

The LDS Pioneer Heritage of Mona Rae Lamb and Gerald Charles Woodbury

Compiled by Joan Woodbury Fillmore

Edited by Erin Fillmore Olds

Copyright © 2016 Joan Woodbury Fillmore

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1539874729

ISBN-13: 978-1539874720

Dedicated to keeping their memories alive

in the hope that by knowing who they were

we will know better who we are.
Table of Contents

George Boyes

Priddy Meeks

Jeremiah Woodbury

Jacob Mica Truman

David Henry Cannon

Hans Lundblad

John McCleve Jr.

Josephine Langley Crosgrove

Robert Goddard

Jane Walton

William Green Bickley

Mary Pearson

James Samuel Page Bowler
George Boyes

GEORGE BOYES

m. Ann Geldard

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ELIZABETH BOYCE

m. Jacob Mica Truman

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ALBERT HENRY TRUMAN

m. Florence Matilda Bowler

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ELIZABETH MATILDA TRUMAN

m. Raymond Cannon

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FLORENCE CANNON

m. Justin R Lamb

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

GEORGE AND ANN GELDARD BOYES

Came west in the Daniel Spencer - Ira Eldredge Company (1847)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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George Boyes | 28 Nov 1794 | 1 Aug 1874 | 51

William Boyes | 23 Sep 1824 | 11 Sep 1887 | 22

Thomas Boyes | 31 Mar. 1827 |   
 | 20

*Elizabeth Boyes | 19 Apr 1831 | 16 Nov 1919 | 16

Henry Boyes | 12 Jun 1837 | 1918 | 10

Margaret Boyes | 12 Apr 1840 | 1 Oct 1901 | 7

*Direct Ancestor

George Boyes and Ann Geldard were born in Yorkshire, England. They came to America where they were raising their children. In 1822 they were living in New York. It was here that they converted to the gospel. George Boyes was a good man that was looking for the truth. When the Latter-day Saint missionaries found him he rejoiced in learning the gospel. As soon as he became a member of the Latter-day Saint faith he gathered his family to join with the Saints. By 1829 they had moved to Michigan and stayed there for at least 11 years. Elizabeth, Henry and Margaret were born while they were here. From Michigan they traveled to Nauvoo. They were living here when the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.

Ann Geldard, one of God's noble women, was endowed with faith to heal the sick and drive the power of the destroyer from her habitation. Her talent was to set a table of abundance of the things of the earth with very few provisions. She was a peacemaker and shared with her husband and children, the desire to gather to the Valleys of the Rocky Mountains.

In 1844 they were driven out of Nauvoo and spent the winter in Council Bluffs.

PONCA INDIANS

In1846, the Boyes family joined an advance group that was sent to scout the way to the Rocky Mountains. At the direction of Brigham Young, this group traveled along the Platte River to a deserted Pawnee village on the Loup River. While they were there, eight Ponca chiefs arrived on the 8th of August 1846, intending to seek peace negotiations with the Pawnee. Finding that the Pawnee had deserted the village, the Ponca Chiefs invited the Mormons to spend the winter with them. The Mormons were given some provisions to tide them over and assigned a camp near the Gray Blanket Village near the junction of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers.

Homes were built of native materials and buffalo hunts were held. They shared their food. There were many who wrote about their life and enjoyable experiences among the Ponca. The Ponca Chief Iron Whip indicated the best route for the Mormons to follow when they continued on their journey west in April of 1847.

Ann Boyes became very ill and died on 15 Feb 1846. Although 23 Mormons died during the winter of 1846-47 from the bitter-cold weather, hundreds of others were saved.

George took his remaining family and joined an 1847 pioneer company to cross the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. George and his four children, William, Elizabeth, Henry, and Margaret arrived in Utah during July of 1847. (There is a Thomas Boyes age 20 that is in the roster of the pioneer company that they traveled in but in the histories there is no mention of him.)

MARRIAGE TO ELIZABETH

The trail was busy with many traveling companies of pioneers. Elizabeth Taylor Arrowsmith (sister of John Taylor) was traveling in the Edward Hunter - Joseph Horne Company also known as the John Taylor Company. They must have met and fallen in love for she and George were married before arriving in the valley on the 16th of July 1847. She traveled with his company the remainder of the way. She was 28 and he was 53. Elizabeth was a loving stepmother.

These 1847 pioneers were instructed to build a fort in the Salt Lake Valley to protect them from any dangers. There was a common fence around the farm area. The fort surrounded ten acres of ground, which contained block-houses and about ten acres of corn and vegetables. According to the history of Pioneer Boyes, "the family lived in the Fort for two years, after which Mr. Boyes purchased 30 acres of land in Cottonwood where they made a permanent home. The children were raised by Elizabeth Taylor Arrowsmith who had married Mr. Boyes in July 1847."

NAME CHANGE

Upon marrying Elizabeth in 1847 there were two Elizabeth Boyes in the house. It was difficult to keep the mail straight so the children of the first wife Ann changed their last name spelling to Boyce to avoid being confused with the second wife Elizabeth Boyes and her children.

ELIZABETH BOYCE TRUMAN

Elizabeth Boyes was the daughter of George and Ann Geldard Boyes. She was born April 19, 1831 in Laharp, Michigan. Her childhood and early education took place in that state when it was the borderline of civilization. Elizabeth gained the skills required to garden, milk cows, and make butter and cheese, raise a few sheep, shear, wash, dye and spin the wool. This knowledge was common among the young ladies of her day. Elizabeth also learned to spell, read, and write. She was highly intellectual, loved learning and each day of her entire life she spent in the pursuit of knowledge.

During her childhood, she loved to roam the green hills of her homeland and gather wild flowers. In the spring, she would chew on wintergreen berries. This remained her favorite flavor.

CROSSING THE PLAINS

Elizabeth Boyes, with her parents, brothers and sisters, were with the Saints when they were driven out of Nauvoo. They spent the winter of 1844 at Council Bluffs. It was probably here that she met Jacob Mica Truman. He joined the Mormon Battalion and traveled to California.

Her travels to the Valley are catalogued in the history of George Boyes.

MARRIAGE

Jacob Mica returned to Salt Lake in the fall of 1848 and on the 19th of April 1849 he took Elizabeth Boyce to be his bride. They were married on her 18th birthday by John Taylor.

They moved to the southeast part of the Salt Lake valley. He obtained land in South Cottonwood and built a house. Both went to work to plant a garden and a few acres of wheat that they might reap a harvest and be sustained in this barren desert land.

MIDWIFE

Soon after her marriage, at the age of 19, Elizabeth was called and set apart as a midwife and doctor. In the early days of the church, midwifery was a spiritual calling. A woman was called to be a midwife by priesthood authority, often after having been nominated by the Relief Society, and set apart by the laying on of hands. She was usually set apart by a General Authority of the church, if available, and the calling was for life, much like the calling of Patriarch.

This calling became her well, because by nature she was endowed with wisdom, sincere faith and a keen knowledge of the functioning of the human body. The first child she brought into this world occurred when she was all alone. She continued the practice of midwifery until she was 75 years old and attributed all her great success to her Father in Heaven, who had restored his priesthood authority to men. Men holding the priesthood were always called in to administer and bless the patient. Their faith combined with Elizabeth's ensured a safe delivery; bringing back from the gates of death the mother with a wee one safe and secure. Her deliveries were many. She answered them all either on horseback or in a wagon drawn by oxen, mule or horses. At times she traveled as far as 60 to 70 miles from her home to do so.

Midwives who worked so tirelessly and saved the lives of so many deserve our gratitude and love. Surely there are crowns of glory laid up for the reward of their love and unselfishness. We love them and will always revere the memory of such heroines as Elizabeth Boyce Truman.

In 1856 Jacob took a second wife, Catherine Maxwell. She went by the name of Katie. She got along well enough with Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth had three little children, Jacob left Salt Lake and went East, back to the States (Utah was not a state yet), to get his mother and two sisters, Maria and Lauretta. He was gone a year and in that year Elizabeth milked cows and made butter sufficient to clear the indebtedness of $300 on their place. It was one of the outstanding homes and small farms in that district. They were so proud of it and were prospering very well when the call came for them to pioneer into Utah's Dixie country.

Obedient to the call, the place was sold and a wagon and outfit was purchased, and sometime in 1862 they took their family of seven children and set out, along with others, to Southern Utah.

MOVE TO SOUTHERN UTAH

Brigham Young had visited southern Utah and could see resources there that would make a more self-supporting people and put to use their trade and abilities. Therefore, in the year of 1857, he called 28 families who were from the cotton growing states of Virginia, Tennessee and Texas to move south. In 1862 another call for more families was extended. The Truman family was among that group. By March 22nd 1862 sufficient numbers had responded to the call to move that a church conference was held and the City of St. George was divided into four wards. That fall 100,000 pounds of cotton were raised in Washington County.

This trip to the south was the most trying, difficult and perilous trip our pioneers encountered. When they came to the great Black Ridge (which is the southeast corner of the Great Basin), this side (northeast) of St. George, Elizabeth Boyce could not see how they would ever get over it. In places the gulches were so straight down and narrow that it was necessary to unload the wagons, take them apart, and piece by piece take them to the other side. Such obstacles overcome the doubt of "how on earth would they ever be able to live in such a desolate looking place".

While on the road, George Almus, her little son of five years, fell out of the wagon and had his leg broken. The company laid over one day to set the limb and journeyed on the next day.

They lived in their wagons until they could build one small adobe room. It was shelter and was dear to them with its surroundings of mesquite and arrow willows. Soon a garden was planted, trees were brought from the mountain to give shade to the home and flowers edged the walk. Geraniums in the windows made it "Home Sweet Home" to everyone.

The water was brackish (salty) and warm and very unsatisfactory to quenching the thirst and made the entire family ill. During the first three or four summers the Truman family moved up on the south side of the Pine Valley Mountains and made butter and cheese for everyone who had cows in the settlements around.

In 1870 they moved to Mountain Meadows where they lived for 7 years. They then moved to a farm 2 1/2 miles below the town of Gunlock. Here she planted an orchard, obtained a weaving loom with which she made homemade carpets and rugs, continuing her practice of midwifery. She lived here for the remainder of her life (thirty-eight years).

Gunlock was a very small place and had only a community square with a one-room building that served as school house, church meeting house and public amusement hall. The nearest post office and store were in St. George, 20 miles away and took a full day of travel each way.

TRAVEL TO SLC FOR EMMA TO GET MARRIED

In June 1874, Jacob and Elizabeth Truman took their daughter Emma Maria and her fiancé Franklin Overton Holt in a covered wagon to Salt Lake City. The occasion was to have their young folks sealed by the authority of the Church in the Endowment house (the temple was not yet completed). This was performed by Brigham Young on July 6th 1874 for time and all eternity. It took three weeks to make this long trip to Salt Lake City and three weeks to return home. Such obedience to the principles as taught by the prophet cause us to marvel at their testimonies and faith.

When they arrived in the City they went to visit Elizabeth's sister, Nona Boyce Taylor. She was touched by the signs of toil and hardships as shown on brow, hands and bended back, and the poverty of dress and equipment so she said to them, "Out yonder is plenty of corn, if you shuck it you may have all your wagon will hold." Thanking the Good Father above and loving their kind sister and auntie more than mere words can express, they set to work and in a few hours the wagon was heaped to running over with golden ears of corn. They took it along with the bags of dried peaches they'd brought to the market and sold it, spending every cent in needed clothing, shoes, yarn and yardage goods. Oh how happy they were and Elizabeth is quoted as saying, "Alright Jacob, we can go home now and be assured we are covered until prosperity and markets come to southern Utah."

We who live in the northern part of the state of Utah where the railroad came to carry our surplus to market will never know the struggle of our brethren and sisters in the southern part where it never touched. Each family raised an abundance and could neither trade, nor sell, or give away their surplus for even a postage stamp.

Elizabeth's home near Gunlock was situated 2 1/2 miles below the town and when Father Truman was gone from home, which was a great part of the time, as his second wife, Katie and family still lived up on the farm at Mountain Meadow, mother Elizabeth would take her entire family and walk to Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting every week.

CHURCH SERVICE

She was a teacher in the Sabbath School; teaching the Book of Mormon class for many years. She was called as the President of the Relief Society on Nov 7th, 1895 and served for two years.

In 1896 when she was 65 years old, Elder Mathias F. Cowley, an apostle visiting them asked her how old she was and she answered, "Sixty-five." He replied, "You are good for twenty years more." She lived 22 years after that. She continued to work in her well organized home and enjoyed her associations with her faithful sons and daughters. They loved her and her grandchildren revered her. She enjoyed green peas, mashed potatoes and dried peaches stewed and made into a pie with nutmeg sprinkled on it.

The summer time in Dixie is very warm. On days when she was visiting her grandchildren they would draw water from the well and sprinkle it all over the door, yard and walls of the house to cool the arbor where she could sit and enjoy herself as she knitted and visited with them.

She was a lovely woman in action as well as countenance. She was patient, had great sympathy for others and a true devotion to her God. She was lovely with her white hair and black eyes. Smiling wrinkles, evidence of a cheerful nature, played about her eyes and mouth. Her stature was short and rather plump.

She was neat in everything she did. She often remarked that no one had ever seen her bed unmade nor her dishes not done. Indeed work was her philosophy - she had cut and dried enough fruit to encircle the globe, made quilts sufficient to cover the families of a city, woven miles of carpet, besides making tons of butter and cheese, gathered bushels of wild fruits, and followed day after day garnering wheat after the man who cut it with an old fashioned grain cradle. We have no count of the babies she brought into this world nor the lives she saved through her administrations.

She always reminded her grandchildren to always do two jobs while doing one. If you went to feed the cow, bring back an arm full of wood on your return; if you went for water, draw up an extra bucket and put it in the trough for the animals; if you were visiting, take your stitching or knitting with you, thus wasting not a minute of the day so that at its close you may truthfully say, "Something accomplished, something done has earned a night's repose."

Elizabeth Boyce was the first of three wives of Jacob Mica Truman. She was the mother of 12 children, two of which died young, John Franklin and  Lucius%22%20%5Co%20%22Lucius%20Truman%20\(1860-1861\)).  Jacob%22%20%5Co%20%22Jacob%20Boyce%20Truman%20\(1855-1873\)), her fourth child went hunting jack rabbits with a boy friend. As they were going under a fence, the gun in the friend's hand went off and Jacob was shot and killed. Her granddaughter Roxie Holt was burned to death (She was Emma Maria Holt's daughter) and another grandchild drowned.

DEATH

Jacob Mica Truman died in 1881, leaving Elizabeth a widow for 38 years. Elizabeth passed from this life herself on November 6th, 1919. Funeral services were held in the open air at Mountain Meadows on the 7th; Bishop  James L. Bunker of Veyo presided. The Enterprise Choir composed mostly of her grandchildren furnished the singing. The speakers were Elder  Jacob Truman&action=edit%22%20%5Co%20%22Jacob%20Thomas%20Truman%20\(1890-1987\)) and  George Henry Bowler&action=edit%22%20%5Co%20%22George%20Henry%20Bowler%20\(1893-1977\)) both grandsons. She was laid to rest beside her husband. The grave was dedicated by Bishop Bunker.

OBITUARY

Gunlock, Nov. 11--Elizabeth Truman passed away Thursday, Nov. 6, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. F. O. Holt, after an illness of five days. She was 88 years of age. She leaves two sons and four daughters.

Sources: Elizabeth Boyce by Erma Bowler Bracken

As Time Goes By by Nellie Rae Hunt Jones

Mormon Midwife, The 1846–1888 Diaries of Patty Bartlett Sessions
Priddy Meeks

PRIDDY MEEKS

m. Mary Jane McCleve

|

SARAH DESERET MEEKS

m. Edward Lamb

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ISRAEL HIRAM LAMB

m. Phoebe Elena Covington

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JUSTIN R LAMB

m. Florence Cannon

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

PRIDDY MEEKS

Came west in the Jedediah M. Grant \- Joseph B. Noble Company (1847)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

*Priddy Meeks | 29 Aug. 1795 | 7 Oct. 1886 | 52

Sarah Mahurin Meeks | 12 Dec. 1801 | 18 Aug. 1849 | 45

Lovin Meeks (son of Polly) | 7 Mar. 1816 | 1851 | 31

Elizabeth Meeks (daughter of Polly) | 2 July 1823 | 3 Oct. 1892 | 24

Margaret Jane Meeks (daughter of Sarah) | 8 May 1838 | 12 Mar. 1922 | 9

John Harris Henderson

(a lad Priddy raised) | 31 Dec. 1831 | 31 Mar. 1915 | 15

John Adams (grandson of Sarah) | 11 May 1844 | 19 Apr. 1935 | 3

Betsy Parson (granddaughter of Sarah) | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown

!Polly was Priddy's first wife. She died before they came west.

*Direct ancestor

Came west in the Mormon Battalion Sick Detachment (1847)

Susann Smith Adams (daughter of Sarah, mother of John & Betsy)

Husband: Orson Bennett Adams | 30 May 1819 | 23 Jan. 1892 | 28--laundress

---|---|---|---

9 Mar. 1815 | 4 Feb. 1901 | 32

(She is Sarah Mahurin's daughter from her first marriage to Anthony Smith)

This history is told by Priddy Meeks with a few clarifications added:

FAMILY MOVES TO KENTUCKY

My father, Athe Meeks, being inclined to new countries, left South Carolina and moved to what is now called Grayson County, Kentucky, on the Spring Fork of Shortcreek. I was then about two or three years old. He had a great range to hunt in, not knowing the distance to any inhabitants west. He lived there twelve years and then moved to Indiana, four years after the country was surveyed by the Government. He passed the inhabitants ten miles before he located at the mouth of Lake Drain, where it emptied into Little Pigeon Creek. Here he intended to build a grist mill. (In) the year 1812, I, Priddy Meeks, was 16 years old. Some months previous my oldest brother, William, had moved up to where father lived and settled about 20 rods (110 yards) from father's house.

INDIAN ATTACK ON HIS FAMILY

I think about the 20th of April, early in the morning, three Indians crept up behind a stack of hay ten or twelve rods in front of the house. Athe, my brother, got out of bed, dressed and went outside to tend to the animals. He went out the front door, not seeing the Indians. When his back was towards them, they all fired at him. One ball (bullet) passed through his knee cap, another ball passed through his arm, about half way from his elbow to his wrist. Another ball passed through the leg of his pants doing no injury. When father heard all this noise, he jumped out of bed and ran to the door to see what was up. He met an Indian at the door who shot him right through the heart. He turned on his heels and tried to say something and fell dead under the edge of the bedstead.

Meanwhile Athe, who was still on the porch, was being attacked by one of the Indians. The Indian kept flinging his tomahawk at him. It seemed like he was practicing because he was not holding onto the handle. He wasn't a very good shot this way and kept missing Athe. Each time he missed, my brother would run out of the way. They played that "game" for some time. Mother, seeing what was going on outdoors, shut up the doors and Athe could not get in. As mother watched from the window she could see Athe being chased by the Indian. She broke out of the house to help him and the Indian drew an axe on her. She immediately hurried back to the house. On her way she was able to pick up one of the loaded shot guns that was lying in the yard.

William had come out of his house when he heard all the noise. Mother said to him, "Run up to the yard fence and knock the Indian down," which drew the attention of the one who was trying to tomahawk Athe. She raced back to the house followed by an Indian. She got there and got the door closed before he arrived. He used all his might to burst open the door to get in where mother and the two girls were. She snapped the gun at the Indian several times but it happened to be empty. William shot and killed one Indian.

The Indians then took the dead one under their arms and started off with him. William followed them for another shot but the Indians would drop the dead one and flank each way in order to get William between them, so he had to back out to save himself. Athe had hidden himself behind a high bank a few rods from the house where he stayed till the Indians went away.

William gave up chasing the Indians and decided he needed to take his family to safety. He started for the settlement bare headed and in his shirt tail and all his family in a similar situation, not knowing the consequences of delaying time.

That morning I, Priddy, had been in the settlements. I started from there to go home not knowing what was occurring. I met William and his family about half way in. He told me about the Indians and asked if he could take the horse I had. I gave him permission and he pushed ahead for the settlement to get help. I took his place getting his family back to the settlement.

Meanwhile, things were quiet in the yard so Athe emerged from hiding and came to the house. He found father dead and mother crippled, probably from the axe the Indian drew on her in the yard, but she could not remember it. She and the two girls thought all were killed but themselves, until Athe came to the house.

Athe told mother and the girls to take the trail and try to reach the settlement if they could and leave him there. When they protested he said, "I never can get there, I shall have to die here. I will hide if the Indians come. I will kill one before they kill me. I shall have to die anyway." Mother said, "If you die, I'll die with you. I will not leave you." So they all started on the trail and went on a mile or so. Athe wanted to lie down. He told the rest to go on. Mother said, "I will not leave you as long as you are alive." He thought they might save themselves by going and let him die, for he could not travel. She protested she would stay with him as long as he was alive. "Well," said he, "there is a nearer way through the forest and we'll take that way, and if the Indians do follow us they will keep to the trail and not notice our tracks where we turn off."

They did so and went a mile or two.

They came upon two of our horses. These particular horses were always very hard to get hold of (catch) on the range. He said, "I think I can catch those horses." Mother said, "go," and he hobbled along till he got his hands on them, and they never moved out of their tracks. God was watching over them. They made bridles of hickory bark, and Athe rode one horse and the youngest girl the other, and carried a gun. The other two women walked and carried each of them a gun and reached the settlement in due time. Their travel was difficult what with Athe's wanting to get off the horse to lie down and die. Mother would not let him get off the horse, believing he would never make it if he got off the horse. But he got in to the settlement and got over his wounds and made a very active man without any show of impediment whatever. All three of the Indians were killed before they got out of the country by the people who were scouring the country in search of them.

MARRIAGE TO MARY "POLLY" BARTLETT

The family then moved down to French Island settlement on the Ohio River. At this time I think I was about seventeen years old. Here in my twentieth year, 1815, I married Mary "Polly" Bartlett. We had four children two boys and two girls; Lovin, Eliza, Athe and Elizabeth. My wife Mary (Polly) died in Spencer Co., Indiana.

