the plains. When emigrants started arriving they divided according to nationality and then by overland company. The camps were organized with rows of tents framing streets and alleys between them. These camps were also organized into branches that were presided over by church leaders.
As companies with several hundred people in each were readied, they moved out onto the prairies to begin their march westward. Milo himself led a wagon company of 461 people across the plains to Salt Lake City. In total, 2,030 emigrants, 337 wagons, 2,433 oxen, 319 cows, 86 horses, and 8 mules had journeyed from Mormon Grove . 4 Mormon Grove was used as a staging ground until July 1855.
The next year, in 1856, the outfitting post moved from Mormon Grove to Iowa City, Iowa. It was selected because Saints could travel there by rail, making the journey faster and more economical.
In 1986 a historic marker was erected at Mormon Grove. The interpretive sign is headlined: “Mormon Grove: The City That Disappeared.”
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1 "Seventh General Epistle of the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 14 (July 17, 1852): 325.
2 Brigham Young to Milo Andrus, August 31,1854, Brigham Young Office Files (LDS Church Archives, transcript).
3 "The Point of Outfit for Our Spring Emigration," St. Louis Luminary, March 31,1855, 74.
4 "Report," St. Louis Luminary, August 18, 1855, 155.
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Extracted From
"On the Outskirts of Atchison: The Imprint of Latter-day Saint Transmigration at Mormon Grove." An article by BYU professors Fred E. Woods and Melvin L. Bashore.
Barrett, Ivan J. (1992) Trumpeter of God: Fascinating True Stories of the Great Missionary and Colonizer, Milo Andrus. American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, Inc.
