Robert Wilson Glenn

I found a website http://www.rootcellar.us/glennrw1.htm that had a 10 page story about Robert Wilson Glenn and his family. It seems that this family had some interesting facts and contradictions in their lives. Although part of his family was strong abolitionists, other parts of his family were slave owners. The abolitionist side of the family included Robert’s brother-in-law, Rev. John Blackwell, who, with his wife, raised her younger siblings along with their own 10 children after Robert’s parents died. Another of Robert’s sisters, Agnes, also married a Minister, Joseph Royal. Even though both these preachers were very outspoken against the institution of slavery as being morally wrong, there were others in the family that were slave owners. That section of the family came from what was usually called the small planter class; they had a valuable, though not extremely large, plantation.

Also, there seemed to be differences in the family’s vocations. While part of the family was in the planter class, Robert’s oldest brother, Squire, became a blacksmith. In startling contrast to the rest of the family was the career of Robert's second oldest brother, Tyre Glenn (1800-1875). He engaged in every conceivable kind of business ... land speculation, slave trading, merchandising, whiskey making, iron mongering ... anything that would make money. He also owned the Glenn Ferry, which operated on the Yadkin River.

The family seemed to be quite effected by the wars of their times. In the Regulator's War (1767), a pre-revolutionary rebellion in North Carolina against the crown, "Tirey Klann" (Tyree Glenn), Robert Wilson Glenn’s grandfather, was arrested and forced to give an oath of allegiance in Salem, NC. His uncle, Austin Glenn, became a minister and was hanged by the Confederate Vigilantes in March 1863 in Hunt County, Texas, for being a Union sympathizer. Three of Austin’s sons served in the Union Army. One son, Joseph, was a scout killed at Little Rock. Another served in the Confederate Army as a physician. He had been conscripted, or forced, into service, but served honorably. Robert’s maternal grandfather and great-father were both killed during the Revolutionary War period, perhaps by British soldiers.
Robert himself served in the Mexican war being wounded in the conflict.

The story of Robert’s conversion into the Church is also not the typical story. After the Mexican war, Robert went into the business of hauling freight on the Santa Fe Trail. On one of his trips to Spanish Fork, one of his drivers got into a fight and was stabbed. Being a pretty good lawyer, Robert brought his driver to Salt Lake to defend him. Here, while camped on the old Tithing House block, a stranger came up and started a conversation with Robert that included religion. The stranger was Parley P. Pratt and the next morning Robert was baptized. He was faithful to the church and his callings until his death in 1873 of pneumonia.

Another interesting site I found was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenwood,_Utah which told of how a small town in northern Utah, was named after him.