MARRIAGE TO SARAH MAHURIN SMITH

Some three years afterward, I married Sarah Mahurin Smith, widow of Anthony Smith, on the 24th of December, 1826, by whom I had five children, four girls and one boy; Mary Jane, Stephen Mahurin, Huldah, Margaret Jane and Sarah Angeline. All died young except one girl, Margaret Jane, which is a-living. My wife Sarah had one child named Susann by her first husband, Anthony Smith. I married Sarah at her father's--Steven Mahurin, in Grayson County, Kentucky, some fifty miles from where I lived in Indiana. I took her home and brought home my children, and she made a splendid stepmother.

MOVE TO ILLINOIS

I don't know the date when we left Indiana, not having kept any records; but we moved to Illinois, and settled in the out-settlements of the country, being sixty miles to the nearest inhabitants west of us, a town called Vandalia. Here I had splendid hunting for honey and wild game. Here I built a horse-mill to grind corn. I owned two farms and was a-doing well. I had plenty of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.

Polly Peterson, a neighboring young woman, said to me one day, "Mr. Meeks, I wish you would give me that colt." (It was a choice colt, too.) I said, "If you will give me the next thing I ask for, I will." In about two or three days after that, the colt laid down and died, and from that time forth my horses, cattle and hogs died so fast I scarcely had time to take the hides off as fast as they died, until I saw that I should be totally broke up, and I had better get away from there while I could; and just one month from that day I started. I had the awfulest time I ever saw. I bought a pair of three-year-old bulls; one was spiteful. I had to get help to get them in a ten-foot pen, with a partition to keep them from fighting, with their heads chained in front, and their tails tied to the pen behind; then took out a space of the partition between their necks sufficient to get the yoke on their necks and fastened it so tight that I never took it off until we had traveled some two hundred miles.

DEATH OF HULDAH

I stopped on the Illinois River five or six miles above Meridocia, a town on the river, a sicklier place I never want to see. Here I bought me a nice little farm, and established a wood yard. Here I lost Huldah with the whooping cough; or in other words she was killed by the doctors, whom I was opposed to having anything to do with her, only the folks over-persuaded me, and I am convinced that their medicine killed her.

BEGINS DOCTORING

Here when the sickly season of the year came on I visited many of the sick and was very successful in relieving them with roots and herbs, so much so that the community insisted I should quit work and go to doctoring. Such an idea had never entered my mind. I said to them that I knew nothing about doctoring; they said "You beat all the doctors."

That expression brought me to my studies and I saw that it was a fact, and I could not deny it. I studied much to know what was my duty to God, mankind, myself and my family. I saw my weakness and want of education, being raised in the backwoods, without little learning--only what I learned with my gun on my shoulder, having no correspondence with the bulk of the community and knew nothing of the ways of the world. Here was a trial you may be sure, for me to come in contact with learned doctors; I would not know what to say and would appear as a dunce.

About this time I had a letter from my brother-in-law, stating that he had important business and wanted to see me, and I must come immediately. He lived about a hundred miles off in Macon County, Illinois. I went and left my wife sick; she had been sick for two years. Her case was so complicated that I did not know what to do, neither did the doctors that had exhausted their skill without benefit.

LEARNED OF THOMSONIAN MEDICINE

When I saw my brother-in-law, whose name was Priddy Mahurin, he said that he only wanted a visit of me, that was all; but the Lord was in the whole affair, for I met a man there by the name of James Miller, whom I previously knew in Kentucky. He had gotten to be a Thomsonian doctor. He told me I could cure my wife myself if I had Thomson's "New Guide to Health."

I traveled thirty miles with him a-going home. I learned more from him that day than I ever knew before about doctoring. Arriving at home I told my wife of the interview I had with Miller, and was a-going to buy the books that he recommended. She replied, "You had better keep the money to raise the children with; for if the skill that has been exhausted by experienced doctors could not cure me, it is not reasonable to think that you could do any better. But I could not rest satisfied until I got the books; and just two weeks to the day from the day I got the books I put out into the woods to collect the medicine and by following the directions of the books I made a sound woman of her. This gave such an impetus to the anxiety of the people about my success that it seemed like going against wind and tide to withstand their influence, for me to go into doctoring. And from that time henceforth my labors began with the sick...

The Thomsonian System primarily was: 1) cleanse the body with lobelia and enemas, 2) restore the lost heat by cayenne pepper inside, hot pads and especially steam or vapor cabinet baths externally, and 3) finally, carry away the residue of "canker" by doses of herbs.

NAUVOO

I removed with my family from Indiana to Illinois in the fall of 1833 and received the gospel in 1840 as also did most of my family. I moved to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, in April, 1842, and lived there till the spring of 1846.

While living at Nauvoo I suffered many inconveniences and persecutions and deprivations of life. Once in 1845 I was returning home from a business trip; while passing through Carthage a mob took me and put me in jail where the blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was to be seen, and kept me there till the sheriff, who was my friend, said he knew they could not hurt me by the law but only wanted to persecute me because I was a Mormon; "but they may bother you and so you cannot get off to go West this season." I had sent for Edmunds, a friendly lawyer who attended to the difficulties necessary to help us get off. The sheriff went to Nauvoo and filed a bond for my release, signed as security by Charles Price. John Vanbeck came with the sheriff from Nauvoo and bought me a horse to ride home on.

When we started from the jail the jailor and the sheriff said, "Don't you look back until you reach the timber or they might suspicion you." It was a task for me to keep my head straight but I did accomplish it; then we did not spare horse flesh much until we got home. I then had to wheel and cut to the best advantage to get away from my persecutors across the river. I had been working with William McCleary, brother-in-law to the Prophet, making each of us a wagon to cross the plains in. Mine was probably half done but I had to drop everything to get away and give a one-horse wagon for a two-horse wagon that looked like falling to pieces having no iron about it but the tire. I wedged and wet it with water, then put a light load in it. It was thought I might go twenty miles to a blacksmith shop. Supposed that twenty dollars' worth would fix it so I could get to the Bluffs with it, having to leave part of my family in Nauvoo, with my house and lot and all my furniture and stock and books, in fact everything that I had, --and never got anything for it...

LEAVING NAUVOO

While crossing over a ridge seven miles from Nauvoo we looked back and took a last sight of the Temple that we ever expected to see. We were sad and sorrowful. The emotions of our mind at that time I cannot describe. The thoughts of it almost disqualify me for writing, although so many years have passed away since that time. We got to Sugar Creek after night and found plenty of Saints there for they were scattered all along like sheep without a shepherd. This tried our faith, to start on a journey with such a poor fit-out and part of my family left behind. Here now I must pay a tribute of praise to my better half. She never left anything unturned that would contribute to our comfort either in body or mind. She neither murmured nor scolded. She bore everything in patience like a Saint of God. She truly proved a help-meet to me.

We left Sugar Creek next morning intending to go as far as we could before we should break down. It being a very wet Spring and a great quantity of mud, my wagon got better instead of worse. So we kept rolling till we came to the ferry on the Des Moines river... It sometimes rained and sometimes the sun shone. In this kind of weather it seemed we took no thought for the morrow but felt to trust in the Lord for the result and was as joyful as spring birds. I had a fiddle along and we had a shindig as we called it, on the turf every once in awhile. The names of our company as far as I can remember were Jacob Hufines, Christian Houtz, Reading Allred, Thomas Hancock and myself and a lad that was with me. We had no traveling organization in particular among us. It seemed unnecessary as such a oneness existed among us. It seemed like we never enjoyed ourselves better although thus exposed...

ARRIVAL IN THE VALLEY

I arrived in the valley on the first day of October, 1847... Now we felt good and happy with the idea of leaving our persecutors a thousand miles behind. The Salt Lake Valley had a beautiful rich soil and was well supplied with good water. We went to work under the wise counsel of President Young and The Twelve Apostles, although they had returned to the States for their families, and I believe we did our best, generally speaking.

CRICKETS AND SEAGULLS

Finally the crickets came so thick it made the earth black in places and it did look like they would take what little we had growing which looked nice and flourishing. Now this was another trial although my faith did not fail one particle, but felt very solemn on the occasion our provisions beginning to give out. My family went several months without a satisfying meal of victuals. I went sometimes a mile up Jordan to a patch of wild roses to get the berries to eat which I would eat as rapidly as a hog, stems and all. I shot hawks and crows and they ate well. I would go and search the mire holes and find cattle dead and fleece off what meat I could and eat it. We used wolf meat, which I thought was good. I made some wooden spades to dig seagoes with, but we could not supply our wants.

We had to exert ourselves to get something to eat. I would take a grubbing-hoe and a sack and start by sunrise in the morning and go, I thought six miles before coming to where the thistle roots grew, and in time to get home I would have a bushel and sometimes more thistle roots. We would eat them raw. I would dig until I grew weak and faint and sit down and eat a root, and then begin again. I continued this until the roots began to fail; I then turned my attention to making horn combs out of horns. I got two five gallon kegs and a sack and threw it across the saddle and away I went peddling combs for buttermilk and clabber among those who were out with their stock for the milk. I continued this until I heard Capt. James Brown had bought out a mountaineer of a large herd of cattle some sixty (40--Ogden) miles north of the city. I went there and bought a horse-load of cheese which we ate without bread or meat.

Now everything did look gloomy, our provisions giving out and the crickets eating up what little we had growing, and we a thousand miles away from supplies. When Sunday came we had meeting. Apostle Rich stood in an open wagon and preached out-of-doors. It was a beautiful day and a very solemn one too. While preaching he says, "Brethren, we do not want you to part with your wagons and teams for we might need them," (intimating that he did not know but we might have to leave).

That increased my solemnity. At that instant I heard the voice of fowls flying over head that I was not acquainted with. I looked up and saw a flock of seven gulls. In a few minutes there was another larger flock passed over. They came faster and more of them until the heavens were darkened with them and lit down in the valley till the earth was black with them; and they would eat crickets and throw them up again and fill themselves again and right away throw them up again. A little before sundown they left for Salt Lake, for they roosted on a sandbar; a little after the sunrise in the morning they came back again and continued that course until they had devoured all the crickets and then never returned. I guess this circumstance changed our feeling considerable for the better...

MOVE TO PAROWAN

Now in the year 1851, I left Salt Lake to go to Parowan to live, to help strengthen the place against Indians... The more the Indians became acquainted with us the more they liked us. The Indians brought in Indian children that they had stolen to sell to us. I bought one girl, some three or four years old, and called her Lucy. I gave her about as good an education as I gave my own children and she made a nice smart woman as anyone. She was the mother of Sylvia Meeks. She died May the 4, 1874 at Harrisburg, I think in her twenty-sixth or seventh year of her age.

An Indian man (Dick) came to live with me and continued with me about fifteen years, and I was never acquainted with a more honest man in my life. I never knew him to lie or steal in all that time...

MARRIAGE TO A HAND-CART GIRL

Several years after I moved to Parowan I went back to the city [Salt Lake City]; I took my daughter, Peggy Jane, a young woman, with me, and when I started from home my wife said, "Don't you come back without another wife." That put me to studying for she never talked that way before; so the more I studied about it the more I was determined to try and get another wife. So when I arrived at Brother John Dalton's who had charge of the Church Farm four miles south of the city, I left my team there so as to have no encumbrance at the city. We went to Brother Free's in the city, an old acquaintance of ours. I told them there that I intended to get a hand-cart girl to go home with me. They appeared very anxious that I should get one. Sister Free told me she knew of one who had no relations there. There was a woman then present that said she knew her in England and said she was twenty-four years old and as good a woman as ever was. Now I was very much elated at the prospect. I would not have sold my chance for a considerable amount. I never felt more sure of anything in my life that I did not have hold of.

I found out where she stayed and away I went as full of imagination as the milk-maid we read of in the spelling book. I found the place and stopped outside the gate and spoke to a young woman on the porch and asked her, "Are you Hannah Virgil?" "No, sir," she said; said I, "Does she stop here?" "Yes, sir, but she is not at home." I said, "Are you a hand-cart girl?" "Yes, sir," she said. "Well, I am looking for a hand-cart girl to go home with me; maybe it will suit you to go home with me." She said, "I am engaged or I would." That moment she said, "Yonder comes Hannah Virgil now." And when she walked up and spoke to me and I saw her countenance, there was a monitory (warning) impulse struck me with such force it seemed as powerful on my feelings as the command of a superior officer when he would with a stern voice say "No."

Here now the fat was all in the fire; my feelings I cannot well describe, if I were to try. I left quickly, badly whipped without saying a word to the girl on the subject.

SECOND TRY

I went straightway to President John Young where I was in high repute for letting him have an ox on the plains, he having taken Sarah McCleave to wife, oldest sister of Mary Jane, two years previous to Mary Jane's arrival in the hand carts. She says to me, "Brother Meeks go out to the Church Farm and get your team and harness it to Mr. Young's carriage, he himself not being at home, and Aunt Mary and I will go with you to see Mary Jane; it may be that she will go with you."

I had told them that I was going to start home in the morning for I did not think it worthwhile to try any longer. I was ashamed to tell them anything about Hannah Virgil, I felt so mean. However I went to the Church Farm and got my team and harnessed it to the carriage. "How far is it to where Mary Jane lives?" I asked. I knew that the Warm Springs was only a mile and a half from Brother Young's. I thought we could soon get back. When we reached the Warm Springs, I says, "Where does Mary Jane live now?" "Oh, it is down by the Hot Springs, six miles farther."

If I had known that in time, I never should have started. It was not late in the evening and I intended starting home in the morning; but as I had started I must stick with them, but felt disappointed. When we arrived at Hot Springs the sun was just going down. "Now, where is the house?" said I. She pointed away down under the fading sun two miles farther to a little log cabin where she said her sister lived. I felt vexed but could not turn back now. We drove up close to the house and found Mary Jane on her "all-fours" scouring the floor. When the dog barked she looked up and saw and knew Brother Young's carriage, Sister Young, her sister, Sarah, with a strange man dressed precisely as she had seen in a vision shown to her about three nights before when she knelt down in the dark when all were in bed and asked the Lord what she ought to do, because she was teased so much about marrying. In the vision she was told, that was the man she must go home with. So when she saw me in the carriage she knew that was the man for her. We went into the house of Brother Levi Gifford, where she lived. I was well acquainted with the whole family and they were a good family of people, too.

Sarah did not sit down but took Mary Jane out of doors and told her I had come for her, and sent a runner to tell me to come out there. I started and met Aunt Mary Young coming post haste after me. She spoke very animatedly saying: "Mary Jane says she will go with you," and we had not spoken to each other yet, neither had we seen each other's faces. The trial I had when I met Hannah Virgil was nothing compared to what this was. They told her I had come for her and she said she would go.

Now, if that monitory impulse strikes me with the same power saying "No," what will I do? Can I stand it, or will I have to wilt and wither under this, the hardest trial I had ever met with in my life? (O Lord help.) In that instant it was manifest to me to just see her countenance and I would know what I ought to do. But that did not assure me that I would be inspired to take her, and to refuse, it would bring an everlasting stigma that would last through life and I thought very justly, too.

I went out to where they were, the sun being down. The red clouds in the West were all that gave light. I thought if I could see her countenance by the light of the red clouds I would know what to do; and when I was introduced and shook hands with her I was right in the light. I stepped to one side to let the light shine in her face. Peace sprung up in my troubled soul with a hearty relish for the words, "Yes, take her." It put me in the mind of the poet when he said, "No tongue can express the sweet comfort and peace of a soul in its earliest love."

I then told Mary Jane it was just right and we all went back in the house. When Brother Gifford learned that she was going home with me he was out of humor and talked very strongly against me by way of insinuations and said, "Mary Jane if you knew Brother Meeks as well as I do you would not be so willing to go with him; I know Meeks," he said. "Well," said Sister Gifford, "Old man, you don't know any harm of him, do you?" "No, I don't," he said. The fact was he wanted Mary Jane himself and both his boys wanted her. The three were so disappointed that they were as cross to her as a wet hen. One of them said, "If you are going with that man I want that ring of mine you have." She pulled it off and gave it to him, saying, "I don't want your ring." So we put out into the carriage, dark as it was, and went up to President Young's and in the morning she was sealed to me, it being the 12th day of November, 1856; and the next day we started home. Mary Jane was nearly seventeen years old and I was nearly sixty-two years old! People may say what they please about being mis-mated in age in marriage, but the Lord knows best about these matters. And if there was ever a match consummated by the providences of God this was one. In 1856 I married Mary Jane McCleave, by whom I have had ten children: Joseph, Nancy, Hiram, John P., *Sarah Deseret, Mary Ellen, Heber Jesse, Charles Mason, Elizabeth D. and Alfred Randall and if anything they were above the average of smartness, all well formed and intelligent. I have often said if I had picked the Territory over I could not have suited myself as well as in Mary Jane. So I give God the glory while I receive the blessings and an exaltation through the lineage of her posterity; you can see how the Lord had his eye on Mary Jane from the beginning of this narrative; at any rate clear down until now. She has four grandchildren and a likelihood of having many more, and a nicer and smarter woman no man need to want...

MOVE TO ORDERVILLE

I then moved to Orderville, Kane County, with my family, at which place I am now living (in the United Order), in the year 1879, being in my 85th year of age.

I and my family have mostly lived a pioneer life, and for thirty-nine years have been connected with them in all things and enjoying the blessings of the Gospel with them, also; and can testify knowingly of its truth and of its saving ordinances as revealed to Joseph Smith, having enjoyed them myself in the house of the Lord with my family to the fullest extent.

He died highly respected. His was a life of usefulness and helpfulness to his fellow men, and many are the warm memories of his services to the communities in which he lived. It was said of him that he was a "gentle soul," for he was unusually kind, patient, and considerate.

Since his wife Sarah died in her 99th year and his wife Mary Jane in her 93rd, it would seem that Dr. Meeks' views on living and his theories and practice of medicine were not unfavorable to longevity.

Sources: Record of Priddy Meeks and his family, progenitors and posterity, up to this date made from items of record and memory of P. Meeks and wife Sarah M. Meeks and their children.

This sign is found along US Highway 89 in Mt. Carmel, Utah. Below is the inscription.

Dr. Priddy Meeks

Pioneer Doctor, Community Leader  
Born: August 29, 1795, South Carolina - Died: October 7, 1886, Orderville, Utah

Converted to the LDS Church in 1840 in Brown County, Illinois, where he served as Bishop. Joined the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois from 1842 to 1847. Blessed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith that he would have children and sons to carry on his name. They requested that he name his sons after them. Donated his oxen team and wagon to the vanguard Mormon  
pioneer company. Later outfitted, he arrived in Salt Lake Valley in October, 1847. Assisted with the settlement of the city. Served as the first president of the "Society of Health," which trained the saints in better medical practices.

The remainder of his life was spent colonizing Southern Utah. He assisted with the first settlements in Parowan (1851), Leeds-Harrisburg (1862), and Berryville, now Glendale (1864). His family was the first in Mt. Carmel (1864) living in a dugout at this site. They joined the United Order and moved to Orderville in 1879. He was the father of nineteen children, including sons named Joseph and Hyrum. Descendants of Dr. Meeks and former patients continue to use many of his herbal remedies.

Mary "Polly" Bartlett Meeks  
Born: 1793  
Died: January 24, 1842, Spencer, Indiana

Married Priddy Meeks in 1815. He was age 20, she age 22. He called her "my beloved Polly." Together they carved a farmstead out of Indiana Territory. She died at age 31, having sacrificed all to build a better life for her family on the new American frontier.

Children  
Lovin Eliza Athe Elizabeth

Elizabeth married Edward Dalton, March 6, 1848 in Salt Lake City. They moved with Priddy Meeks to Parowan, Utah in 1851, where they helped to settle that city.

Sarah Mahurin Meeks  
Born: December 12, 1801, Grayson County, Kentucky  
Died: August 17, 1900, Orderville, Utah

The widow of Anthony Smith. Married Priddy Meeks, December 24, 1826. Sarah's daughter,  
Susan Smith, joined the Meeks family and later married Orson Adams. Sarah made a splendid  
stepmother for Priddy's children.

The Meeks and Adams families were converted to the Latter-day Saint religion and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842. They were part of the Mormon pioneer trek to the west arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1847.

Priddy said of Sarah, "I must pay a tribute of praise to my better half. She never left anything unturned that would contribute to our comfort, either in body or mind. She neither murmured or scolded. She bore everything in patience like a saint of God. She truly proved a helpmeet to me."

Children  
Mary Jane Steven Mahurin Hulda Sarah Angeline Margaret Jane  
Margaret Jane married Samuel Hamilton

Mary Jane McCleve Meeks  
Born: August 21, 1840, Crawfordsburn, Ireland  
Died: January 19, 1933, Orderville, Utah

Baptized a member of the LDS Church in the Irish Sea at age 10. In 1856, her family sailed to America and joined the second Mormon handcart company. She painted "9" on their cart as the number trekking in her family. Her father, John McCleve, died two days before they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Married to Dr. Priddy Meeks, November 14, 1856, by President Brigham Young.

Priddy wrote of her, "Mary Jane was nearly seventeen and I sixty two. If there was ever a match consummated by the providence of God this was one; she has borne me ten children and they were well formed and intelligent. If I had picked the territory, I could not have suited myself as well as in Mary Jane."

She learned the art of healing from Priddy and delivered over 700 babies without loss of life.  
Mary Jane was widowed at age 46. She did not remarry.

Children  
Joseph Nancy Jane Hyrum Smith John Priddy Sarah Deseret  
Mary Ellen Heber Jesse Charles Mason Elizabeth Dalton Alfred Randall

DR PRIDDY MEEKS CABIN MUSEUM

In 1998 a cooperative venture between the city, Parowan Heritage Foundation, Parowan High School Agriculture Department, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Utah Quality Growth Commission started restoring and developing the Dr. Meeks Pioneer Farmstead, urban fishery and Outdoor Learning Center on the original farmstead site of Parowan's first doctor.

Historic Meeks Cabin in Parowan. Dr. Priddy Meeks was the first doctor in Southern Utah. He came with his family to Parowan in May of 1865 and built his home and office just west of the fort. He later moved to other communities being settled by Parowan families before settling permanently in Orderville, Utah.

