How Did Kaysville Get Its Name?

Kaysville was settled by Mormon pioneers in 1850. This city has a rich history with the distinction of being the first city incorporated in Davis County and the 27th city incorporated in the Utah territory. Kaysville was incorporated on March 15, 1868. Hector Caleb Haight can be claimed by two towns, Kaysville and Farmington, as their first settler. Shortly after the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, Hector Haight was sent north to find grazing for the stock. On a beautiful stream in the Kaysville/Farmington area, he soon built a log cabin and brought his family to live there. In the fall of 1849, a spot not quite two miles north where two streams joined, was chosen by settler number two, Samuel Oliver Holmes. Two of his friends, Edward Phillips and John Hyrum Green, who were living in Salt Lake, decided to travel north to Brown's Fort (Ogden) to find a permanent place to settle. When they reached the "sandridge" (later known as Hill Field) the snow was so deep and crusted that their horses were unable to carry them through. The men returned to the cabin of Samuel O. Holmes, spent the night and decided the next morning that this was where they wanted to locate. They spent the winter in Salt Lake and then brought their families here to settle. The next day their friend, William Kay and his family, arrived. On January 27, 1851 Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball came to the Phillips home for the purpose of organizing an LDS Ward. Edward Phillips was asked to be Bishop, but feeling unworthy he suggested William Kay, who was appointed. It was not until September of 1852 that the Ward formally began to function with Wiliam Kay as Bishop, Edward Phillips as first counselor, and John H. Green as second counselor. This little settlement soon became known as Kay's Ward. Little really isn't the word to use because the settlement covered a great deal of territory at that time - from what is now Farmington on the south to the Weber River on the north. In 1856, William Kay was called on a mission to Carson Valley in what is now Nevada. The Kay family later moved back to Utah and are now buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. After Bishop Kay left, there was a desire on the part of some of the people to have the name of Kay's Ward changed to Freedom. The request was presented to President Brigham Young and when he bluntly asked, "When did Kay's Ward get its Freedom?" his reply was taken as disapproval and the matter dropped. Eventually people began calling the settlement Kaysville and when the city was incorporated in 1868, Kaysville became it's official name.

William Kay