Lafayette Erastus Huntsman’s cremated remains were not initially taken after his death and were for many years available at the Oregon State Hospital to be claimed by anyone who is related. In 2020 the ashes were received by a relative.

More information about unclaimed cremains at OSH is available at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/osh/Pages/cremains.aspx A book by David Maisel and a short documentary film by Ondi Timoner & Robert James, both entitled "Library of Dust" also provide more information.

Lafayette was born in Fillmore, Millard County in the Utah Territory about 1871, not in 1879 as stated on his death certificate. His mother, Eunice Emma Holbrook, was born in Missouri in 1838. His father, Gabriel Riley Huntsman, was born in Ohio in 1830. They were married about 1855 and had 11 children, all born in the Utah Territory. The children included: Gabriel Riley (in 1856), Orson (in 1859), Joseph (about 1862), Eunice (about 1866), Heber (about 1869), Lafayette (about 1871), Edith (in 1873), Josephine (in 1877), Eva (in 1879), and Allen (in 1883).

At the time of the censuses of 1860, 1870, 1880 & 1900 Lafayette’s family were living in Fillmore in the center of the Utah Territory where his father was a farmer and merchant. On 1/7/1885 Lafayette’s brother Joseph was accidentally shot and killed while hunting for rabbits with friends. The Huntsman family posted a statement in the newspaper saying they did not hold the shooter, W. H. King, responsible and asked the community not to blame him. Lafayette was about 13 when his brother died.

In October 1888, in Provo, Utah, when Lafayette was about 17 he was charged with “intent to do bodily harm.” He pleaded guilty and got a suspended sentence as long as he could maintain good behavior. Four days later he was charged with the same thing and pleaded not guilty.

On 6/25/1896 in Millard County, he married Elizabeth Lea McMahon. She was born in 1877 in Fillmore. They had one child, William “Nolan" Huntsman. He was born in Fillmore on 5/12/1897. Seven months later in February 1898, Elizabeth and Lafayette divorced on the grounds that he had deserted her and failed to provided for the family. Elizabeth was granted custody of their son. In May 1898 (during the Spanish American War) Lafayette volunteered for the military according to a newspaper account. There is no other indication he actually enlisted. In April 1899 he was charged with selling liquor without a license which he had reportedly been doing for several years. Although the jury felt the evidence was sufficient to convict him, they found him not guilty because of instructions given by the court. The community was said to be “indignant” over this turn of events.

Although Lafayette has not been found in the 1900 census, he was known to be studying the law in Salt Lake City in August 1899. At that time his ex-wife Elizabeth and their son Nolan were living with her parents and sister in Fillmore where her father was a farmer. On 8/30/1901 Elizabeth married Frank E. Hanson and they had a son about 1902. That marriage was short-lived and she married William C. Payne on 2/25/1904. Elizabeth and William Payne had 2 daughters. During the 1910 census Lafayette’s son Nolan (age 12) was living with his mother, step-father (William Payne) and half-siblings in Fillmore. Before 1920 Elizabeth divorced William Payne and married Albert Warner on 5/19/1920.

Layfayett’s mother died in 1903 in Utah. Lafayette first appeared in Portland, Oregon in 1903 when he was arrested for disorderly conduct. About 1904 he married Bertha Jane Baker. She was born in Oregon in 1884. On 1/2/1905 in Oregon, Bertha and Lafayette had a daughter they named Eva R. Huntsman. On 5/31/1907 in Fillmore, Utah, when she was 17 months old, Eva developed “brain fever” and died three days later. Brain fever is an antiquated term for a disease that has symptoms consistent with meningitis or encephalitis. Layfayette’s father died a month after Eva.

In September 1905 while visiting Bertha’s family near Roseburg, Oregon Lafayette was arrested for drunkenness, disorderly conduct and assault & battery. According to a newspaper account, he “took on a copious cargo of booze” as he entered and was kicked out of several establishments including a restaurant, saloon, train depot, hotel, funeral parlor, and finally a private home before he was arrested. Along the way he started several fights and was beaten up badly.

One month later in October 1905 he failed the Oregon bar exam, but passed it in 1906. In the census of 1910 Lafayette and Bertha were living in Portland, Oregon. He was working as a lawyer in his own practice and she was a milliner. In 1912 he was the defense attorney for two men who operated a dancehall. It was said teenage girls were “smoking, using profane language,” and “swaggering around with painted lips” at the dancehall. When Lafayette cross-examined the accusers he was said to be “insulting and full of insinuation” which angered the judge. The jury found the owners of the establishment guilty of “maintaining a public nuisance.”

In 1916 Lafayette was in a car accident and was arrested for driving while intoxicated. He and Bertha were listed together in the Portland City directory until 1916. It is not known what became of her after that. While Lafayette was living in Oregon he and his son Nolan must have stayed in touch. Nolan named his father as his nearest relative and emergency contact on the draft registration of 1918.

In August 1919 Flora May Baker came to Lafayette as a client and asked that he help her get an annulment of her 1904 marriage to Ralph Clayton. Flora said that unbeknownst to her Ralph was actually a woman named Katie Jane Chapman. Lafayette assured Flora he would have her marriage annulled. He then proposed to Flora and they were married in September 1919. Four months later Flora learned her first marriage had not been annulled. In April 1920 she was granted her annulment from Ralph/Katie. In November 1920, Flora filed for divorce from Lafayette alleging cruelty and adultery. Lafayette countered with a complaint that Flora “associated with improper persons,” held spiritual seances, pressured him to give up his law practice to become a professional spiritualist, and “went to public dances.” It is assumed that Flora and Lafayette were granted a divorce.

Lafayette’s son Nolan was working for the police force in Salt Lake City for 2 years when on 2/15/1924 he attempted to arrest a robber in a cafe. The thief shot and killed Nolan, Nolan’s partner, and himself. Nolan (age 26) was survived by his wife Lucy and two very young daughters, Elaine and Nolene.

In the 1930 census Lafayette was living in a lodging hotel in downtown Portland. On 5/12/1936 he was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital, a residential facility in Salem, Oregon for the treatment of people with mental illness. He was listed among the patients at the state hospital on the census of 1940. After being a patient at the institution for 10 years he died there of cerebral arteriosclerosis on 1/22/1947. He was about 76 years old. He was survived by his two granddaughters. While he was institutionalized his ex-wife Elizabeth Payne died in Salt Lake City on 2/5/1941.

Lafayette’s brother Gabriel Riley Huntsman died of a heart attack on 7/30/1936 just 2 1/2 months after Lafayette was institutionalized. Gabriel’s obituary listed Lafayette as living in Portland so perhaps the family was unaware he was hospitalized in Salem. Gabriel’s son Gabriel “Alonzo” Huntsman (1886 - 1963) was a teacher and school superintendent in Fillmore, Millard County, Utah. His son Alonzo Blaine Hunstman (1910 - 1990) was also a teacher and school superintendent. Alonzo’s son, Jon Meade Huntsman, Sr. (1937 - 2018) became a businessman, billionaire, philanthropist and Staff Secretary to Richard Nixon. Jon’s son Jon Huntsman, Jr. became the governor of Utah, served as the Ambassador to China during the Obama administration and was selected by Donald Trump to be the Ambassador to Russia. Governor Huntsman is Lafayette’s 3 x great nephew. When the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial was being being developed in September 2007, Jon Huntsman, Jr. who was governor at the time, said he felt honored to learn that one of his relatives, Nolan Hunstman, was among the 120 police officers to whom the memorial was dedicated. Nolan and Governor Huntsman are 1st cousins 3 x removed.