(Source: Parowan Heritage Foundation.)
Jeremiah Woodbury

JEREMIAH WOODBURY

m. Elizabeth Bartlett

|

ORIN NELSON WOODBURY

m. Frances Goddard

|

CHARLES ROBERT GODDARD WOODBURY

m. Agnes Isadore Bickley

|

DONALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mary Eunice Naylor

|

GERALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mona Rae Lamb

JEREMIAH & ELIZABETH WOODBURY

Came west in the Abraham O. Smoot/George B. Wallace Company (1847)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in SL Valley

---|---|---|---

Jeremiah Woodbury | 9 Mar 1791 | 8 Oct 1883 | 56

Elizabeth Bartlett Woodbury | 24 Apr 1794 | 18 May 1851 | 53

Thomas Hobart Woodbury

Wife: Catherine Rebecca Haskell Woodbury

Child: Melinda McKenzie Haskell Woodbury

Child: John Haskell Woodbury | 4 July 1822

6 July 1816

27 Mar 1844

11 Sep 1845 | 6 Jun 1899

2 Nov 1891

13 June 1864

18 Dec 1935 | 24

30

3

1

John Stillman Woodbury | 20 Nov 1825 | 21 Dec 1914 | 21

*Orin Nelson Woodbury | 10 Aug 1828 | 25 Aug 1890 | 18

Hannah Maria Woodbury | 14 Jan 1834 | 21 Jun 1857 | 13

*Direct Ancestor

THE JEREMIAH WOODBURY FAMILY

Jeremiah was the sixth child and second son of the Old Planter, John Woodbury and Mary Ward. He was born in Leverett, Franklin County, Massachusetts on March 9, 1791. As he grew to manhood, he received what was considered at the time a liberal education. During the first few years of his mature life, he followed the profession of teaching; and so far as is known, contemplated making that his life work.

Jeremiah was working as a farmer and a schoolteacher when he married Elizabeth (Betsy) Bartlett on June 20, 1815. She was the third child of Daniel Bartlett and Hannah Woodbury Bartlett, the couple being first cousins.

After their marriage, they lived in New Salem, Massachusetts, and became the parents of seven children: William Hamilton Woodbury, Joseph Jeremiah Woodbury, Thomas Hobart Woodbury, John Stillman Woodbury, Orin Nelson Woodbury, Susan Elizabeth Woodbury, and Hannah Maria Woodbury.

Joseph Smith received a revelation found in D&C 111 that directed the organization of missionary efforts for the State of Massachusetts. The missionaries traveled and taught where they could. In 1841, Zula Hastings, a cousin, announced "I've been to a Mormon meeting. The preacher Elder Maginn, spoke more good sense than all the ministers I ever heard." The Woodbury, Haskell and Pomeroy families, close associates and related to the Woodbury line, all agreed to go to the next meetings and examine the teachings. They found this church to be more like the church Jesus Christ organized when he was on this earth, but which had later been taken from the earth, and had now been restored in its purity and simplicity and in its fullness. They also read the Book of Mormon and were convinced that this was the true church. Elder Myers was the missionary that baptized this family one and all on 12 Sept. 1841. Several people in the community joined but others continued to be skeptical.

ELIZABETH'S BAPTISM

Jeremiah's wife, Elizabeth had been bed ridden and an invalid for eight years, and it was necessary for her to be carried into the baptismal waters. Through her faith in the power of the Priesthood, and in the ordinance of baptism, she came from the water completely restored to normal health. Her recovery was so complete and so remarkable, that it made a deep impression on every member of the family, created considerable excitement in the community and was the cause of many others joining the church. The Woodbury's and their friends made plans to move to Nauvoo. During the fall, winter and spring of 1841-42, Jeremiah Woodbury and family diligently set about arranging their affairs and making preparations for the long overland journey from their New Salem, Massachusetts home southwestward to Nauvoo, Illinois on the east bank of the Mississippi River. In selling their home, farm, nursery stock, surplus furnishings and livestock, they lost a lot of money, since cash in hand was more important than price. Teams, wagons, equipment and supplies were assembled.

MARRIAGES OF THREE OLDEST BOYS

The three oldest boys were each advised by the missionaries to seek a suitable wife before leaving. During the winter the boys successfully found girls to marry from the congregation of the new converts and on May 8, 1842 a triple wedding ceremony was held. Thomas married one of the daughters of the Haskell family and the two families remained close through the trials for the rest of their lives.

NAUVOO

The Mormons had been in Nauvoo about three years when the Woodbury family arrived in late summer 1842. Jeremiah purchased an 82 acre farm and built his home 1 ½ miles east of the Nauvoo city limits. Jeremiah and his family are said to have become intimately acquainted with the Prophet and other prominent men in the Church. At one time when the Prophet was greatly in need of financial assistance, Jeremiah helped him out with a generous contribution. The Prophet laid his hands on Jeremiah's head and gave him a blessing, promising him among other things that he would never lack for money. He would later testify many times during his later years that though he had experienced many trials and hardships during the journey across the plains and the pioneer conditions in Utah, when money and every other necessity were hard to obtain, he had never seen one day when he was without money even though there were moments when it seemed impossible for the promise to be kept.

ROBBED

One night during a heavy storm, while all were asleep and the Woodbury home was in darkness, a man knocked on the door. "What do you want?" asked Jeremiah. "Please, we'd like to come in out of the storm," the voice replied. "All right, I'll get up and strike a light," Jeremiah answered. "No need to make a light. Just let us in till the storm is over." Jeremiah obligingly opened the door. One man grabbed him and thrust a pistol into his stomach telling him to keep quiet. Another man crowded past into the room. The commotion gave warning to John and Orin, ages 17 and 15, who jumped out of bed and disappeared just before one of the men reached their bedside. Their bed had been made across the top of two chests. One man threw off the bedding and searched the chests until he found a bag containing coins. He grabbed it, and the two men hurried away. In the darkness the robbers had take a bag of silver coins while overlooking a much more valuable bag of gold. Many times thereafter, Jeremiah testified that he had never suffered from lack of money, literally fulfilling Joseph's promise.

William's college education enabled him to obtain a position teaching higher mathematics at the University of Nauvoo. It is understood that the others engaged in farming, including nursery stock and raising garden products for household needs. The younger boys and girls helped to develop the new home and farm and worked to earn income when and where opportunities were available.

The Woodbury families participated regularly in church activities. Opportunities for further schooling were limited, although their parents were capable tutors, an occasional remark was made that their education after leaving Massachusetts was obtained in the school of hard knocks. Their parents also contributed effectively by example.

It is known that the two boys, John and Orin, developed skills in many things essential to the needs of pioneers, particularly in the construction of crafts and in farming, with expert training from their father as a nurseryman. Their adaptability to whatever situation arose earned for each the title "jack-of-all-trades", a nickname that was intended as a true compliment to their varied skills.

The Woodbury family endured the persecution of the Saints in Nauvoo and was present when Joseph and Hyrum were murdered.

DEATH OF SUSAN ELIZABETH

Although flourishing, life within the community was far from tranquil. Many failed to survive the severe physical hardships of pioneer life. Their 15 year old daughter, Susan Elizabeth became sick. Lying in her bed as she grew weaker, she chose to sing "The Spirit of God, Like a Fire is Burning" as her farewell message. She died and was buried in Nauvoo.

WILLIAM AND JOSEPH FALL AWAY

William and Joseph along with their families withdrew from the Church following the decree of plural marriage. William eventually ended up in Chicago where he received a college teaching assignment and became a deacon and Sunday School teacher in the Baptist Church. Joseph and his family returned to Massachusetts where he became a Methodist minister. This splintering of the family was hard on their mother, Betsy. Her faith in the Church and Jeremiah's friendship with and loyalty to Joseph Smith bound them in firm allegiance.

Their peaceful time in Nauvoo came to an end as mobs forced everyone to leave. The Woodbury families of Jeremiah and his son Thomas were well outfitted when they left Nauvoo shortly before spring 1846. They carried supplies estimated to serve their needs for eighteen months. These had been acquired with their own resources independent of the group program. Such an achievement may have been a factor in slightly delaying their departure. Winter weather had not ceased when they crossed the Mississippi River on ice and traveled the seven miles beyond to Sugar Creek, Iowa. They joined others in camping there in the snow. They found quail from which they made hot soup. They remained at Sugar Creek for several weeks in spite of their tent existence in wintry weather. In so doing, they avoided the most adverse traveling conditions that plagued those who left the camp in February and March.

GARDEN GROVE

The pioneers reached the first permanent camp site, 145 miles west of Nauvoo, on April 23 and named it Garden Grove. The outfits transporting Jeremiah and Thomas Woodbury and families were in the wagon train that reached there on April 24. By the 26th there were 359 men at work making fences, digging wells, building cabins, plowing ground, and planting crops. When finished, those who possessed supplies moved on, leaving the others to tend the crops.

The Woodburys built a cabin for temporary housing. Minimum shelter would likely have been adequate for the summer months immediately ahead, but Jeremiah envisioned inclement weather if they were delayed through the following winter. Jeremiah and his sons Thomas, John and Orin energetically cleared land, prepared soil, and planted crops to serve their immediate needs and to provide a harvest for Saints who would follow. When the summer waned, they improved their cabin by chinking the logs with mud, reinforcing the roof, and weatherproofing it as best they could. They then placed rocks for stoop and paths. They fared better than many. They were pleased to help those coming after as well.

TRAVEL TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

They traveled from Garden Grove in early April 1847, arriving before the first pioneers started for the Rocky Mountains. They were not assigned to the first pioneer group that left on April 5, 1847. Nevertheless, they were prepared and eager to proceed toward the Rocky Mountains at the first opportunity. Jeremiah was a commendable provider under such difficult circumstances. Those that were ready urged their leaders to organize a second company to leave that same year. By mid June 1847, the Woodburys and others with 575 wagons prepared to depart. They were listed in the third ten of Abraham O. Smoot's company.

THE GREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY

Upon their arrival on September 16, 1847, in the Great Salt Lake Valley, they were on foreign soil under jurisdiction of Mexico. They had traveled in two wagons. One carried Jeremiah (56), his wife Betsy [Elizabeth Bartlett] (53), two sons, John S. (21) and Orin N. (just turned 19), and one daughter, Hannah (13). The other wagon was used by his son Thomas (25), with wife Katherine (31), and children Matilda (3) and John (2).

CRICKETS

During the winter Orin and his brothers herded cows on mill Creek Bench south of town. In the spring the crickets came. Jeremiah's farm was one of the ones being eaten up and destroyed. They did what they could and also humbly asked for help from our Father in Heaven. They knew if their crops were destroyed they would surely have a winter of starvation. Then the seagulls came. They looked like white-winged birds sent from heaven. They began devouring the crickets. They feasted, then flew to a nearby stream of water, drank and disgorged, then flew back to the field for another helping. This they did until the fields were cleared of the terrible pests.

Mother Betsy died May 18, 1851. She was the ninth person buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

JEREMIAH'S PERONALITY AND GIFTS

Jeremiah Woodbury was not essentially a public man. He was not a man that sought for place or prominence among his fellow mortals. He was content to do his full duty in a quiet way, both to his Church and to his community, striving always to be an uplift to his fellowmen, and to make the world a little better for his having lived in it. Brother Woodbury was ordained a Patriarch May 10, 1873.

He was blessed to a remarkable degree with the gift of healing. Peter S. Condie's mother was left totally blind after an incident. She told Jeremiah that if he would administer to her she would regain her sight. He replied, "Well, Sister Condie, if that is your faith, it shall be so."

He administered to her and the following morning she was able to discern objects placed before her. Her sight continued to improve until she could see practically as well as she ever had been able to, although her eyes did remain somewhat weak.

A Brother Thorne bore this testimony, "Jeremiah Woodbury was one of the best men I ever knew."

THE WOODBURY FAMILY AND THE CHURCH

Generations of the Woodbury family have been a part of the church from the beginning. Reading through the history of the members of this family will show numerous Bishops, Stake Presidents, Patriarchs, Relief Society instructors, Seventies, Missionaries, Temple Workers, Sunday School Presidents, members of the Tabernacle Choir, youth leaders, Seminary teachers, and faithful church leaders of every kind. In helping to develop the State of Utah, Woodburys have been involved in fields of industry, and civic responsibilities, working to build and strengthen the stakes in their local areas.

Whether the Lord was referring to the Woodbury family when he instructed Joseph to "inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city" is mere conjecture. Certainly many faithful members of the church were baptized from the same area. It is not known whether or not any of the ancestors of any of the other founders of the city ever joined the church. Many converts have certainly obtained higher positions in the Church and many may boast of greater deeds done by their ancestors. The Woodbury line, however, has been a solid branch that stems from the time the Prophet first received this revelation known as the 111th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. For those who may want to ridicule the church or call Joseph Smith a false Prophet for participating in this "folly", the genealogy of the Woodbury family will certainly stand as a testimony that truly there were "more treasures than one" in the City of Salem and the "regions round about" for the "Benefit of Zion".

It is unknown how many thousands of descendants; living and dead have been active members of the church. An attempt to estimate the number, living and dead done by Angus Canon Woodbury in 1957 reported the number at 2,296. Hundreds of descendants have served as missionaries and have certainly been instrumental in bringing thousands of people to the gospel.

Orin Nelson Woodbury, a son of Jeremiah, married Ann Cannon, sister of George Q. Cannon one of the original settlers of Saint George, Utah. Under the direction of President Brigham Young they carried some of the first fruit trees to the area which were planted in the Southern Utah soil. John Stillman Woodbury, 4th son of Jeremiah was known as a poet musician who wrote 4 of the hymns that appeared in the official hymn book of the church for over 50 years.

Sources:

Orin Nelson Woodbury and his Ancestors by Dallas Coleman

Orin Nelson Woodbury; Life and Heritage by F. Orin Woodbury

History of the Jeremiah Woodbury Family by Angus Cannon Woodbury
Jacob Mica Truman

JACOB MICA TRUMAN

m. Elizabeth Boyce

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ALBERT HENRY TRUMAN

m. Florence Matilda Bowler

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ELIZABETH MATILDA TRUMAN

m. Raymond Cannon

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FLORENCE CANNON

m. Justin R Lamb

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

JACOB MICA TRUMAN

Came west in the Mormon Battalion Company 'C' commanded by Capt. James Brown (1848)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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Jacob Mica Truman | 30 Aug 1825 | 23 Nov 1881 | 23

Mica Spencer & Rhoda Mudge Jacob Luther Truman & ???

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Martha (Patty) Spencer & John Franklin Truman

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Jacob Mica Truman

MARTHA SPENCER'S FAMIILY

Martha Spencer, was born on the 22nd of July, 1793 in the town of Unadilla, Otsego County, New York, where her father, Mica Spencer had spent his youth. Martha and her family lived there until she was about thirteen years old, at which time her father, along with some of his brothers moved to Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Tioga County around 1806 was a newly settled area with great tracts of land that were still unoccupied. Martha's father and uncles found an area near what was later known as Canoe Camp in Richmond Township, which had not yet been settled and after scouting out its possibilities soon settled there.

Soon after the family had moved to Tioga County, Martha's uncle, Amos Spencer built a grist mill to grind flour while the others started farming. Amos later built a saw mill to provide needed lumber for many of the new settlers moving into the area as they built houses and barns. Amos' sawmill kept many of the family employed, both logging and sawing lumber while they worked to get their farms going. As other settlers moved into the area the towns of Mansfield, Canoe Camp, Lamb's Creek, and Kelleytown were founded. Her father, Mica Spencer, taking advantage of the increased population, opened a bookstore which provided extra income for his family. It was while living in Tioga County that Martha Spencer met John Franklin Truman.

JOHN TRUMAN'S FAMILY

John F. Truman was born the 28th of January, 1789 in either Connecticut or Vermont. He spent his early youth in Burlington, Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain. Shortly before 1800 his parents moved across the lake to Plattsburgh, New York. Here John's parents apparently suffered some marital difficulties and were separated. John was apprenticed out to another family to learn a trade.

JOHN IN AN APPRENTICESHIP

In apprenticeships the employer usually furnished food, clothes, lodging, and some schooling, while the apprentice was required to work assisting his employer in whatever work was needed. Eventually the apprentice was to learn a useful trade. After a time this family that he was apprenticed to moved and John went with them. Subsequently, he lost track of his family. John stayed with this family until he was twenty one, when his apprenticeship ended. He probably moved with them to the area of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Soon after his release he met Martha Spencer and after a time they were married.

MARTHA AND JOHN MARRIED

For a time John and Martha stayed in Tioga County where John built Martha a nice frame house, which stood on a knoll just south of Kelleytown. This house was later used as one of the first school houses in the area. John and Martha did not stay long in Tioga County. Shortly before their first child Anna Maria was born in 1811, they moved to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. They stayed in Pittsburg until after their second daughter, Adeliza Lauretta, was born in 1815. They then moved back to Tioga County for a while before moving on to New York. According to tradition, while in New York at this time John and Martha lived not far from the St. Lawrence River in Northern New York where John ran a tavern and the family "owned land with many maple sugar trees growing, where they made enough for their own use and to spare." This tradition has not been verified though. While living in New York, John and Martha's third daughter, Rhoda Sarah was born in 1820. But again they didn't stay long and soon moved to Canada where Almus Spencer, their first son, was born in 1822. By 1825 they had again moved, this time back to New York, in Niagara County where Martha's father had moved for his family's health.

JOHN FINDS HIS FAMILY

John's father, who had separated from his mother, was also living in Niagara, and no doubt, John took the opportunity to get re-acquainted with his father, and to meet his new step-mother Abigail Horton, and his three young half-brothers. Also about this time John decided to visit his mother who still lived in Burlington, Vermont. He took his brother-in-law George C Spencer and started off for Burlington. It was evening when they arrived. They found his mother at home. "George was to do the talking. He did so and they got permission to stay. John kept his hat on. He had curly hair and thought his mother might recognize him. She looked at him, walked over and raised his hat, and said: 'John, my son.' What a happy meeting that must have been. They sat up and talked all night."

JACOB MICA IS BORN

Jacob Mica Truman, the last of five children, was born the 30th of August, 1825 while they were in the town of Niagara, Niagara County, New York. Jacob was named for his two grandfathers: Jacob Luther Truman and Mica Spencer, who lived close by.

After his birth his family stayed in Niagara for almost five years. During this time many of his family took sick, probably with the ague, and his grandmother, Rhoda Mudge, finally became so ill that she died on October 1st, 1828. This became too much for his grandfather Mica Spencer who had apparently also suffered some financial setbacks when his son Roswell lost the land they were trying to buy. In a letter to a purchasing agent in Canada, Mica expressed his sentiments and his desire to move to Canada, where he thought life would be better.

He wrote:

Niagara, N.Y.

Sept 23d 1829

'Owing to sickness and other misfortunes we were unable to pay for the soil of the lot Roswell Articled for in this place. We have sold our improvements and as Dorastus and Amos have purchased a lot at Long Point. We should like to go there too. Mrs. Spencer is dead she died the first day of last October. The rest of the family are all living but some are in a very indifferent state of health viz. myself Roswell George and Sophia. We came here to git into a healthy country. Than which a more unhealthy place cannot be found on the face of God's earth. The inhabitants have more the appearance of wondering Ghosts than living mortals if we can once more get well seated in Canada the inhabitants of the States may enjoy all their boasted liberty (which God knows is more wind than reality).'

TRUMANS MOVE TO CANADA

Before the end of the year, Jacob's extended family including his grandfather, Mica Spencer moved to Charlottesville, Canada. On the way Almus, Jacob's only brother, must have taken sick for on the 4th of January 1830 he died; leaving Jacob as the only son.

Jacob and his family lived in Canada for eight years, while there they worked together to build new homes. Not long after they had arrived in Charlottesville, Lauretta started seeing a young man named Henry Barnum; a local boy who had grown up in the vicinity. Henry worked as a boatman or mariner on Lake Erie.

MARRIAGES OF LAURETTA AND ANNA MARIA

On the 22nd of March, 1831, hardly a year after they had arrived in Charlottesville, Lauretta, then only sixteen and Henry Barnum were married by the local Presbyterian minister; listed as witnesses at the marriage were John F. Truman, Mica Spencer, and her 9 year old sister Rhoda.

Swiftly following Lauretta's marriage to Henry Barnum, Anna Maria (20) met and fell in love with James Barnum, Henry's brother. They were married a year later on the 20th of June 1832, at the local Baptist Church.

PATRIOT'S REBELLION

In 1837 Upper Canada, as Ontario was then known, was in the midst of political turmoil. Due to some of the arbitrary decisions made by many of the British appointed officials, who seemed to favor the rich and landed interests over the less wealthy settlers, many of whom were originally from the United States; a revolt broke out, led by William Lyon Mackenzie, in an effort to get Canada to join the United States. One of the hotbeds of the revolt was the area of Long Point and Charlottesville. This revolt, or Patriot's Rebellion as it was known, was quickly put down in December of 1837, and many of its leaders were captured. It is not known if the families of John Truman or Mica Spencer took part in this revolt, Henry Barnum was captured and sent to Tasmania (Australia) for life imprisonment. The family quickly left the area and Lauretta Barnum, John Truman, Mica Spencer and James Barnum and their families all moved to Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan, a short distance from Detroit.

DETROIT--FATHER'S DEATH

It was while Jacob's family lived in Michigan that tragedy struck his family. On December 26th, 1835, the day after Christmas, just a year after they had moved to Michigan, John F. Truman (according to tradition) went "fishing" and never returned - dying while away from his family. Jacob was only 14 when this happened and he was left to help care for his mother, something he faithfully did until she died. For a time Martha, Rhoda, and Jacob lived with Lauretta Barnum and her family.

GOSPEL TAUGHT TO THE TRUMAN FAMILY

It was while they were living in Ypsilanti that Jacob's family first heard about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith, from missionaries sent out from Nauvoo. Lauretta was the first to receive the Gospel and was baptized November 17th, 1842. The rest of the family didn't accept the Church quite as quickly. Apparently they wanted time to think about this new religion before joining.

Anna Maria's husband James Barnum died in 1842 leaving her with three small children. Rhoda married Stephen Hicks in 1844 and moved away. Grandfather Mica Spencer joined the church and decided to move to Knox County, Illinois in 1845 where a small Mormon settlement had been established by Michigan Saints as Brigham Young had urged.

Jacob at this time was seriously considering joining the Church, but wanted to go to Nauvoo before doing so. In the summer of 1845, Brigham Young was trying to gather the scattered Saints to Nauvoo and was making plans to travel west the next spring. At this time of upheaval, Jacob moved to Nauvoo. He was converted to the gospel and was baptized June 10th 1845 by Lyman Stoddard. Two months later on the 22nd of August Jacob received his patriarchal blessing. Eight days later, on his twentieth birthday, he was ordained a Seventy in the 30th Quorum of Seventies.

MORMON BATTALION

When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo in the winter and early spring of 1846, Jacob returned to Knox County, gathered his mother and sisters and with their wagon and oxen gathered with the Saints on the west side of the Mississippi River. During the spring and early summer they struggled across Iowa to Council Bluffs where semi-permanent camps were being made to gather the Saints. While at Council Bluffs the call for the Mormon Battalion came and Jacob enlisted on the 16th of July 1846 in Company 'C' commanded by Capt. James Brown.

The Mormon Battalion left Council Bluffs around the 21st of July and traveled to Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, to be outfitted and equipped for their journey. Since no one was familiar with such a lengthy march for infantry, estimates of what supplies were needed were greatly underestimated. This was to trouble the Battalion throughout their whole march. All of the men liked their first commander, Colonel James Allen, the man who had raised the Battalion but shortly after they left Ft. Leavenworth he took sick and died. His Replacement Lt. Col. A.J. Smith of the regular Army was extremely disliked and many of the men wanted to make Capt. Jefferson Hunt of Company 'A' their commander, he being the senior officer of the Battalion itself. This request was turned down, and it wasn't until October 19th, 10 days before arriving at Santa Fe that Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke arrived to take permanent command of the Battalion. He was regarded by all as a just and honorable soldier.

JACOB IS INJURED

One of the officers that the Battalion disliked most was Dr. Sanderson, the Battalion doctor. Most of the men regarded Dr. Sanderson with a mixture of fear and loathing. Most men were willing to endure their illnesses and the rigors of marching with the Battalion rather than to submit to Dr. Sanderson's "cures" before being allowed to ride in the sick wagons.

One of Jacob's duties was to help care for the stock and help "break in" any new animals they got. One of these animals, either a mule or a horse, was especially wild, and when Jacob tried to mount it, it took off running and bucking wildly into the desert with Jacob on top. Three different versions of this story relate what happened next:

  1. 1. "The horse ran under a tree whose branches knocked Jacob to the ground and he was badly hurt. The doctor of the company said he would not live long - that they would have to go on and leave him there to die. Four of his comrades begged the doctor to dress his wounds and let them stay behind with him for a little while. The request was granted. As soon as the company moved on, the four boys formed a circle and offered up a fervent prayer for the recovery of their comrade. After a short time Jacob was sufficiently recovered to be put on a horse and all rejoined the camp that evening. The doctor, not being of their faith said: 'You can't kill those d___ Mormons.

  2.   3. 2. "One day, while attempting to break a mule for riding, the mule ran bolting and bucking across the desert. He ran under a tree, bucking as he went. A low branch knocked Jacob from the saddle and he lay bleeding on the ground. A few hours later he was found by his companions, who had traced the mule's tracks, when the mule had returned to camp rider-less. At first Jacob was thought to be dead. He was not, although the blow had laid open his head to the bone, in a gash from ear to ear. The Army doctor examined him and said he could do nothing. Since the Army was breaking camp, they decided to leave him to die as they had no facilities to care for him while traveling. After much persuasion, three members of the Battalion obtained permission to stay and bury Jacob, promising to catch up with the remainder of the Army at their next camp.

  4.

"As soon as the Army left, the Elders laid hands on Jacob and administered to him.

"Meanwhile, the remainder of the Battalion kept watch for their comrades who had stayed behind. As they looked back on their trail, a moving dot became larger and larger until finally it was evident to all that walking toward them were four, not three men as expected! Jacob had hot only been healed through the power of the Priesthood, but had walked a day's journey across the desert, with only a scar to show that an accident had occurred (the scar he carried to his grave).

"When the doctor saw him, he exclaimed, 'You can't even kill those d*** Mormons!'".

  1. 3. "Jacob M. Truman had a scar on his head five inches across and 1/2 inch deep. A horse fell with him as he ran under a tree. The tree cut his head. He laid there all night and then made his way back to camp. The doctor said they couldn't hold the whole camp for him, 'He won't live more than an hour anyway.' They asked the doctor to bind up his wound. The doctor didn't want to, but did anyway. Brother Morris [sic Moore] and three other men stayed with him and told the camp that they would catch up with them by noon. As soon as they were out of sight, the four brethren knelt down and blessed him; he got up and walked back to camp. The doctor never had to bind the wound up again. The doctor said: 'The G--d-------Mormons - Knock all their brains out and they get up and walk.'"

  2.

NEARING THE END OF THE JOURNEY

After Jacob and the men left Santa Fe their supply situation became worse. Not only were they footsore, but their food supply was running out rapidly. Eventually the Battalion was forced to start eating some of their own oxen before arriving at the San Diego Mission on January 29th, 1847. Until the Battalion was discharged they preformed garrison duty at San Diego, San Luis Rey, and Los Angeles. After their release, those who did not want to re-enlist, which was the majority and included Jacob, traveled as a group north to the Sacramento River with the intent to layover there a few days before crossing the mountains to the east and join with the body of the Saints.

SUTTER'S FORT AND SAM BRANNAN

It was August when they reached Sutter's Fort where they rested and relaxed while they prepared for the rest of their journey. At Sutter's Fort they met Sam Brannan with the news that the pioneers had reached the Salt Lake Valley. He seemed discouraged that he had not been able to convince Brigham Young to settle the Saints in California instead of Salt Lake. He also brought with him an epistle from the Apostles instructing those Battalion members who did not have the means to finish the trip to Salt Lake to remain in California over the winter and work; and then to bring their earnings with them to Salt Lake in the spring. About half of the men decided to stay the winter, while the others forged ahead to the Salt Lake Valley. Jacob decided to stay and was able to find employment nearby. In January of 1848 Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill where some of the Battalion members were working. Soon "gold fever" spread like wild fire and just about everyone dropped what they were doing and started hunting for gold, which they found was quite easy to find.

JACOB ARRIVES IN SALT LAKE

Jacob joined in this hysteria and reportedly brought back a small sack of gold with him to Salt Lake. That spring an expedition of former Battalion members, including Jacob, formed to travel to Salt Lake. They planned to go in early May but were forced to wait until July 2nd before they found the passes through the Sierra Nevadas clear enough to go. On October 1st, 1848 they arrived in Salt Lake where they were heartily welcomed.

MARRIAGE TO ELIZABETH BOYCE

The next spring, on April 19th, 1849 Jacob married Elizabeth Boyce, the daughter of George Boyce. The Boyce family had lived in Redford and Livonia, Michigan, where they had become members of the Church. They had come west with the Saints in 1847. Redford and Livonia are close to Ypsilanti and were the centers of the Church in Southern Michigan. No doubt Jacob and Elizabeth had already become acquainted with each other while Jacob was investigating the Church and before he moved to Nauvoo. On seeing her already in Salt Lake he quickly fell in love and married her.

After their marriage Jacob received an allotment of 12 acres of land in South Cottonwood on the northwest corner of what is now 55th South and Highland Drive in Salt Lake. Jacob and Elizabeth worked hard to build a home and plant crops to sustain themselves. Twice in those early years they had to endure cricket infestations which destroyed many of their crops. But, through their hard work and industriousness they were able to overcome these difficulties and add another 22 acres on the East side of Highland Drive to their holdings. Gradually they were also able to acquire another 46 additional acres on which Jacob planned to settle his mother and sisters, who had not yet arrived in Utah. Jacob's first three children - Martha Ann (1850), John Franklin (1851), and Emma Maria (1852) were born.

OFFICER IN THE NAUVOO LEGION (IN UTAH)

Jacob supplemented his income by serving as an officer in Utah's state militia--the Nauvoo Legion. In February of 1850 he and his company were called on an expedition to find some Indians who had killed some cattle and stolen some horses. Expeditions like these paid well for early Utahns, with Jacob as a private making as much as a dollar-fifty to two dollars a day while gone. Jacob gradually came up through the ranks to become first a Lieutenant, then Captain, and finally commanded his own company in 1857.

TRIP TO MICHIGAN TO GET HIS FAMILY

In 1853 Jacob decided it was time to go back east and bring his mother and sisters to Utah. In 1849 Jacob's grandfather, Mica Spencer had died leaving only his uncle, George C. Spencer to care for them. Martha, Lauretta, and Anna Maria had originally gone to Council Bluffs during the exodus from Nauvoo, and had intended to emigrate with the main body of the Saints, but were financially unable to. They had since moved back to their farm in Knox County where they were waiting for Jacob to come back for them. Jacob brought them to Utah the next year in 1854, though in what company it is unknown. He settled them on some of the land he had previously prepared for them in South Cottonwood.

MARRIAGE TO CATHERINE MAXWELL

After returning to Salt Lake, Jacob was called by Brigham Young to enter into Polygamy by taking a second wife, Catherine Maxwell. Catherine had received the gospel in her native Scotland along with her family. A man named Gaddis had helped pay her way to Utah with the intention of marrying her when she arrived but Brigham Young advised him to marry someone else first and to marry Catherine as a 2nd wife. After she arrived in Salt Lake and found out the situation Catherine refused to marry him, and made her father tell him that. She later met Jacob, and since he was more to her liking, married him on December 21st, 1856. Brigham Young officiated. Catherine and Elizabeth were able to get along. Catherine had to learn to cook and clean house, something that she hadn't learned to do in Scotland because she had worked in factories all of her life. Jacob helped in the training and she did learn to cook somewhat. But she never did learn the fine art of proper housekeeping, Jacob never did complain so they got along just fine.

MARRIAGE TO JULIA ARDENA HALES

Jacob's third marriage did not work out nearly as well. On June 7th, 1857 Jacob married Julia Ardena Hales, a young girl of 16. When Jacob brought her home to Elizabeth and Catherine, and they found out how young she was, things started going wrong from the start. It wasn't long before she and Elizabeth had a major disagreement and she refused to stay any longer. Jacob tried to talk her out of leaving but she left anyway and never came back. She and Jacob soon divorced. Later she married a man by the name of Berry.

While living in South Cottonwood most of Jacob's children were born. Jacob Boyce was the first to be born after his return from the East, being born on July 24th 1855. George Almus followed in 1857, and then Catherine's first child, Ralph Maxwell was born, also in 1857. William Thomas, Elizabeth's sixth child was born in 1858, Rhoda Maria, Catherine's second was born in 1859. The last of Jacob's children to be born in South Cottonwood was Elizabeth's little Laceus, born in 1860, who lived for only a few months.

As Jacob's family grew so did his relative wealth. In 1853 Jacob owned land and improvements worth $190. By 1857 this had grown to $600 In 1856 Jacob purchased 26 more acres adjoining the land that he already owned. In all, by 1860 Jacob owned around 103 acres in South Cottonwood on which he supported himself, his two wives, his mother, his uncle George C. Spencer, and his two sisters and their families. His place was considered "one of the outstanding homes and small farms in that district."

THE UTAH WAR

In 1857, during what is known as the "Utah War", Jacob moved his family, along with the other families in South Cottonwood to the South side of Utah lake near Pond Town (now Salem) to wait out the expected fighting that everyone thought was sure to come when Johnston's Army reached Utah. As a Captain in the Nauvoo Legion, and the commander of one of the companies of soldiers, Jacob was probably placed in charge of seeing that the Citizens were safely evacuated from South Cottonwood, and to burn their homes if called on to do so. After it was safe to return to their homes, Jacob went back to Pond Town and retrieved his family. All were glad that bloodshed had been avoided and that their homes had not been destroyed.

MOVE TO PEOA

In 1860 Jacob was called by Brigham Young to help settle Peoa in Summit County, Utah. Jacob didn't immediately go there with both of his wives, but decided instead to take Catherine and leave Elizabeth in South Cottonwood to help run the farm there. Jacob was able to go to Peoa in two days by wagon and faster by horse, so he felt that he was close enough that he could both manage his farm in South Cottonwood and help build up the new settlement in Peoa. Apparently Jacob split his time evenly between his two homes.

Others that helped settle Peoa were Henry and William Boyce - Elizabeth's brothers, Jacob's sister Anna Maria Barnum, his uncle George C. Spencer, and Catherine's brother John Maxwell and his family.

In 1861 Jacob was appointed as one of the Selectmen for the new County of Summit. His duties as a selectman included overseeing the construction and upkeep of the roads, gathering taxes, and to otherwise run the County; much like being a County Commissioner now. 1862 was a pivotal year for Jacob Mica Truman. This was the year that he was called to Utah's Dixie to help build up the settlement of St. George. The actual call came during the October Conference of 1861. Going to St. George meant that Jacob had to either give up his home in South Cottonwood, or abandon his attempt to settle in Peoa. Jacob decided to sell his farm in South Cottonwood and take Elizabeth with him, at least for the time being, and leave Catherine in Peoa where her brother could help to look after her and her small children.

MOVE TO ST. GEORGE

According to Elizabeth, the trip to St. George was one of the most trying, hard, and perilous trips the pioneers had encountered. When they came to the Black Ridge, south of Cedar City she could not see how they would ever get down it. The story is told how in places the gulches were so straight down and narrow that it was necessary to unload the wagons, take them apart, and then piece by piece take them to the other side.

While on the road, George Almus, only five years old fell out of the wagon and broke his leg. The Company had to lay over a day to set the limb before they could continue on. At first they lived in their wagon until the town was laid out and lots were assigned to each family. Jacob was given a lot on the corner of 2nd South and 1st West where he went to work building a small one-room adobe house. Later he would enlarge it to accommodate both of his families. In 1863 or 1864 Jacob brought Catherine down to St. George to be closer to him. He found it impracticable to travel back and forth between St. George and Peoa.

Neither Catherine nor Elizabeth liked St. George very well. It was too hot, the water was terrible and brackish; if you drank too much of it you would get sick, and sand blew in everywhere. During the first three or four summers the whole family would move up to Diamond Valley where they would make butter and cheese for everyone who had cows in the surrounding settlements. Later Jacob again enlarged his home in St. George so that it eventually became known as "a nice place." On their allotted farmland Jacob grew cotton. Catherine knew how to spin cotton from working in the cotton factories in Scotland so she would spin it while Elizabeth would pick the seeds out. They would make all of their own clothes out of the cotton they spun.

Life in St. George was a lot harder than in the Salt Lake Valley. During a particularly hard time, when food got scarce, Catherine sold her fine black silk dress, which had been woven in Scotland before she came to Utah, for flour to feed the family. This hurt Catherine more than anything else ever did.

Despite the hardness of their lives, Jacob's family continued to grow. In 1861 Catherine Lauretta was born to Catherine while still in Peoa. In 1863 Elizabeth Ann was born, only to die a few months later. Lucy Elizabeth was born in 1864, Mica Spencer in 1865, *Albert Henry in 1867, Ellen Sophia in 1868, and Arthur Monroe in 1870, while Catherine was visiting in Peoa.

From hard work, Jacob gradually increased his wealth. In 1865 he was worth only $500 while by 1868 his worth had grown to over $1000. The tax assessment records for these years show how his small herd of cattle and horses gradually increased from one horse and nine head of cattle in 1865 to 18 head of cattle and four horses in 1870, the year they moved to Hamblin. After living in St. George for 8 years, Erastus Snow, the presiding church authority in St. George, called Jacob to go to Fort Hamblin (Mountain Meadows) to help build up the small settlement there. Several people, for now unknown reasons, threatened to kill him if he and his family attempted to settle in Hamblin. But President Snow promised him that no one would have the power to kill him.

MOVE TO FORT HAMBLIN (MOUNTAIN MEADOWS)

Both Elizabeth and Catherine objected to having to move again, especially to a locality that was so isolated, but Jacob insisted and the family moved. Again everyone had to work hard to carve out a new home for themselves. Deed records show that Jacob purchased three lots in Hamblin. There was plenty of room for everyone since there were only nine families that lived there. Ranching and growing a few garden crops were the only occupations in Hamblin. The hills round about provided good grazing for cattle, and the grass at the Meadows was sufficient for the cattle to winter over there. Jacob's herd of cattle grew quickly from 18 to 36 head. At times he had as many as 8 horses.

After his arrival in Hamblin, Jacob became Presiding Elder. Hamblin was part of the Pinto Ward, but because of its isolation they sent someone to church in Pinto who would in turn return and report on the proceedings at a separate meeting in Hamblin. This continued as long as Jacob lived there.

Hamblin was not free from its share of occasional trouble. Jacob was 6 feet tall with curly hair and blue eyes; he was slender of build and wiry. He was also quick tempered, stern, and outspoken. Some of his neighbors called him "Old Walking Jesus" because of the way in which he would walk around from place to place in Hamblin giving his opinions on how he thought things should be run, or on what he thought people should be doing. His daughter, Nell Brockbank said that no one ever disobeyed Jacob Truman.

LOCAL TROUBLE

One time John Reed, a local ruffian and sometimes outlaw, was gotten drunk by some of Jacob's enemies and sent over to Jacob's house to cause trouble. Jacob was just getting over a bout of pneumonia and was still weak. When the family saw him coming Almus stationed himself with a gun out by the fence just in case of trouble. Jacob told Almus that he mustn't kill Reed because "I wouldn't have that dirty rascal's blood on my hands for anything." While Jacob and Almus waited outside, 'Catherine made up a lye solution to throw in his face if he tried to come inside the house.' When Reed saw that Jacob was ready for him, he didn't try to force his way inside the gate, but stayed outside whooping and hollering for a while before riding off.

The next morning Jacob got up, put on an old gray shawl around his shoulders and went to see Reed to find out what the trouble was. All Reed would say was that some of the fellows had got him drunk and that he didn't have anything personal against Jacob. Jacob told him that if he tried something like that again, he would kill him.

Another time, Elizabeth looked out of the window just in time to see Jacob running toward the house just as fast as he could run, with another man right behind trying to catch him. Jacob dashed into the house, shut the door behind him and slipped quickly upstairs. The man, obviously upset, flung open the door and hollered at Elizabeth. "Where's Jake" Elizabeth pointed towards the kitchen. The man thinking she meant that he had gone out the back door ran through the house and out the back, still hunting and hollering. "Where's Jake?"

Later this same man came back sneaking around the house. When he saw that the table was set for dinner, he took the plates, one by one, and dropped them on the floor, breaking each one. No one knows what Jacob did to upset him so much.

MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE

The Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred on September 11, 1857. 120 emigrants--men, women, and children--were a part of the Baker-Fancher wagon train. They were passing through Southern Utah as they traveled from Arkansas to California. They were killed by a group of Mormons with the help of local Paiute Indians. John D. Lee was blamed by the Government and the Church for leading this attack. He was brought to the sight of the massacre, after his trial, to be shot. Jacob took some of his boys to see the execution but wouldn't let them get very close. They did hear John D. Lee say "Yes, Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God but Brigham Young is leading the people astray." Later Jacob would say about John D. Lee. "He has done our church more harm than any other thousand men in the world."

ELIZABETH MOVES TO GUNLOCK

In 1877 Jacob started a second Ranch two and a half miles below Gunlock. He settled Elizabeth and her family in this new house. She lived there the rest of her life. Gunlock and Hamblin were only about a day's ride apart so Jacob found it easy to travel back and forth between the two ranches as he saw fit.

JACOB'S DEATH

Jacob's last three children were born while the family lived in Hamblin. Mary Lois was born in 1871, Lucina Almina in 1873, and Esther Pricilla in 1876. In November of 1881 Jacob contacted pneumonia for a second time and after suffering for a week he died, on November 23rd 1881 in his home near Gunlock. He was buried in the Hamblin Cemetery a few days later on the 26th. He was only 56 years old.

"At the time of Jacob's Death, Mica (Mike) Spencer Truman (16 years old) and some of his neighbors were cutting timber in the mountains near their home when Mike stopped work and started looking around him as though he had lost something. 'What are you doing. Mike?' asked one of his co-workers. 'Looking for something.' 'What?' 'I don't know, I just had this sudden feeling that I had lost something, so I am looking for it.' After a diligent search of the surrounding area, Mike went back to work, continuing to glance frequently about him and on the ground, as the sense of loss persisted. The next day, a rider came into camp and told the timbering crew that Jacob Truman had died.

'What time was that?' asked Mike. When they told him the time, Mike realized what he had lost the night before, and just how fruitless his search had really been - - for he had lost his father"

OBITUARY DESERET NEWS, 29 NOV 1881: STILL ANOTHER VETERAN GONE

\- Bro. John Pulsipher wrote from Hamblin, Washington Co., on the 26th inst. - "This morning I report the sad news of the demise of our beloved Jacob Mica Truman, who died at this place at 8 o'clock last Wednesday evening the 23rd inst. after one week's suffering with lung fever.

"Bro. Truman was born in the State of New York on the 30th of August 1825. Joining the church in Nauvoo in 1845 and from that time he has been a firm and faithful servant of the Lord, ever ready to speak and act in defense of the Latter-day work. He was one of the brave men known as the Mormon Battalion that performed so important a part in freeing this portion of our country from the rule of foreign power.

"Deceased was among the first settlers of St. George having arrived there twenty years ago this fall. He breathed his last after business was ended, like going to sleep, in the midst of his numerous family. May the Lord comfort them. The funeral was attended by almost the entire inhabitants of this town and a good number from other places. Bishop Robert Knell, of Pinto, Elders Jos. Eldredge and Richard Harrison and others gave much good instruction to comfort and encourage all."

Sources

History by Brent Bunker
David Henry Cannon

DAVID HENRY CANNON

m. Josephine Langley Crossgrove

|

RAYMOND CANNON

m. Elizabeth Matilda Truman

|

FLORENCE CANNON

m. Justin R Lamb

|

MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury
GEORGE AND ANN CANNON

Died before arriving in the Salt Lake Valley

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

George Cannon | 3 Dec 1794 | 17 Aug 1844 | Died in Missouri

Ann Quayle Cannon | 26 Aug 1798 | 28 Oct 1842 | Died crossing the Atlantic Ocean

THEIR CHILDREN

George Quayle and Ann

Came west in the Edward Hunter - Joseph Horne Company (1847)

with Aunt Leonora Cannon Taylor (Father George's sister) & Uncle John Taylor

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

George Quayle Cannon | 11 Jan 1827 | 12 Apr 1901 | 20

Ann Cannon | 28 Jan 1832 | 25 Jul 1921 | 15

AND

Mary Alice, Angus, David and Leonora

Came west in the  Allen Taylor Company (1849)

(Mary Alice married and took care of her youngest siblings Angus, David and Leonora)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

Mary Alice Cannon Lambert

m. Charles Lambert

son: Charles John Lambert

son: George Cannon Lambert | 9 Dec 1828

30 Aug 1816

5 Nov 1845

11 Apr 1848 | 7 Sep 1920

2 May 1892

17 Feb 1924

4 Jun 1917 | 20

32

4

1

Angus Munn Cannon | 17 May 1834 | 7 Jun 1915 | 15

*David Henry Cannon | 23 Apr 1838 | 24 Dec 1924 | 11

Leonora Cannon | 11 Sep 1840 | 11 Oct 1924 | 9

*Direct Ancestor

A HISTORY OF THE CANNON FAMILY

David H. Cannon was born to George and Anne Quayle Cannon. They were born on the Isle of Man, across the channel from Liverpool, England. After the death of his grandfather and the settlement of his estate, they settled in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. They had borne to them, before the Gospel came, seven children. One child died at the age of four years; the other six were living at the time they joined the Church. David Henry Cannon was born on 23 April 1838 in Liverpool, England.

RECEIVING THE GOSPEL

His mother, previous to receiving the Gospel, belonged to the Church of England. As his brother, George Q. and his mother were going down to the dock in Liverpool they met a man coming up, and his mother said to George, "There is the man who will bring the Gospel of Salvation to father's house." When they got home, her brother-in-law John Taylor was there (he had married George's sister Leonora). He proved to be the man she had seen that day. Elder John Taylor brought the Gospel to his father's house in January 1840, and his people soon after availed themselves of the opportunity of baptism. His mother Ann was ready almost immediately for baptism, but his father George, being quite a disciplinarian, insisted upon looking into it a little further. He shut himself up in his room and devoted himself to the perusal of the Book of Mormon. After he had read it with a very prayerful heart, he said to Ann, "A bad man could not write such a book and a good man dare not, unless he was inspired." He also said, "That book is what it purports to be--a history of the ancient inhabitants of America." That was his conclusion, and he said, "We will go and be baptized."

George and Ann were baptized on the 11th day of February 1840 by the Apostle (and later Church president) John Taylor. David was next to the youngest of the children and was less than two years old when the Gospel came to them. He was blessed by Elder John Taylor on the 13th day of February 1840. After which the family's immediate thoughts turned to the necessity of joining the Saints in America.

On the 17th day of September 1842, two and a half years later, his people sailed for America on the ship, Sidney. At that time the family consisted of the parents, George and Ann and five children, George Q. (15), Mary Alice (13), Ann (10), Angus Munn (8), David Henry (4), and Leonora (almost 2). George and Ann had some misgivings in regard to the journey to America. George had had one or two dreams while he was still a young man which had impressed him that his wife would be lost at sea. Before the Gospel came to them, he had never contemplated coming to America, so these dreams had not given him trouble to that time. Ann was the religious one of the family, George having belonged to no denomination. When he expressed his fears Ann said, "I want my children to grow up in Zion even if it costs me my life to get them there."

SAILING TO AMERICA

Ann was expecting a baby due at the last of October. As they were going to leave the land of their nativity, George tried to get her to consent to go by way of New York as she had two sisters and a brother there. He thought that if anything happened they might layup with their kindred for a time, but Ann said, "No, George, if we go by way of New York and anything should happen to me, my children will fall into the hands of strangers, and I want to know they are in the bosom of the Church. They will go by way of New Orleans and direct to Nauvoo."

It was on the 17th of September when they started on their journey. After they were shipboard a few days, Ann was taken violently ill with sea sickness and remained in that condition. Everything possible was done for her during this journey, but on the 28th day of October, about three days before reaching New Orleans, she passed away and she and her unborn offspring were consigned to the ocean. Four-year-old David had to be tied to the mast to be prevented from throwing himself into the sea after his mother. David remembered this devastating moment for the rest of his life.

FATHER MARRIES MARY WHITE

They reached New Orleans about the 1st or 2nd of November 1842. They were all sick with the fever and this somewhat delayed their journey to Nauvoo. When the Mississippi river became frozen over they were stranded, unable to reach Nauvoo, until the following spring. When they arrived, the Prophet Joseph met them at the wharf, and shook the hand of each one in the company regardless of age. He was a fine looking man, tall and stately and with a dignity of bearing that would be difficult to duplicate. He made a profound impression on the family. George, after coming to Nauvoo, married again, a young woman by the name of Mary White. This marriage took place either the latter part of 1843 or the early part of 1844.

DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITH

At the time of the death of the prophet Joseph Smith, 27th of June, 1844, David remembered his father standing at the gate at the front of the house, his arms kind of leaning on the gate; he turned and as he did so, said, "My God, they have killed our prophet." George made the drag that they brought the body in on. (A drag is a sledge, as for carrying stones from a field.) He also helped to bring to Nauvoo his brother-in-law, Elder Taylor, who was severely wounded, his body having received four bullets which he carried to his grave. At the time that the prophet and his brother Hyrum were lying in state, George was the one who made the death masks of the two. David remembered going with his father. A lock of the prophet's hair was caught in the plaster mask, and he remembered his father taking some scissors and clipping the hair and then giving him the scissors to hold while he went on with this work. Of course, David H. was only a youngster, barely six years old. However, he remembered very distinctly holding the scissors at the time his father was removing this mask.

DEATH OF GEORGE

George was not only a contractor and builder, but an expert cabinet maker. It was difficult to find adequate work in Nauvoo during August following the death of the Prophet so George went to St. Louis in hope of obtaining employment. While he was there he became violently ill and died a few days later on the 17th of August 1844. He had a daughter born some few months after his death to Mary White, the wife that he married in Nauvoo, making seven children that he left. There was some difficulty between the children and their new mother, but they don't blame her for anything that took place.

George Q. had learned the printing business and was living with John Taylor along with his sister Ann. David's oldest sister, Mary Alice, was married to a man by the name of Charles Lambert. Judge Stiles appointed Charles and Mary Alice Lambert as guardians over the children that were too young to care for themselves: Angus, David, and Leonora.

LEAVING NAUVOO

After the death of the prophet, troubles began in Nauvoo. The family stayed for as long as they could. The mob came one night and gave them until ten o'clock the next morning to get out. The next day they hired a man to take their wagon and what few personal effects they had down the river where they crossed out of Nauvoo. The next morning Brother Lambert took David with him back to Nauvoo while he settled some business. There they met a platoon of the mob. They asked him if his name was Charles Lambert and told him they had business with him. They led him down into the river and baptized him in the name of the Temple, in the name of the Lord, and everything else they could think of, baptizing him twelve times.

Still in his wet clothes, they went up into the town to find a man that owed them some money. He turned out a yoke of cattle on this account. They called the team "Chance" and "Lucky" because they got them by chance and it was right lucky they did. They got together several animals--a bull, five oxen, and a cow.

They suffered many hardships at that time. David H. was eight years old during this time. Later, he recounted the miracle of the quail, "...we witnessed the power of the Lord in sending great flocks of quail that fed the saints who were fairly in a state of starvation, through being driven from their homes in this inclement season of the year without shelter or sufficient food to eat. These birds were caught by thousands."

WINTER QUARTERS

They reached Winter Quarters that fall. During the winter the Indians killed their cattle leaving them with only a cow. This ended the thought of them starting with the pioneers for Utah in the spring of 1847. Brother Lambert went down into Missouri to work for a new outfit. In the fall of 1847 after working hard and acquiring supplies for the trip west, they came up from Missouri, intending to start out in the spring of 1848. As they were crossing the river on the ice, their wagon broke through and they lost everything they had in it; of course that ended the idea of coming to Zion that year. President Young was there, having come to get his family. He promised them that if they were diligent they would come out the next year.

1849 ARRIVAL IN THE VALLEY

Once again they went into Missouri and worked. The following year they were able to join the westward migration to the Salt Lake Valley, in accordance with the promise of Brigham Young. They got into Salt Lake City about the middle of October 1849. David's brother, George Q., had received a mission call to the Sandwich Islands [Hawaiian Islands] and had started for California three days before they arrived in the Valley. George Q. worked in the mines that winter and in the spring was able to travel to the Islands where he filled a mission and translated the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian Language.

On 17 February 1850 David H. Cannon was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder John White. In 1851 at the age of twelve David H. went to work in the Deseret News Office as an apprentice to the printing business. He was the first "printer's devil" (printer's assistant) in Utah territory. The place of publication was a small building just east of where the Hotel Utah now stands. The publication of the paper began on the 15th day of June of the same year. The remuneration of an apprentice at that time was not great. Some wheat and corn came into the office in exchange for the paper, and this breadstuff was of more consequence to the printers than money at that time, because of the scarcity of food. David H. also helped his brother-in-law, Charles Lambert, quarry rock and work on the farm when he had time away from the printing office.

They were poor. You know when you say poor it can hardly be described what that meant. They killed the poorest cattle they had and they ate everything that was eatable about them. They even scraped the hair off the legs so as to save the hide to eat. They used to go down to the bottoms

to dig roots. He didn't know what kind of roots they were unless they were cane roots, but they looked like boiled snails when cooked. The water in which they were boiled was thickened a little. This filled them up though it didn't fatten.

His brother, Angus, in the spring of 1854, went east intending to go to West Point, but upon reaching New York, he received a letter from President Brigham Young advising him not to go to West Point but to report to President John Taylor of the Eastern States Mission as a missionary. He spent four years in the mission.

MISSION CALL TO CALIFORNIA

On the first of May 1856 (age 18) President Young left word at their house for David to come to his office. On May 2nd he went and Pres. Young said, "We want you to go to California where your brother George is publishing the Hawaiian Book of Mormon." He was ordained a priest by President Young and George A. Smith and set apart at the same time for the mission. The next morning, May 3rd, he started from Salt Lake City.

When he left Salt Lake City, his stock in trade consisted of the clothes he had on, a pillow slip which contained a pair of pants, a black silk handkerchief, a pair of stockings, and a calico shirt. He had in his pocket a five franc piece which his sister Mary Alice gave him on leaving.

He walked from the city up to Hot Springs, which is four miles. He went from Salt Lake to Carson Valley with Elder William Jennings and his wife Priscilla Paul Jennings. They had just gotten married and were called on the Carson Valley Mission (Nevada near Lake Tahoe). When they got into Carson Valley, David spent two days mowing some wild clover. Then he went up into Washoe Valley, where he worked a few days for Elder Orson Hyde, who was building a mill. He left there about the first of July and started across the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California.

LOST AND FOUND

As he was going from Washoe Valley down to Carson Valley, he stopped at Johnson's Ranch. The woman there was churning butter and gave him a drink of buttermilk. He told her where he was going and she told him that if he would go right up the mountain there he would save forty miles in going from there to Sacramento. She told him he would have to follow the blazed trees, that the path was not a clear one. So he took this Johnson's Cut-off as it was called, and in his anxiety to get along he lost the blaze of the trees, traveling after dark. He wandered about that night and the next day. The next night he began to think, "What are you going for and what are you going to do after you get there?" Some background facts may help here. He was quite a leader with the young people in the community where he lived. One night he said to a number of young people, "Let's go down to meeting tonight." Prayer meeting was being held that night and after they got to the meeting, one of the brethren got up and bore his testimony. David experienced a feeling then that he had never experienced before, and the next thing he knew he was bearing his testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel. He said few words, he did not know anything about the Gospel at the time, but the Spirit of the Lord revealed to him, and he bore testimony that the Gospel was true. As a boy he was quite ignorant of the gospel.

After he had stopped to think and pray, he asked the Lord that if it was right for him to go on this mission to please make it manifest by opening the way for him, and that if it was not proper he did not care to go on. He was very tired and hungry. There was hardly ever a time he wasn't hungry, but he was more hungry than common on that night. He lay down and slept as soundly as he had ever slept. In the morning when he was refreshed, he started on and came to a little stream of water. There he washed his face and hands and knelt down again and told the Lord just as he had the night before, that if it was right for him to go, that the way be opened, and it should be as an enduring testimony to him.

He didn't go very far after kneeling down and telling the Lord of his troubles, before he came out upon the main road. Opposite to where he met the road was a finger-board nailed to a tree which said, "16 miles to Genoa" and on the other side it told how far it was to Placerville. He hesitated for a moment as he did not know what to do--if he went to Genoa he would be nearly as far from his destination as when he started from Washoe. Something told him to go on, so he did. He had not gone very far when he came across a stone on the side of the road and on this stone was a loaf of bread and a griddle cake. (A griddle cake is a lot like a pancake). The loaf of bread, he suppose had been baked in a skillet; it was about four inches thick, and the griddle cake was a thin one. He gathered it up and didn't stop to ask where it came from. He thought about his prayer the night before and his prayer of that morning.

He went on his way and came to a place called Slippery Ford. There he met a company of fellows from Carson Valley, men with whom he was acquainted. They were traveling with pack animals. He was telling them of the troubles that he had had in getting lost and the want of food. They said, "Why, you should have been with us; we had bread to throw away." That was the bread he got. Someone might say that there was not any manifestation of the powers of the Lord about that--the bread had simply been thrown away. After that time he traveled with pack animals and they don't lay such things down on a clean stone--one piece on top of another, but they cast them from them. This bread was laid upon a clean stone, as carefully as if they had known he was coming to get it. While the tempter said to him, "There is nothing miraculous about this, "yet I have never doubted from that time to this but what that was a direct answer to my prayer."

He went on down to Placerville. He arrived there on the evening of the 4th of July 1856. They were celebrating in the town that day. He had no money and spent some time trying to get a place to stay. He ended up sleeping that night in a livery stable.

The next morning he met Henry Peck. Henry owed him $1.50 and he dunned him for it and he paid him. David H. went down to the stage office and secured a ticket on the Opposition Stage Line that would leave Placerville on Monday morning. After he secured his ticket he went up the canyon to while away the day. He looked back towards Placerville and seeing a terrible smoke, returned and found the place on fire. The only two buildings that were saved in that town were the stable he had slept in and the telegraph office.

Placerville was built in the canyon and the fire swept the canyon. Boxes and barrels of crackers and all kinds of supplies were rolled out into the streets and were left. He was about in as good a position as anyone in Placerville as he had a ticket to carry him to Sacramento. He slept that night in the coach, and the next morning he was on hand when they got ready to start. He was able to get some hardtack which he put in his pillow slip which he carried with him.

When he arrived in Sacramento he stopped by a watering trough and was soaking some of this hardtack to eat when a man came along he had known in Salt Lake City. He asked him what he was doing there and he told him his story. David asked him if he knew of any Mormons in Sacramento, and he told him of a man by the name of J.H. Baldwin, who was one of their people. So he tied up his pillow slip and started for the Baldwin home. When he got there, Mrs. Baldwin met him at the door and he told her his story. She then took him in and gave him a suit of her husband's clothes to put on while she washed his. He put on his calico shirt with the blue stripe in it and he felt somewhat dressed up, too.

Brother Baldwin came home, and after they had supper he took him out for a walk and asked him how he happened to be there and he told him. He also said, "Do you know that my wife told me that if I brought any Mormons to this place again she would leave the house?" David told him that his wife had treated him with kindness and that he was at that time wearing his clothes, as she was washing his, and that she could not have treated him better had she been his mother.

He stayed there that night and the next morning he went down to the Sacramento River. There were seven steamers along the levy. He went to each steamer and applied for a chance to work his passage down to San Francisco. He was turned down every time. At the last steamer, which was called J. Bragdon there was a Negro and a Spaniard throwing wood off a flat boat. He set down his things and helped them. After awhile the mate came along and he said to him, "Young man, you have been working well. When the bell rings you go in and have dinner and you can go down with me." David had come across a fellow by the name of Bob Rose from Ogden and he was sitting out on the bank. He told the mate he had a partner out on the bank and the mate said he could bring him in. They continued to throw off wood until the bell rang, when they went in and got dinner. The wood was stored between the decks and they put them to work carrying it from where they had piled it, around to the fireman. After they had been at that a short time Bob said he had had enough of it and went to the bunk in the forecastle. He had been gone but a few minutes when the mate came and asked him where his partner was. "Well," he said, "He complains of being ill and he has gone to lie down." He said, "Let's go and look for him." So they went and found Bob who was in the bunk. The mate said, "What's the matter with you and why have you forsaken your work?" Bob said, "I am sick." "Yes," said the mate. "You reminded me of a sick man when you ate your dinner. If you don't get out and work we will put you ashore." Bob got out and went to work.

The mate took David to his stateroom and gave him a berth and access to the books, and told him to make himself comfortable until they got to San Francisco, where he arrived at ten o'clock on the 8th day of July 1856.

He went to work as a typesetter in the Western Standard Office where he assisted in the publication of the Hawaiian Book of Mormon and the Western Standard, a paper they had started there. He preached through the country as opportunity afforded, until the Johnston Army was sent to Utah, at which time he was released to return home.

COMING BACK HOME AND MEETING UP WITH INDIANS

His brother, George Q., furnished him means to get a wagon and two span of mules and got him to take George's wife and seven-month-old baby down to San Bernardino. They went by steamer down to San Pedro and from there to San Bernardino by stage. He fitted up an outfit and they came to Utah with a company of immigrants starting about the last of November. One night the little company was camping on the dreary desert. They staked their teams out on the grass and retired for the night. The next morning David found his mules were gone. He followed their tracks all day long, feeling sure they were being driven away as they were always out of sight. Just before dark he reached the top of the black hill and looked down into the valley where now stands the St. George temple and saw an Indian camp. He knew the mules had been stolen by the Indians. With a prayer in his heart, he approached the village where he was met by Indian braves who bound him and placed him in a tepee as a prisoner.

In the morning he asked to see the chief, as he wanted his mules. They denied having his mules and pretended not to understand his demand to see the chief. Not being daunted by their behavior he continued his demands to see the chief and at last was taken before Toshob, the chief of the Shivwits. At this time the Mormon men wore their hair in what they call now a long bob cut, while David was in California he had had his hair shingled (layered). He demanded of Chief Toshob his mules. He told him that he was a Mormon and that he had a squaw and a little boy out on the desert and must take them to their home in Salt Lake City. Chief Toshob said, "You no Mormon." David insisted that he was. The chief said, "No. Mormons wear heap long hair." He explained he had cut his hair in California. The old chief slowly approached and when very near, in a movement as quick as lightning, grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped it open exposing his LDS garments. The old chief gave one piercing glance then closed the shirt and said, "Yes, heap good Mormon. Long time ago my people wear all-a-same clothes. Heap good Mormon." The braves were then addressed, and while some of them released his bands, others brought the mules. After leaving the chief and his tribe, he returned to the company and their journey was resumed.

He camped in Cedar City on Christmas Eve of 1857 and reached Salt Lake City on the first day of January 1858. His brother, George, arrived on February 20.

In the spring of 1858, Johnston's Army threatened the saints living in Salt Lake City. George Q. was in Fillmore working to publish a paper with the Deseret News plant so David joined him in Fillmore in April. The following winter he went to work in the Mountaineer office, a paper that was published by S.N. Blair and James Ferguson, who were the editors and proprietors.

MARRIAGE TO WILHELMINA MOUSLEY

On the 15th of February 1859 he took to wife, Miss Wilhelmina L. Mousley. He worked for a time for John Taylor near Ogden. The fall of 1859 he went on a mission to England. In the spring of 1861, as he was returning from his mission he was asked to be an agent for the church in looking for a way to bring the Saints over in case the impending war (Civil War 1861-1865) closed the usual route.

After making the necessary arrangements he proceeded on west and reached the Missouri River on the 29th day of April 1861. Jacob Gates had been appointed to take charge of the emigration that year and he called David to his assistance. He sent him East to meet the first company of immigrants crossing the ocean that year.

VISIT TO MARTIN HARRIS AND DAVIS WHITMER

While East he had some time on his hands so he went to Kirtland and called on Martin Harris, who was one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. He took him into the Kirtland Temple and he read to him his testimony as contained in the Book of Mormon. David asked him if there was any possibility of him having been deceived in regard to the visitation of an Angel. Martin testified to him in all solemnity, although not a member of the church at that time, that the angel did appear with the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and testified that they contained a history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent and that they had been translated by the gift and power of God. There was a feeling that accompanied his testimony, when he bore it, that David had never experienced either before or since in any man that he ever heard bear testimony.

From there he went to Richmond, Missouri and called upon David Whitmer, who was the other surviving witness. David told him his purpose and asked him questions similar to what he had propounded to Martin Harris. He showed him the manuscript from which the said Book of Mormon had been printed. He was sufficiently acquainted with printing to know that the manuscript had been in the hands of a printer. David Whitmer also testified that an angel turned the leaves of the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and as he turned them, testified that they contained a history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, and that they had been translated by the gift and power of God.

Upon asking for his opinion regarding Joseph Smith and his prophetic power, he said he regarded Joseph Smith as one of the greatest prophets that had ever lived if he had only let the women alone. He thought that Joseph Smith had failed through his transgression.

David asked him about Oliver Cowdery, whom he understood to have been his brother-in-law, and he told him that Oliver Cowdery, when on his death bed, had born testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel and that Oliver had laid his hands upon Martin's head, saying to the people assembled there, "Peter, James, and John have laid their hands upon this head and conferred the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood." There was a feeling that accompanied this testimony which was similar to the one he had experienced with Martin Harris. David Whitmer was not a member of the Church at that time.

HELPING SAINTS TRAVEL BACK TO UTAH

David met the company that was coming across the sea in New York May 18, 1861. Typically the Elder that was traveling with the Saints would go the entire journey with the group. David being sent was rendered necessary because Elder Claude V. Spenser was going to remain in the East for a time before proceeding to Florence. They traveled together and upon reaching Nebraska City, J.R. Craiton came on board the steamer and wanted to hire men to set telegraph poles from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City. He said he wanted from 75 to 80 men. David told him that he did not have the right to contract with him to furnish the men, but when they got to Omaha, if he would make an appointment he would have the President who had charge of the immigration meet him and enter into a contract with him to furnish what help he wanted.

Jacob Gates and David H. went down and met him at Omaha, at the appointed time, and arranged to furnish him 75 men. They arranged what the salaries of the men would be and an agreement that the men were to be delivered to Salt Lake City not later than the 15th day of November. Half of the money that was to be paid to these men was advanced to them to apply for the emigration of their families.

He assisted Jacob Gates with the work until the first of June at which time the first company was fitted out and he was appointed to take charge of it. This company consisted of 270 people, 68 wagons, and some stock. They reached Salt Lake City on the 16th day of August 1861. They buried four people on the plains and lost twelve head of cattle.

MOVE TO DIXIE

On the 6th day of October 1861 (age 23) in Conference he was called to come to Dixie. One month later, on the 3rd day of November they started from Salt Lake City with his little family. They arrived at the old camp on the 3rd day of December. In January they moved over into the spot where St. George now stands.

MARRIAGE TO JOSEPHINE CROSGROVE

On the 14th day of March 1862 he was called as a member of the High Council in this mission and in the winter of '63 and '64 he was called among the Moquis Indians to spend some time as a missionary with Jacob Hamblin and company. On the 18th day of October 1867 he took to wife Miss Josephine L. Crosgrove. In '74 and '75 he was called to be a counselor to Elder Erastus Snow, who was the President of the Southern Mission and he held that position until April 1877 when he was made bishop of the fourth St. George ward.

THE MIRACLE OF THE GLASS FOR THE TABERNACLE

Ten years after the pioneers entered St. George, while still struggling, the Saints were busily engaged in the erection of the temple, a tabernacle, and homes.

Intent upon having the very best for their beloved Tabernacle, they ordered 2,244 panes of glass from New York City. It was a daring move. There was little cash flow among the residents of St. George and glass couldn't very well be brought across the plains in a bouncing wagon. Instead, it was transported by ship all the way around South America and into the harbor at Los Angeles. Then they had a serious problem. Before the glass could be released a freight bill of $800 was due. David H. Cannon was assigned the challenge of raising the money to bring the glass from California. As the time of departure arrived he had only $200 in his pocket. Nevertheless, with great faith, he prepared to make the journey, praying that the Lord would open the way.

At the same time in the near-by town of Washington, a Danish immigrant named Peter Nielson had saved $600 in gold pieces to enlarge his two-room adobe house. He knew of David Cannon's dilemma, but he had already lent money to a perpetual emigration fund over the years to help new members come to Utah from Europe. They were supposed to pay him back but so far no one had. After spending a sleepless night, and struggling with the problem, Peter arose early and walked the distance from Washington to St. George. Just as the wagons were ready to leave for California, Peter arrived and placed the $600 in gold into David Cannon's hand. An amazing thing then happened to Peter. The money that had been owed him for so many years began to trickle in and soon he had enough to finish his home. Today visitors will notice that many of the original panes are still in place. A closer examination reveals some really wonderful examples of old glass.

CALLED TO LABOR IN THE TEMPLE/QUITTING SMOKING

On January 9, 1877 (age 39) he was called by President Young to labor in the St. George Temple. He said, "Why George, I can't do that work. The calling is too high and holy for a man like me." "And what is the matter with you?" asked George. He confessed that he swore when he was angry and he did not keep the Word of Wisdom, he drank a little Dixie wine and was not as humble and prayerful as a man should be who worked in the House of the Lord. George said to him, "David you have been called by the Lord to do something that you are not ready and prepared to do, so what should you do about it?" He thought a moment and answered, "I should prepare myself to do it and I will." He was set apart April 17, 1877 to assist President Woodruff in the performance of the higher ordinance in the House of the Lord.

However, after serving for awhile and being unable to quit smoking, his conscience impelled him to make the long wagon trip from St. George to Salt Lake City to offer his resignation to his uncle John Taylor, who was then president of the Church. David expressed his unworthiness and confessed that he sometimes used profane language and had been unable to give up the habit of smoking. President Taylor wasted no words. He said, "Well, David, I'm glad to see you know what the Lord wants you to do. Go home and do it." David did.

David liked to tell of another incident which he considered providential in helping him over this rough spot. While still battling with the smoking habit, he was gored by a bull, breaking both collarbones and requiring his arms to be bound across his chest during their healing.  
Sympathetic Josephine (his wife), seeing his predicament in not being able to use his hands to handle his pipe, offered to light it and pass it to him. He replied indignantly that he had fallen pretty low but not so low that he would drag his family along with him. After that he had his pipe placed on a very high ledge over his living room mantel, where it remained for the rest of his life as a reminder that he had overcome this human weakness.

MARRIAGE TO RHODA KNELL

He took to wife Miss Rhoda A. Knell June 20th, 1877.

In May 1884 he was called to Logan to attend to the dedicatory services of the Logan Temple and to assist in opening it for ordinance work. He baptized the first fifty people who were baptized in its font.

From June 1884 to February 1893 he served as an assistant to the temple president and as a second counselor in a Stake Presidency, both times serving with John D.T. McAllister.

On the 21st of February 1893 he was called by telegraph to take temporary charge of the St. George Temple, John D.T. McAllister having been called to assist in the opening of the Salt Lake Temple.

At age 55, on the 28th day of August 1893, David received a letter signed by President Wilford Woodruff and Counselors calling him to be President of the St. George Temple. He also served as the first counselor to Daniel D. McArthur who was the president of the St. George Stake. He served as President of the St. George Temple, Senior member of the high council, and member of the stake board of education.

David H. Cannon was a strong and rugged character and had an unfailing good humor all his life.

He died on 27 December 1924 and was buried in the St. George City Cemetery.

Sources: Speech given by David H. Cannon at a meeting of the Daughters of the Pioneers held at St. George, Utah, February 19, 1922.

A Summary of the life of David H. Cannon (1838-1924) by Cynthia Burgess Alldredge
Hans Lundblad

HANS LUNDBLAD

m. Kjerstena or Kierste Andersson

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JOHANNA LUNDBLAD

m. John Thomas Covington

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PHOEBE ELENA COVINGTON

m. Israel Hiram Lamb

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JUSTIN R LAMB

m. Florence Cannon

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

HANS LUNDBLAD

Came west in the Jacob F. Secrist-Noah T. Guymon Company (1855)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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Hans Lundblad | Sept. 29, 1821 | June 19, 1868 | 34

Kjerstina Andersson Lundblad | Sept. 10, 1821 | Jan 22, 1901 | 34

*Johanna Lundblad | Sept. 2, 1846 | Sept. 25, 1903 | 9

Mary Christina or Marie Lundblad | Oct. 2, 1849 | Dec. 21, 1921 | 5

Charlotte E. Lundblad | May 12, 1851 | Jan 18, 1921 | 4

*Direct Ancestor

Hans Lundblad was born, Sept. 29, 1821 to Pehr Martensson Lundblad and Elna Hansdtr. (Hansson). Kjerstina Andersson was born Sept. 10, 1821 to Anders Martensson and Anna Jonsdtr. (Jonsson). Hans and Kjerstina were born in Malmöhus Sweden. They married in 1845.

He was a tailor by trade. He did his work so well that wealthy people had him do all their tailoring for them.

When Johanna was only five years old her parents became interested in the new religion called Mormonism. Hans was so busy with his work he didn't have time to read so he taught little five year old Johanna to read. After that, while he worked, she would sit beside him and read the Bible, with her father helping with the hard words.

MISSION IN SWEDEN

In 1849 Elders Erastus Snow (Council of the Twelve) and Peter O. Hansen were called to open the Scandinavian Mission in Denmark. John Erik Forsgren volunteered to accompany them and preach in his native Sweden. Persecution and intolerance abounded in Sweden where a state religion was the only one tolerated. Bro. Forsgren was arrested several times and finally deported. Despite this, a branch was formed in Sweden.

JOINING THE CHURCH AND PERSECUTION

The Lundblads were the first people to be baptized in Sweden, although a few Swedish people had previously joined the church in Denmark. Elder Anders W. Winberg baptized Hans and Kiersti sometime in 1852. When it became known that the Lundblads had joined the new religion, the wealthy trade stopped and persecution began.

Hans Lundblad was the first president of the Scandinavian Mission. On April 25, 1853 Elder Winberg organized a 2nd branch of the church in Skåne (also known as Malmö). He ordained Hans an Elder and called him as the president of the branch in Malmö. After several other branches were formed a conference was organized and Hans was called as the President of the Skåne conference. He served there for a year and a half.

The church services were held in their home with his wife leading the singing. One day they were holding services behind locked doors when the mob broke down the door and entered. Sister Lundblad immediately led the song, "The Spirit of God like a Fire Is Burning." The mob stood unable to move until the song ended. Then they left and the meeting went on.

IMPRISONMENT AND ESCAPE

At one time the mob seized Brother Lundblad and stretched him on a stretcher until he was badly ruptured. He was never right strong again. He and his wife were both arrested and sentenced to prison on a bread and water diet. They sent their three children, Johanna, Mary Christina, and Charlotte Elena to Denmark, and they, with the aid of friends escaped in the night and joined their children on Nov 24, 1854.

PEF

Most of the Saints that had not emigrated yet didn't have enough money to travel all the way to Utah so the church began a fund called the Perpetual Emigrating Fund (PEF). This fund lent money to travelers to come to Utah. Upon arrival they were expected to pay back the fund as soon as possible to allow others the opportunity to come. Hans and his family used the PEF to assist them in coming to Utah.

JOURNEY TO ZION

The year-long journey to Zion began. For eleven long weeks the ship on which they sailed was tossed about on the stormy sea. The Captain lost his way in the storm and it was with thankful hearts the sea-sick voyagers reached America. Preparation for the long journey across the plains began. At last all was ready and the little Lundblad family began their trek to their promised land. Their one cow did double duty. Besides helping draw the wagon, she furnished milk for their scanty meals.

Sister Lundblad was ill for a year, so a bed was made for her on ropes tied across the wagon. Little Johanna trudged along at the side of their father each day. They must have been a great comfort to each other.

JOHN WILLARD BORN

In Echo Canyon the Lundblad's first son was born. They named him John Willard. Kjerstina was so ill and the road so rough, she couldn't cling to the baby and several times they found the little fellow at the foot of the rope bed. To make matters worse, Johanna was taken ill with mountain fever. They arrived in the valley in 1855. Kjerstina was too ill to care for her family so Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate took Johanna and cared for her until she was well. As long as she lived, Johanna never forgot how good they were to her and how wonderful it was to sleep in a real bed again. She was so grateful that she named one of her boys for Brother Kimball and a girl for his wife.

POVERTY

The Lundblads were hard-working thrifty people but they continued to have hard times for a number of years after they reached Utah. At one time Hans was working for a company as a carpenter. He received his rations as part pay. Food was so scarce at home that he received permission to take flour instead of the one biscuit he would have received each meal. He took the flour home so his wife could use it to thicken the milk their cow supplied. He was so weak from hunger that often he could only stand by leaning against his work bench.

Johanna said she would get so hungry and was too proud to beg, so she would pick up crumbs where more fortunate people had shaken their table cloths. One day she went to a neighbor's house on an errand. The neighbor woman had just taken a big yellow johnny cake out of the oven, and Johanna looked so wistfully at it that the neighbor cut out a big square and handed it to the little girl. Johanna didn't even taste one crumb but ran home where she divided it with her family.

The family lived in San Pete County for some time. They moved to Washington County in 1861, and later to Beaver, where they made their last home. It was here that Brother Lundblad died, June 29, 1868.

In Sweden Brother Lundblad had been an excellent tailor, but in the new country he became a builder. It was said that he could build, finish and furnish a home, throughout. His wife also worked. She wove beautiful carpets and after her husband died, she made a good living weaving.

TRAVEL TO AMERICA: (A more detailed account is included after Johanna's history)

Nov. 24, 1854 | About 300 Scandinavian Saints sail from Copenhagen, Denmark on board the steamer "Cimbria"

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Nov. 25 | Arrive at Frederikshavn, Denmark

Nov. 27 | Severe weather forces them to take shelter in Mandal, Norway

Dec. 7 | Set sail for England but a storm breaks the hull and they are forced back to Frederikshavn

Dec. 20 | Set sail for the 3rd time to England, terrible storms threaten to stop the trip

Dec. 22 | After battling the storm and praising God for their deliverance, the winds change direction and they are able to head for England.

Dec. 24 | Arrive in England in the Humber River.

Dec. 25 | Journey by rail from Hull to Liverpool

Jan 7, 1855 | Set sail on the ship "James Nesmith" for New Orleans

Feb. 18 | Arrive at the Mississippi River

Feb. 23 | Arrive in New Orleans

Feb. 24 | Board a large steam boat "Oceana" and sail from New Orleans

Mar. 7 | Arrive at St. Louis, Missouri

Mar. 12 | Leave St. Louis by the steam boat "Clara" for Atchison, Kansas, but owing to low water in the river, they are compelled to land in Leavenworth

End of May | Relocate 5 miles to Mormon Grove

June 13, 1855 | Captain Jacob F. Secrist's company departs

Sept 7, 1855 | Arrive in Salt Lake City

JOHANNA LUNDBLAD

In 1861, when John Thomas Covington was twenty-two years old he made a trip north for supplies. As he was returning, he neared Washington County and was met by his father. During the rest of the journey their talk was of the town news. "Any new girls in town?" asked John. His father answered that there were several new girls in town. "But the prettiest of all is a Swedish girl and if you don't marry her I thust will." It was not long after that John, after a brief courtship, married the sixteen year old Swedish girl Johanna Lundblad. They began a happy life together.

To this union were born ten children: Johanna Elizabeth, Chastie Ellen, Mary Emily, John Lundblad, Robert Alexander, Malinda Vilate, Joseph Willard, Heber Chase, Emma Charlotte, and Phoebe Elena. Johanna had always felt a little slighted because her sisters had two names and she had only one so she gave each of her children two.

MUSIC IN THEIR HOME

Her husband John was a good musician especially with the violin. Often he composed his own music. One night the whistling of a bird kept ringing through his head until he could not sleep. He arose and wrote the music for his violin. This tune proved so popular with the ladies he called it, "The Ladies Favorite". He and his brother-in-law Winslow Farr wrote a song called, "The Big Cottonwood Waters". Wherever he lived he and his violin were called into service. It was a usual sight to see him playing his instrument as he danced the square dances, with his partner clinging to his coat tail. Often he walked miles to play for a dance and after the dance was over he would walk home again. He was full of fun and took great pleasure in teaching his children to play and sing. He had a whole orchestra in his family and their friends as well as his children liked to gather around the organ and sing.

MOVING

The young bride, Johanna, suffered a great deal from the heat in Dixie so they moved north to Cache Valley where they settled in Paradise. Here John and Johanna attended Professor Thomas' singing school. There was no one to leave little three-year old Hannah with, so she accompanied her parents wherever they went. The little girl had a beautiful singing voice and could go as high as Professor Thomas' tuning fork.

From Paradise they moved back to Washington but again ill health caused them to move. This time they moved to Beaver where Johanna's parents the Lundblads were living. From there they moved to Adamsville and in 1877 came to Orderville.

SECOND WIFE

While living in Adamsville, John took as his plural wife Elizabeth Adams, daughter of David Barkley and Lydia Catherin Mann who was born Sept. 17, 1854. To this union was born thirteen children. They were married in the endowment house at the same time his wife Johanna was sealed to him.

Johanna Covington helped in the Order Kitchen (in Orderville). She was also engaged in carding, spinning, weaving and helping make hats and men's suits. While still a young woman she was stricken with rheumatism and for fourteen years she suffered from the disease. The last twelve years she was unable to stand on her feet. In all her suffering she was patient and cheerful and, although she couldn't do hard work, she had a great influence over her children, training them to be honest and faithful.

Until her hands became so stiff she couldn't use them, Sister Covington did a great deal of beautiful needle work. She passed away in September 1903. She is held in loving remembrance by her family who often quote her favorite maxim: "Beauty is only skin deep."

MORE DETAILED INFORMATION about the journey from Denmark/Sweden to America:

(Ship Cimbria s.s. 1867)

On Friday, Nov. 24, 1854 about 300 Scandinavian Saints sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark, on board the steamer "Cimbria" bound for Utah, under the direction of Elder Peter O. Hansen. All the emigrants were in good health and excellent spirits, but had an exceedingly rough passage over the North Sea. At 10 o'clock on the morning of the 25th, the "Cimbria" arrived at Frederikshaven, on the east coast of Jutland, where 149 more emigrants from the Aalborg and Vendsyssel conferences came on board. With these additional passengers the voyage was continued on the morning of the 26th. The prospects were fair until about 2 o'clock in the morning of the 27th, when the wind turned south-west, and began to blow so heavily that the captain, an experienced sailor, deemed it necessary to turn back and seek the nearest harbor in Norway.

Consequently, the course was changed, and about 4 o'clock in the afternoon the "Cimbria" put into the port of Mandal, which is an excellent natural harbor, surrounded by very high and steep granite cliffs. This romantic place and its surroundings were as much of a curiosity to the Danish emigrants as a shipload of "Mormons" was to the people of Mandal. In this harbor the emigrants tarried for several days, while the winds outside spent their fury on the troubled sea. Some of the Saints went ashore to lodge; they found the inhabitants of Mandal very hospitable, and, by request, some of the brethren preached several times to the people on shore. The result of this was that some of the inhabitants became interested in the gospel.

On the morning of Dec. 7th, when the weather seemed to be more favorable, the "Cimbria" again put to sea, and steamed off towards England once more; but the captain and all on board soon learned that the change in the weather was only a lull preceding a more violent outburst of a long winter storm. Towards midnight of the 7th, the wind became a terrific gale, which increased in violence till it shattered the ship's bulwarks and broke a number of boxes. About 2 o'clock in the morning of Dec. 8th, the captain decided to turn back to Mandal, but as the wind, waves and strong current rendered it very dangerous to turn the vessel in the direction of Norway, it was deemed necessary to go clear back to Frederikshavn, where the ship arrived on the 9th about 4 p. m. By this time the emigrants were suffering severely, but with the exception of two or three individuals, who decided to remain behind, the Saints bore their hardships with great fortitude and patience. While laying weather bound in Frederikshavn, most of the emigrants went on shore to refresh and rest themselves after their rough experience at sea, and while waiting for the weather and wind to change in their favor, a number of meetings were held which made a good impression upon the people of that seaport town, who hitherto had been unwilling to listen to the preaching of "Mormonism."

On the 20th of December the weather moderated, and the captain made a third attempt to reach England. By this time the emigrants were rested and in good spirits, but in the night between the 21st and 22nd, a worse storm than any of the preceding ones arose, threatening the ship and all on board with utter destruction. For many hours the noble "Cimbria" fought her way against the raging elements, but was at length compelled to change her course, and for the third time the company was turned back. But while the captain and crew began to feel discouraged, most of the Saints continued cheerful and thanked the Lord for their preservation. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 22nd, the wind suddenly changed to the north and the captain immediately steered for Hull once more, amid the rejoicings of the Saints, and on the 24th, about noon, the ship anchored safely in the Humber River. On the following day (Dec. 25th) the emigrants continued their journey by rail from Hull to Liverpool, where they joined two smaller companies which had left Copenhagen about the same time as the "Cimbria," and had waited for the arrival of the latter for several weeks.

The Presidency in Liverpool chartered the ship "Hellos" to take the Scandinavian emigration to New Orleans, but the company being detained so long on account of the storms, the "Hellos" had been filled with other passengers. Captain Mills ship the "James Nesmith" was secured for the transportation of the Scandinavians. Consequently, 440 (or 441) emigrating Saints, all from Scandinavia except one, sailed from Liverpool, England, Jan 7, 1855, bound for New Orleans. The ship arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River Feb. 18, 1855, after a successful voyage, during which, however, thirteen deaths occurred. At New Orleans, where the company landed on the 23rd, most of the emigrants went on board the large steam boat "Oceana" and sailed from New Orleans on the 24th.

On the journey up the Mississippi River, seven of the Saints died; on the 7th of March the company arrived at St. Louis, Missouri. From that city about 150 of the Scandinavian Saints continued their journey on the 10th of March for Weston, Missouri, with the intention of remaining somewhere in that section of the country until they could obtain means to go through to the Valley; and 175 others, under the leadership of Peter O. Hansen, left St. Louis March 12th by the steam boat "Clara" for Atchison, Kansas, but owing to low water in the river, they were compelled to land in Leavenworth, where they tarried until the company led by Elder Hogan arrived. During the stay in Leavenworth, about twenty of the emigrants died, and after selecting a new camping place, cholera broke out in the company and caused nine more deaths. In the latter part of May the emigrants removed to Mormon Grove, situated about five miles west of Atchison, Kansas, which place had been selected as the outfitting point for the emigrants who crossed the plains in 1855.

When the emigrants' cattle finally did arrive, new problems arose. The animals were unbroken and often mismatched, and the Danes had no idea how to manage them. Finally, by splitting the camp and moving one half at a time, the company was able to reach Atchison on May 22, 1855. Most of the Scandinavian emigrants, who continued the journey to the Valley that season, left Mormon Grove, June 13, 1855, in Captain Jacob. F. Secrist's company and arrived in Salt Lake City Sept 7, 1855.

Captain Secrist contracted cholera and died. Meanwhile, measles attacked the emigrant children and an elder's council had appointed Noah T. Guyman as the new captain. Cattle belonging to the English emigrants stampeded. Six wagons overturned; one ox and an elderly woman were hurt. Cheyenne Indians visited the camp and on the following day, the train camped for the last time on the Little Blue. Later, the company passed Fort Kearny and slowly followed the south bank of the Platte River while waiting for other trains to catch up. They felt that concentration of forces would make the travelers more formidable to hostile Indians. This precaution proved to be unnecessary. Although these travelers "saw scores of Indians, all were very civil, very much for shaking hands."

As the train traversed the Black Hills, feed for the animals grew scarce and the cattle grew weak. Apparently, earlier trains had similar difficulties, for the stench of dead cattle troubled the emigrants for several days. West of present-day Casper, Wyoming, the party found a new route around "the Poison Spring" (Mineral Spring). They camped at Devil's Gate. At the Green River, the water was so high that the cattle nearly drowned. In a "small valley in the mountains" members of the company "gathered a small quantity of tar that was sprung up."

Because the animals had continued to fail, the company had difficulty getting over Big Mountain. Finally, they camped in Emigration Canyon on September 6 and entered Salt Lake City the next day.
John McCleve Jr.

JOHN MCCLEVE JR.

m. Nancy Jane McFerren

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MARY JANE MCCLEVE

m. Priddy Meeks

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SARAH DESERET MEEKS

m. Edward Lamb

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ISRAEL HIRAM LAMB

m. Phoebe Elena Covington

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JUSTIN R LAMB

m. Florence Cannon

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

JOHN AND NANCY MCCLEVE

Came west in the Daniel D. McArthur Company (1856)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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John McCleve Jr. | 18 Aug. 1807 | 24 Sep. 1856 | 48

Nancy Jane McFerren | 1 May 1815 | 24 Apr. 1879 | 41

Margaret McCleve | 17 Sep. 1838 | 4 May 1908 | 17

*Mary Jane McCleve | 21 Aug. 1840 | 19 Jan. 1933 | 15

Isabella Wilkins McCleve | 29 Jan. 1843 | 13 Jan. 1918 | 13

John T. McCleve | 27 Mar. 1845 | 5 June 1867 | 11

Joseph Smith McCleve | 29 July 1847 | 18 Nov. 1919 | 8

Eliza Roxy McCleve | 3 May 1849 | 31 Aug. 1913 | 7

Alexander Gilmore McCleve | 24 Feb. 1854 | 18 Nov. 1897 | 2

*Direct Ancestor

Came west in the John Brown Company (1853)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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Sarah McCleve | 29 Oct. 1834 | 5 Oct 1912 | 18

Catherine McCleve | 17 Sep 1836 | 19 Dec 1869 | 16

PARENTS JOHN & NANCY MCCLEVE

John McCleve, son of John and Catherine Lamb McCleve, was born in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland, August 18, 1807, and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June, 1845 at the age of 38. He married Nancy Jane McFerrin, the only child of James and Nancy McHarry McFerrin.

Nancy Jane McFerren was born May 1, 1815 at Crawfordsburn (near Belfast), County Down, Ireland. She was the only child of William McFerren and Margaret McHarry. Her father, William, died when she was two years old, and Margaret, her mother, went back to live with her mother in Crawfordsburn. Here Nancy Jane grew up among her mother's people, the McHarry's. According to her cousin James McHarry of Oakland, California, Nancy Jane was a general favorite, always pleasant, gracious and kind to all, and was greatly loved by all of her people. She was expert at needle work and made many beautiful things.

MARRIAGE

Nancy Jane was married to John McCleve, Jr. on June 26, 1833. Their first child, Sarah, was born at the old McHarry home in Crawfordsburn. John and Nancy Jane McCleve had a family of ten children. Mary Jane was the fourth, born in Belfast, Ireland, August 21, 1840. All of the children were born in County Down, Ireland, either in Crawfordsburn, Belfast or Bangor (towns that are very close to each other). Crawfordsburn and Bangor are now part of Greater Belfast. We hope someday to find exactly where their home was located. Margaret has been heard to tell many times of their beautiful surroundings and the happy times they had. She spoke of the Irish Sea. She also told her nieces and nephews what an event it was for them and what a delightful time they always had when they could go to Crawfordsburn and visit the McHarry's.

LEARN OF MORMONISM

The family became interested in the message of two Mormon Elders and Nancy Jane and her husband were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in June 1841.

From what we have been able to learn, John McCleve, Jr. was the only one of his people to join the church and they were greatly opposed to his doing so, and were very unkind to him. His mother, Catherine Lamb died in 1846 and it appears that he had little contact with his people after that. Nancy Jane was also the only one of her people to accept the Gospel, but it seemed to make no difference to them, they loved her just the same and were always kind and loving to her and her family.

Sarah, Catherine, Margaret, and Mary Jane were baptized August 26, 1850 in County Down, Ireland, in the Irish Sea after dark by David Wilkins. Mary Jane was eight years old. They were confirmed by John D. T. McAllister in the Bangor Branch.

MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER OF NANCY DIE

In July, 1841 Nancy Jane's mother, Margaret McHarry McFerren passed away. About this time her grandmother, wrote to her grandson, James McHarry of Richmond, California (near Oakland) grieving over the death of her daughter Margaret and the fact that so many of her loved ones had gone far off to America. She said, "Nancy Jane has joined the Church and will be leaving with the Saints for Utah and I am afraid there will be none of my loved ones left near me to close my eyes when I pass away." It is interesting to learn from the records we have that Nancy Jane did not leave for Utah until 1856 and her dear old grandmother passed away in 1846, so it is comforting to know that Nancy Jane must have been with her at the last.

OCCUPATIONS

They were now very anxious to get to Zion and although the father had a good job it took a great deal for so large a family to make the trip. John McCleve was a shoemaker and Nancy Jane a dressmaker. She and most, if not all of her daughters, were fine seamstresses.

DEATH OF DANIEL

In March, 1852, their little baby, Daniel Bell passed away. This was a trial as they were planning to leave for America as soon as possible.

CATHERINE AND SARAH LEAVE FOR UTAH

The next year their two oldest daughters left for Zion, the remainder of the family to follow as soon as possible. The following comes from the sailing records, "Among the passengers sailing on the Ship Falcon, March 28, 1853, were Sarah McCleve, 20; and Catherine McCleve, 18." Soon after reaching Salt Lake City, Sarah was married to John Young, brother to Brigham Young, and Catherine married Phineas W. Cook.

ALEXANDER GILMORE BORN

On February 24, 1854 mother Nancy Jane gave birth to her 10th child. For a few years before they left Ireland, John was overseer on a plantation for an Irish Lord by the name of Alexander Gilmore, a very fine man, who was kind and gracious to them. They named this 10th child after him. This pleased him greatly and he gave the baby many fine presents. He sent a little velvet suit over to him after they were in Utah.

THE REST OF THE FAMILY GOES TO AMERICA

Two years later April 19, 1856, they set sail for America. The following is from the sailing records, "The ship Samuel Curling sailed April 19, 1856. Among its passengers were the following names: John McCleve, Jr. 48; Nancy Jane McCleve 40; Margaret McCleve 17; Mary Jane McCleve 15, Isabel W. McCleve 13; John T. McCleve 11; Joseph S. McCleve 8; Eliza McCleve 6; Alexander Gilmore McCleve 2."

The following is a description of the travels on the ocean from an article from the Diary of a fellow traveler by the name of Twiss Bermingham, published in the American Legion Magazine. "We went on board the Samuel Curling in the Willington dock, Liverpool, England, April 19th, 1856. Ship towed out of dock and cast anchor until 12 o'clock. Tugboat came alongside with Franklin D. Richards and some of the Elders. There were 707 saints on board and they were organized as follows; Elder Dan Jones president of the company, John Oakley and David Grant Counselors, Twiss Bermingham Clerk, Brother Wilson was his assistant. The company was divided into 11 wards with a presiding Elder over each ward. The rulings were that each ward have a sufficient number of men up every morning to wash and clean under and before each berth in his ward and to have it finished and prayers over before 6 o'clock. Breakfast was served from 6 to 9 with 30 minute periods; two wards occupying the kitchen at one time, dinner and supper were served in the same manner. Every precaution was taken to prevent disease and keep sickness out of the ship. The voyage was slow and under strain, the sea was sometimes very rough and on May 3rd the ship was almost destroyed by a terrific storm. The captain said it was the worst storm he had witnessed in twenty years at sea. The ship was crowded and conditions were unsanitary and deplorable. The people suffered from privation and exposure, several passengers died, and a number of children were born."

Our people had a hard and troubled time on the ocean as their two year old son was ill all the way, at times critically and they were afraid they would have to bury him at sea. The Samuel Curling made port at Boston, Massachusetts, sometime in the later part of May, 1856.

TRAVEL TO IOWA AND THEN TO UTAH

The company then traveled on the 'Emigration Luggage' train to Iowa City, Iowa. On this trip our people lost part of their luggage, which they never recovered. It contained many prized and valuable things. In Iowa City, they made preparations to cross the plains in the handcart company and on June 11, 1856 they left Iowa City in the second handcart company under the direction of Captain Daniel D. McArthur.

In a letter from Elder William Woodward to Heber C. Kimball we learn of their departure. "...The company left in good spirits, singing the hand cart song. The chorus is as follows:

For some must push and some must pull

As we go marching up the hill.

Then merrily on the way we'll go

Until we reach the valley, Oh!"

They traveled near the first company...all the way across the plains which took more than three months of trial and struggle. The long hard journey of 1300 miles across the plains and mountains from Iowa City to Zion, pulling and pushing two-wheeled carts laden with all their worldly possessions and weighing approximately 300 pounds, seemed almost beyond human endurance with all the trials and troubles of the way. But they were upheld and sustained with the hope of reaching Zion and meeting their two daughters, whom they were so anxious to see and who now had families of their own.

There was a German family consisting of father, mother and eight children by the name of Elliker, who traveled and camped with them. They could not speak English. Mr. Elliker and four of the children died on the plains. One day they started up a large hill and a young Elliker boy became sick and could not climb the hill, so they went on and left him. When they camped at night they thought he would come, but he did not, so next morning the captain went back, but could not find him. He was never seen again.

FATHER JOHN DIES

Near the end of their journey a great sorrow came to them. The father, John, succumbed to the hardships of the journey and died 24th of September 1856 (two days before their arrival in the Valley). They buried him in a beautiful grassy spot on the bank of the West Fork of the Weber River. There was lots of tall grass there. That night the bereaved family and their company camped in sight of the lonely grave.

IN THE SALT LAKE VALLEY

Two days later they reached the Salt Lake Valley. President Brigham Young and many others went out to meet them. No doubt their daughters, Sarah and Catherine were among those anxious to meet their loved ones, whom they found in deep sorrow over the death of their beloved father. The Deseret News of Sept. 26, 1856 told of "President Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, Lieutenant General Daniel H. Wells and many other citizens and carriages and several gentlemen and ladies on horseback with part of Captain H. B. Clawson's company of Lancers and the brass band under Captain William Pitt" meeting the hand cart company at the base of the Little Mountain and escorting them to the center of the city "...which was followed by the joyous greetings of relatives and friends and an unexpected treat of melons."

In summation, "The journey had been performed with less than the average amount of mortality usually attending ox-trains and although somewhat fatigued, stepped out with alacrity to the last, and appeared buoyant and cheerful. They had often traveled 25 to 30 miles a day and would have come through in a much shorter time had they not been obliged to wait upon the slow motion of the oxen attached to the few wagons containing the tents and groceries."

Nancy Jane took up the double burden and responsibility of a fatherless family in a strange land and faced the future with faith and determination.

MARRIAGE TO DAVID ELLSWORTH

On March 28, 1857, the mother, Nancy Jane was married to David Ellsworth and went to live in Payson, Utah. By this marriage she had two children. Diana Jane was born May 14, 1858 and Davesel was born April 2, 1860. Later they moved to Southern Utah, settling in Harrisburg. While here she experienced one of the great sorrows of her life in the tragic death of her eldest son John. She was comforted by Apostle Erastus Snow, who promised her that her son John would yet stand in his allotted place in his father's family.

When the St. George temple first opened for work for the dead, in 1877, Nancy Jane went into the house of the Lord and was sealed to her husband for eternity, and also performed work for many of her kindred dead. She died in Toquerville, Utah at the home of her daughter Diana Allen.

SHORT HISTORY AS TOLD BY MARY JANE MCCLEVE MEEKS

The United Order has long ago passed on but those who lived it still remember the wonders they accomplished. Out of its name came Orderville which lives on in Southern Utah. The writer chanced to visit this place recently and through the courtesy of Bishop Edward Carroll was enabled to interview Mary Jane McCleve Meeks. An elderly woman was walking briskly up the street and the Bishop said: "That's Sister Meeks." The scribe ran to catch up with her, and found a tiny, white haired smiling faced old lady whose appearance belied her 91 years. She bid the writer welcome to come that evening to interview her at her old fashioned home, but excused herself hurriedly as she had chores to do. The sun was sinking fast in Utah's southern wonderland and hearing the good old soul retired early the trip was not long postponed. An aged cottage covered with vines and with the ever present flower garden in front welcomed the visitor. He rapped gently and hearing no answer called out. A tiny voice replied, "Come in." With hesitancy he traced the echo, if such it could be called, to the bedroom. Lighting a match and then a candle he beheld the saintly face of Sister Meeks in her bedcap and white nightgown. The interview started much to the amusement of the writer's baby boy who had come along as chaperone. "How old are you," was the first question, then followed Sister Meeks' story which she can better tell herself.

"I was born in Belfast, Ireland Aug. 21, 1840, daughter of John and Nancy McCleve--one of a family of ten children. We sailed for America in April, 1856, after joining the Church in the Old Country. From Boston we went to Iowa and then crossed the plains in the second handcart company, Daniel McArthur being the captain. We hauled camping provisions in the carts. These were each on two wheels with a shaft to draw it with. No better outfits were available at that time, and rather than wait to procure wagons, horses or oxen, we chose to come this way before it got too late to reach the valley before winter. Some would push and some would pull, which gave occasion for the noted song, the words of which were recently printed in The Instructor.

"One day when we started up a large hill a little boy named Elliker became sick and could not climb. When we camped that night the captain went back but could not find the lad, who had been left to rest, and he was never heard of again.

"At another time the company stopped to do washing. I was 16 and was wringing out clothes in the stream. A fine buggy drove up. A man jumped out and asked me to go for a ride. I said, "No, thank you." He asked me if I had any folks. I said. "Yes." The other man who was in the buggy said, "Take this handkerchief and tie it over her mouth and throw her in." Just then my father and sister appeared and the men put whip to their horses and drove away. So you see even in those days men wanted to take young girls for a ride.

"Father died two days before we reached the valley and was buried on Bear River, near Evanston, Wyoming, where today there is a lonely grave. We arrived Sept. 26, 1856. I was put out with a family named Gifford to work and earned enough money to buy a calico dress which cost a dollar a yard.

"I was married Nov. 12, 1856 to Dr. Priddy Meeks who was 61 and I 16. It was love at first sight, even though he had three grown girls older than myself. President Joseph Smith the prophet had told Mr. Meeks he should go to Zion and marry a young girl and raise a large family. Ten children blessed our union."

Sources:

Meeks, Mary Jane McCleve, [Reminiscences], in Juvenile Instructor, Mar. 1932, 136-37

Mary E. Hoyt and Hattie Esplin. (Heart Throbs of the West. compiled by Kate B. Carter. Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1939-1951 v.6, p.357)

A Sketch of the Life of Nancy Jane McFerren McCleve by Jane M. Jackson
Josephine Langley Crosgrove

JOSEPHINE LANGLEY CROSGROVE

m. David Henry Cannon

|

RAYMOND CANNON

m. Elizabeth Matilda Truman

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FLORENCE CANNON

m. Justin R Lamb

|

MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

JOSEPHINE LANGLEY CROSSGROVE

Came west in the Jacob Hofheins/Matthew McCune Company (1857)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age at arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

Theresa Raymond Crossgrove | 8 Aug. 1802 | 25 Nov. 1893 | 54

James Ashburton Bayard Crossgrove | 31 Dec. 1831 | 9 Sep. 1914 | 25

Mary Ann Crossgrove | 17 Apr. 1839 | 15 Nov. 1926 | 18

Sarah Theresa Crossgrove | 17 Jan. 1842 | 23 Oct. 1930 | 15

Olive Raymond Crossgrove | 31 Mar. 1845 | 5 July 1888 | 12

*Josephine Langley Crossgrove | 7 Sep. 1848 | 23 Oct. 1929 | 8

*Direct Ancestor

Josephine Langley Crosgrove was the last of seven children born in Wilmington, Delaware, September 7, 1848 to Theresa Raymond and Charles Wright Crosgrove. The Crosgrove's had had only one boy followed by five girls. When Theresa was expecting another child, Father Charles hoped for a boy. When their last baby was also a girl, he named her Josephine and called her Jo "to make a boy of her."

GOSPEL PREACHED TO CROSSGROVES

When the Mormon elders came explaining Mormonism, her father Charles and her two older sisters Elizabeth and Rebecca, would have none of it, but her mother Theresa and her brother Bayard (James Ashburton Bayard) were interested.

After a brief illness, her father Charles Crosgrove died and was buried on Josephine's fourth birthday, September 7, 1852. Later scarlet fever nearly killed Josephine, but her recovery was made possible through a blessing under the hands of Angus M. Cannon, then a missionary working in the area. Family tradition also credits Angus Cannon with baptizing the family.

As converts to the Church, the spirit of "gathering" impelled the Crossgrove family to join the Saints in the West. Along with a family they had close ties with, the Titus Mousley family; they began their long journey to Utah in the wagon train captained by Thomas S. Terry. As inheritance laws prohibited the sale of family real estate until its youngest member had reached legal age, the Crosgrove family had to leave most of their possessions in Delaware; taking with them only what they could load in an ox-drawn wagon.

COMING TO UTAH

Arriving in Utah in 1857, they settled in Bluffdale at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley, where they worked very hard at making a new home.

Although not large, Josephine was strong, agile and energetic. Besides home training, she worked in various homes in her teens and became an excellent housekeeper. At nineteen she was helping in the Titus Mousley home.

DAVID CANNON MEETS AND COURTS JO

During the years David H. Cannon had visited in the Mousley home he had no doubt become acquainted with young Jo. He recalled later the time when he first saw her. She was riding to school on horseback with her teacher, Washington Mousley. Attracted by her appearance, David asked, "Whose beautiful girl have you there, Washington?"

In the meantime, David H. Cannon was living in St. George with his wife, Wilhelmina Mousley "Aunt Willie" of the Delaware Mousleys whom he had married in 1859.

Now, being an upcoming leader in his community and church, David, like other church leaders at the time, had been urged by President Brigham Young to take another wife. This he had resisted until, coming to a Conference in Salt Lake in October 1867, Brigham Young again urged him to take the step. His first wife was more than willing, and cooperated in the choice of Josephine Crosgrove.

By this time, Josephine's beauty and grace had not gone unnoticed by other young men. Escorts and suitors were in plentiful supply, but she showed no serious interest in any of them.

MARRIAGE

When the suggestion of Josephine becoming David's plural wife was first made, her mother was reluctant, but after a short time gave her consent. Josephine at first said no. When David enquired why, she replied that his wife was a Mousley girl and they wear the pants. Standing up, David assured her he intended to always wear the pants, as she could see he now wore them. The union was solemnized in the Salt Lake Endowment House on October 19, 1867, to the satisfaction of all concerned. For ten years they lived together as sisters, never a cross word between them.

THIRD WIFE

In 1877, "Aunt Rhoda," the third wife, was brought to this home. She was welcomed by the other wives and introduced to the children as another mother who had come to live with them. This attitude was kept during all their lives, and the children learned through all the years that they were indeed mothers to all. Aunt Jo had a serious attack of the mumps while nursing her first born which made her lose her capacity to nurse her own babies. Once "Aunt Jo" and "Aunt Rhoda" had babies nearly the same age; Rhoda nursed both babies since Aunt Jo was unable to nurse.

By 1880 the family had increased in number until it was necessary to have more room, so David bought another place and Aunt Jo and Aunt Rhoda were moved into the new home. Here they lived, until again the family needed larger quarters, and then the third home was provided. Each did the part of the work she liked best to do. Aunt Jo, always milked the cow and did other outside work, while Aunt Rhoda did the dishwashing and other house work. Washing, ironing, and sewing they did together. The older children helped whichever mother needed them.

The children went from one home to the other freely and were always welcomed by the mother.

There were quarrels between the children, but no different than those between other brothers and sisters. This was largely due to the justice of their father, David. He was so absolutely just in his treatment of the mothers and their children; there was never a tinge of jealousy in the family. A more just man never embraced the principle of plurality of wives. When he went on a trip the mother who went with him left her children at home knowing they would be cared for as if she were there.

JOSEPHINE'S PERSONALITY

Josephine proved to be as attractive as a wife and mother as she was as a bride. Her carefully smoothed hair and aprons presented an air of neatness like her housekeeping. Throughout her life she retained a youthful complexion. During the long years her husband worked or presided in the St. George Temple, she took pride in being the one chosen to launder his stiffly-starched white shirts which were in vogue at the time, which he invariably wore in his daily temple duties.

CHILDREN

Out of Josephine's eleven children, she buried the first six. Five lived less than six years and Leonora died at 22 of tuberculosis. As Josephine could not feed her infants naturally, she felt that the coming of the third wife, Rhoda, into the family had much to do with saving the others, for Rhoda nursed them for her. This is just one illustration of the cooperative harmony in this remarkable family. Josephine's daughter Theresa said later that she felt she had "three mothers" and that the unselfishness of her "four parents" was responsible for the tranquil and pleasant passing of their lives as a family together. Josephine contributed her part to this happy family operation in other ways. Her thrift and careful handling of the family flour and other supplies many times averted woeful want and hardship.

Active and alert to the end, Josephine passed quietly and quickly away October 23, 1929, at the age of eighty-one.

Children:  
1. Charles Crosgrove Cannon,

born December 25, 1869, died July 7, 1870.  
2. John Cannon,

born June 10, 1871; died May 10 1877.  
3. Mary Alice Cannon,

born April 7, 1873; died July 19, 1873.  
4. Effie Cannon,

born May 14, 1875; died August 14, 1875  
5. Leonora Cannon born August 31, 1876; died April 13, 1899  
6. Erastus Snow Cannon, born December 12, 1878; died June 3, 1883  
7. Bayard Cannon, born February 4, 1881  
8. Eugene Cannon, born March 17, 1883; died September 27, 1955  
9. Theresa Cannon (Mrs. Lamond W. Huntsman), born October 20, 1885  
10. Claude Cannon, born December 22, 1887  
11. *Raymond Cannon, born August 30, 1890

Sources: Personal memories and family records  
From a sketch by Theresa Cannon Huntsman
Robert Goddard

ROBERT GODDARD

m. Margaret Woolfenden

|

FRANCES GODDARD

m. Orin Nelson Woodbury

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CHARLES ROBERT GODDARD WOODBURY

m. Agnes Isadore Bickley

|

DONALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mary Eunice Naylor

|

GERALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mona Rae Lamb
ROBERT AND MARGARET GODDARD

Came west in the Joseph Horne Company (1861)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

Robert Goddard | 7 Nov 1822 | 14 July 1890 | 38

Margaret Wolfenden Goddard | 3 Aug 1826 | 21 May 1883 | 34

Abraham Henry Goddard | 19 Aug 1854 | Jan 1924 | 6

Came west in the John R. Murdock Company (1862)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

*Frances Goddard | 27 Oct 1844 | 20 Nov 1904 | 18

Thomas Goddard | 20 Apr 1846 |   
 | 16

*Direct Ancestor

Margaret Wolfenden was born on 3 Aug 1826 in Dukenfield, Cheshire, England to Abraham Wolfenden and Mary Pearson.

Robert Goddard married Margaret Wolfenden Oct 16, 1843 in Cockermouth, Brigham, Cumberland, England. Robert and Margaret lived in England. They were of the middle class. Robert's vocation as a hatter and cotton carder enabled him to provide reasonably well for his family.

CONVERTED

In the fall of 1852, Robert and Margaret Goddard were converted to the Mormon religion. All of the family became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which had been founded only twenty-two years earlier. Robert and Margaret were baptized with Frances who was the only child old enough to be baptized. Because of the persecutions that were being heaped upon the church membership by the enemies of righteousness, baptisms were usually performed in the evening, after darkness had set in. At the time of her baptism, Margaret was suffering from a severe cold. Her mother, Mary Wolfenden, accompanied them to the place of baptism. She had not yet been converted. She scolded Margaret severely, telling her it was enough to kill her to go into that cold water. The appointment had been made and Margaret's faith was that no harm would come to her as a result of being baptized so it was done. The following morning she went to her mother and exclaimed, "Mother, my cold is all well." And so it was; not a trace of it was left. Very soon after this, Margaret's parents, Abram and Mary Pearson Wolfenden accepted the gospel and were baptized into the church.

FATHER AND BROTHER GO TO AMERICA

There were not sufficient funds available for all the family to make the trip to America at the same time. It was encouraged that the men would go first and send back money from higher paying jobs in America. So, Margaret's father and her brother Abram, then about 18 years of age went to Salt Lake. They attempted to stay with a missionary that had visited them many times in England. He did not invite them to stay so they stayed with an apostate family which took good care of them. This family told them of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and convinced them that Brigham Young had condoned this killing. This upset Abram and he decided that he should return to England. He and his son worked in California in the Gold Rush to earn enough to travel back home. When they arrived they told their family that the principles were true but Brigham Young was leading the church astray. The family members that had stayed in England asked for their names to be removed from the records of the church on 11 Jan 1856 out of love and respect for their father.

FATHER ABRAM DIES

Father Abram became ill and before his death he pleaded earnestly with his wife that she would go to Utah after he had been laid to rest. She replied that she would like to go and see for herself. He never spoke ill of the church and its principles.

Soon after his death, both families rejoined the church, with the exception of the son Abram, who had married and had a family of children. In 1861, Robert and Margaret and their youngest son Abraham immigrated to America. Using the perpetual emigration fund, they traveled to America from England on the ship, Monarch of the Sea; leaving 16 May 1861 and arriving in New York on 16 Jun 1861, one month later. They joined the Joseph Horne Company in Florence, Nebraska and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 13 September 1861. They came to St. George to live.

AMERICA

Fanny (Frances), Thomas and their two aunts (Mary Ellen and Sarah Ann) remained in England working in factories to earn enough money to join the others. The following year they and Fanny's grandmother, Mary Pearson Woolfenden, set sail aboard the ship John J. Boyd on a voyage that lasted six long weeks due to a broken mast and a lengthy calm which detained them at sea.

Fanny and Thomas traveled with their Woolfenden relatives as they crossed the plains with an ox-drawn wagon. They walked most of the distance from the Mississippi River across the plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Their determination to be with their parents in a Mormon community where they could expect beliefs and conduct to be compatible with their own enabled them to withstand the rigors of those weeks at sea, then muster the ardor for an immediate overland trek to and through the Rocky Mountains. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1862 in the John R. Murdock Company. They were listed as Francis and Thomas Wolfindum.

At the first opportunity, they traveled to join their parents in St. George. Their father had opened a business making felt hats for men and boys, as he had done in England. He also did ranching. Their mother helped sustain the family by utilizing her needlework skills.

MARRIAGE OF FANNY

In the course of Fanny's various church and community activities, she became acquainted with Orin Nelson Woodbury. The church was then advocating plural marriage for those deemed worthy. Orin was one of those so designated. With Ann's cooperation (his first wife), and her encouragement, he courted and married Fannie on October 10, 1863.

On September 9, 1881 her father, Robert was made a citizen of the United States. Her mother, Margaret died in 1883 at the age of 57, after suffering from the effects of a stroke for 8 months that left her helpless. Robert was healthy until a few days before his death; he became violently ill from blood poisoning and died on July 14, 1890. Both he and his wife are buried in the St. George Cemetery.
Jane Walton

JANE WALTON

m. William Green Bickley

|

AGNES ISADORE BICKLEY

m. Charles Robert Goddard Woodbury

|

DONALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mary Eunice Naylor

|

GERALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mona Rae Lamb
JANE WALTON

Came west in the Ira Eldredge Company (1861)

Name | Birth date | Death date | Age on arrival in SL Valley

---|---|---|---

Jane Walton | 6 Oct 1839 | 21 Jun 1919 | 21

Jane Walton was the daughter of Henry Walton and Mary Ann Harwood. She was born 6 Oct 1839 at Rugby, Warwickshire, England the 9th in a family of 12 children. The parents were very pious Wesleyan Methodists and very strict with their children and strict observers of the Sabbath day.

JOINED THE CHURCH

At the age of 17 she went to Coventry England to take care of her oldest sister who had married and was living there. She had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was while Jane was here that she heard the doctrines of this church taught by LDS missionaries and was converted.

EMIGRATION TO UTAH

She emigrated to Utah; leaving Liverpool on the ship "Underwriter" on the 23 of April 1861. One day she was standing on deck holding to a rope looking out over the ocean. A big wave came and took the ship out from under her and she hung out over the water till the ship came back and caught her.

She arrived safely in New York on 22 May 1861 where she stayed a few days. She started across the plains in the Horace S. Eldridge Company. Since she was alone she was assigned to the wagon of Job Hall. She was young and strong and walked all the way across the plains and arrived in Salt Lake City on 15 Sept 1861. Apparently she and Job liked each other for they were sealed together in the endowment house on Sep 20, 1861. She was his third wife. She was thoroughly converted to the principle of polygamy which was then practiced and taught. They journeyed to Pine Valley where she was met by his other two wives and their children. It was not a warm welcome. They were not in favor of him bringing home another wife, let alone a pretty bride.

LIFE WITH JOB HALL

Life began anew under very hard and trying circumstances, not only did she suffer terrible poverty but she also had to endure the jealousy and hatred of his other families. She was the mother of three children from this union. Her first two daughters died in infancy and were laid away in little worn nightgowns. The oldest, a boy she named after her father Henry Walton, being more sturdy, lived through all the poverty.

She often longed to have a calico dress and Henry had heard her say so. One day she was crying as she was so tired of living any place she could get shelter (mostly in dugouts). He was trying to comfort her and said, "Never mind ma, when I get big I'll build you a calico house."

Her bed was a pile of straw on the floor with a buffalo robe under and one over her. She wove cloth and carpets for a living and later her children often heard her say her husband never furnished as much as the wrapping of a finger towards her support.

One time, she wove a carpet and took a fat pig for pay. When she asked him to kill it for her he said he would do it if she would give him half of it. He killed and dressed it and cut it in halves and took his half to his other families. Through all her hardships and trials her faith in the gospel never wavered.

BUSHHEAD

One morning as she was in her dugout taking up the ashes from the fireplace, she heard a noise. On looking up the steps, she saw the bushy head of a very mean Indian known as Bushhead. (It seems her dugout was outside of the square and was not protected as the other people were. They had to keep guards night and day as the Indians were so bad.) She didn't know what to do! Just then, she heard the guards. They captured him and locked him up in the schoolhouse. The bishop sent word to the Indians that they had Bushhead and if they'd come in he would give them blankets. It wasn't long till there were lots of Indians. The bishop gave them the blankets and then asked them what they should do with Bushhead. The Indians were glad he had been caught, as he was a killer. He'd killed both Indians and Whites. They wanted to hang him from a tree so the Bishop called all the people and they all went to the hanging. After he was dead, the Indians cut locks of his hair off and were glad to get rid of him. Jane took little Henry to the hanging.

MEETING WILLIAM GREEN BICKLEY

Jane moved around and lived any place she could get shelter. One cold day a young man stopped at her hut to get warm. There were neither doors nor windows and she had but very little fuel. Upon seeing her plight, he felt compassion on her and wanted to help her. The next day he procured a team and wagon and brought her a load of wood. From that kind act, a great and holy love arose. She had had such a terrible life in Dixie that she had made up her mind long before this that if she could get free from the terrible man she had put her trust in she would marry the first man that came along let him be lame, halt or blind. This young man was 2 years her junior and blind in one eye, having lost it in infancy. He showed such interest in her, was so kind and helpful and was such a fine poet and musician that she fell deeply in love. He was equally devoted to her. When the President of the church came down to Dixie, she told him of her plight. He told her if Job Hall would give up all claims to her and give her to this young man whose name was William Green Bickley she could be as free as she had ever been. He was asked and agreed, for a price. He needed a cellar dug and if they would do this, she could go free. She and William dug the cellar. William was devoted to her and wrote many beautiful songs and poems for her both before and after they were married.

MARRIAGE TO WILLIAM GREEN BICKLEY

They were married the 21st of March 1867 and moved to Eagle Valley, Nevada. While living there and in other places in Dixie, he led the choirs, of which she was always a member. She loved to sing the praises of her Heavenly Father. She had a soft sweet voice. They were poor and times were hard for all the saints. She wore homemade and patched clothing and she went bare footed a lot. They lived and loved their religion, went to their meetings and did their duty. Her children have often heard her say that everyone went to dances barefoot. At the dances she often had one child in her arms and another hanging to her dress. She went barefoot in the choir but it wasn't strange as there were plenty of others that wore no shoes. She was jolly and full of life and they had many delightful times.

While living in Eagle Valley they were blessed with the births of William Green, and Mary Ann. Mary Ann died in infancy.

They moved to Minersville, Beaver Co. as William had work there. While here in 1872, Christiana May was born. They moved to Beaver City, Utah where he purchased some land (it is thought about 9 acres) and built a brick house in the northwest part of town, 10 blocks out from the business district. James Harwood was born in 1874 and Agnes Isadore was born in 1876. In 1877 James died at the age of 3. In 1878 Bessie Isabel was born, the last child to join the family.

Jane loved to help those less fortunate than she was. About 1892 diphtheria was really bad. In one family three children had died and there were others that were sick. Night after night Jane helped this poor mother. One night the Doctor came while Jane was there and scolded her for taking such chances. She told him she was not afraid, as she took the same precautions doctors did. She loved to sit up with the sick and often took care of the bodies of people who had passed away.

STORE

As a child her most happy hours were spent playing store. She would sell bits of lace, ribbon, pretty glass and any thing she could get together, to the neighborhood children for pins. This longing hadn't left her. She was desirous to do her part to help provide for the family so William could spend time in building up the "Kingdom of God upon the Earth". Stores (what few there were) were far away so she opened up a small store of her own. She had glass doors put in the big south room, a counter and a few shelves. With a very meager stock of needles, pins, shoelaces and a number of other useful articles she opened up shop. As time passed, she was able to buy more supplies and eventually had a nice business. It outgrew the south room so she rented a large rock building north of the courthouse and moved her stock there. She had a large sign made that read, "The Novelty Bazaar" and placed it across the front. She stocked up on every kind of useful article and trinket and novelty. She was a lover of beautiful things and as the business grew and the years passed by she added dishes, tin ware, and all kinds of beautiful vases, ornaments and fine-looking glassware and pictures. The frames were very popular (at that time enlarged pictures was a fad). She framed and gilded over them for people. She was very busy and very happy.

As a child, Agnes (her daughter) remembered old "Beaver Adz" Chief of the Beaver Indians who was nearly blind, coming into the store each morning to get his eyes doctored with some medicine which Jane had. When he would leave, he would always say, "Heap good squaw" as he went away.

She was always so cheerful and many a person came into her store sad and discouraged and went away encouraged and looking on the bright side of life.

She drove back and forth from her home to the store in a horse and buggy. She traveled to all the meetings and Sunday School in this horse and buggy. She had a good cement chicken coop built at home and took care of her chickens with the help of the children.

She labored in the Relief Society as president 12 years and counselor for 8 years. She was president in September 1876 when the Relief Society was called upon by Brigham Young to gather wheat and store it. The Relief Society donated the wheat to the poor and loaned several thousand bushels to farmers for spring planting. They didn't have a good place to put it so Jane had a large pink rock granary built. The sisters labored faithfully to gather grain and take care of it. (The wheat gathering enabled the Relief Society to help ease the effects of a Utah drought in 1898 and 1899, sent train cars full of wheat to the survivors of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, and sold 100,000 bushels to the government during World War I.)

When her daughters, Bessie, Agnes and May were old enough to take care of the store, Jane would fill large trunks with useful articles and William or her oldest son, Will, would load them in the big white-top buggy. Jane, accompanied by William or her son Will, would go through the county peddling these useful things to their ever ready and willing customers who were always anxious for them to come. They would pay well to stay for the night wherever they were. If father William was along, they always invited in a house full of neighbors to enjoy an evening of music and singing.

MISSIONARY AND TITHING

In 1889, Father William was called on a mission to England. Jane was more than anxious that he should go. She remained at home and with the help of the Lord and her children, was able to send him the means he needed. Her faith and trust in her Heavenly Father had never changed since she had gone down into the waters of baptism and had made a covenant to serve God and keep his commandments. She faithfully tried to live up to them all.

Her children had been taught all their lives to pray and as usual they never neglected family prayers in his absence. Jane was a strict tithe and fast offering observer, never letting the last of the month pass without strictly attending to this duty and privilege. One day she received a letter from William asking her to send some money immediately. She only had enough to pay her tithing that was due. She was bewildered as what was the best thing to do with that money, as it would go for a good cause either way. The still small voice whispered to her to pay her tithing and God would help her. Before she could be tempted to do the other way she gathered every cent she had from the till of the drawer she kept their money in, and sent it to the tithing office and got her receipt. She felt glad she had obeyed and went to bed happy. On opening her drawer the next morning she was surprised to find a gold piece in the till she had so carefully emptied the night before. That was a great testimony to all of them. She had obeyed and the Lord had provided for her missionary.

LOST HORSES

Jane's oldest daughter May had been to Provo Academy 2 years and had taught one year at Monroe. She had to go to summer school before teaching the next winter as all teachers did. As it was to be held at Fish Lake, Sevier Co. the entire family went too, as it was only for a week. Her son, Will, took them in the big white-top buggy and they got there safe and made camp and surely enjoyed the vacation. Of course, he had to hobble the horses out to graze (as others did). When the time came to go home, everybody was pulling out and getting ready to go. Will, having been all forenoon hunting the horses, returned to tell them that he couldn't find the horses anywhere; he thought that they must have gone home. They were packed to start and that was a great disappointment to them as they would soon be the last ones left. Jane's faith never failed her. She got a large blanket and they fastened it around some trees and set the spring seat in the middle. They all knelt down and each one petitioned their Heavenly Father to hear their prayers. Jane poured out her soul to Him. When they got up she said, "Now, Will, go out and get the horses." There, just a little way off were the horses quietly grazing. Will got them and they lost no time getting off, after thanking God for their speedy deliverance.

FIRE IN STORE

Jane had two fires in the store. Although a great deal of damage was done; kind hands and loving hearts were so diligent in helping. The first one was quickly extinguished. In the second one, the remaining merchandise was removed to another building across the way. Once the building was restored as before, the goods were returned.

As time went by her family all got married. It was hard for her to get into her buggy as she was getting so lame. The Walton family had a tendency to get arthritis. They decided to sell the home and move to town. There was an old granary behind and to the northwest of the store. She got permission from the Relief Society to fix it up. Work done on the home went toward the rent so they made a very comfortable place by putting more rooms on and a nice porch. She also got a few chickens as a diversion from her store work. They dedicated the home and called it "The villa of rest". They were very comfortable and happy there.

She became very crippled while she was living in the cottage behind the store. Many years later, as her arthritis worsened, she decided to fix up the back of the store so she could be comfortable. She had a table and folding bed put in with a couch to lay down on when she was tired. She had a large cupboard built, as a protection from the view and had this filled with all kinds of beautiful things to make it attractive. She had a box heater that she could prepare food on for herself and her husband. They were very comfortable but she often wondered what they would do if the Relief Society decided to sell the property. They talked it over and decided they would buy a lot and build a lovely little cottage a block to the east. This was done, but they never did live in it.

One day the Relief Society president came and told her they were going to put all their property up for sale. Her heart sank within her as she lay on the couch wondering what on earth she would ever do with herself when she didn't have her store and all the beautiful things she had in it to comfort her; for she was so happy and contented there. What would she do without all her devoted friends that had grown so dear and came in to talk with her so often? As she lay wondering, a voice, clear and plain said, "Why don't you buy it yourself!" She jumped up as quickly as she could, found William, and told him. They put a bid on the store building which had a large room upstairs and a Relief Society hall joining it on the North. They got the property. Once more, they were thankful for the help of the Lord and his blessings. They immediately started remodeling. They put in partitions, papered, painted and put a nice porch on the front and back and transformed the wasted front yard into a flower garden and lawn. They made a beautiful house out of it. William moved his office upstairs and had plenty of room and light, as there were so many windows. They had a door cut between the store and house. They put handles on each side of the door jamb for Jane, who had become very lame, to pull herself up by. For many years, she had not been able to get up from a chair alone. William was so devoted; he tried always to be near to help her. She had rollers on the bottom of the legs of her armchair, which she used to push from place to place. She could pull herself around her counter and sit in the corner. She knew exactly where every article was as she had lived by the motto "a place for everything and everything in its place". When a customer wanted anything she directed them to where they could find it and they brought it back to the counter where she wrapped it up and received the pay. She borrowed $50.00 once when she was trying to get started but it worried her so much she said she'd never borrow again and she kept her word.

What she couldn't pay for she didn't get and she was blessed for it. She didn't lose many bills for she didn't do much trusting. She often remarked how beautiful her store looked to her and was so happy that she owed no man a dollar.

TEMPLE WORK

In her younger days, she worked quite a lot in the temple for her friends and ancestors in England. When she was too old and lame to go she sent a great many names and the money to pay others to do it for her. She used to close up the store and take her children (and William if he was home) to the General conference at least once a year. It was a distance of 200 miles. They also went to the Carnival while they were there. In April 1893 they went to the Dedication of the Salt Lake LDS temple. In July 1897 they attended a special jubilee celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Saints' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. The festivities opened with the unveiling of the Brigham Young monument. It still stands in the center of Salt Lake City. If there was anything special, they all went by team 33 miles to the Railroad station at Milford then took the train.

VISITING THE SHUT-INS

Jane was a Sunday school teacher for a number of years but her happiest hours were spent ministering one on one. She organized a number of faithful sisters and asked Patriarch Munford and Patriarch Reese to come with them every Sunday morning and hold a meeting and administer the sacrament to a shut in who didn't have the privilege of that sacred ordinance.

Many of these shut-ins had crossed the plains on foot leaving comfortable homes for the testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and others had not only walked, but pulled all their belongings across the barren plains up hill and down in hand carts and would rather die than give up their convictions. She held testimony meeting with them and it was a real joy and inspiration for them to bear their testimonies of the goodness of God to them. This she did for many years and many a sad heart was made to rejoice.

WORD OF WISDOM

Jane was a strict observer of the Word of Wisdom. In England, she had always been used to having her tea. In those days they probably didn't stress the Word of Wisdom like they do now, as she continued this habit until her last child Bessie came along. Bessie would get down from her chair and go around and stand by her mother's chair and beg for a little tea in her saucer. The others had never wanted it. Suddenly, she saw that something had to be done. She pounded the table with her fist and said, "I will never drink another cup of tea for gold piled up to the ceiling." She never did; she said many times that though the smell of it went through every fibre of her being, she would not drink it.

As her children married they moved away. Henry was in Minersville, May in Draper and Bessie in Delta. Will died in 1899 and left a wife and three sons. Agnes was the only one close. Agnes had a comfortable home and her parents spent what time they could with them on Sunday, usually having dinner or supper, or both, with them. They always enjoyed their visits. Jane spent many, many happy afternoons with Agnes. She could lie down where she was comfortable and sing the lovely hymns she loved so much. Agnes always accompanied her on her organ (that they bought new to have music in the home). She enjoyed it so much. There was one blessing, she didn't suffer pain while she was sitting or lying down.

GOLDEN WEDDING

Jane and William were happy in their new home for a number of years. Their Golden wedding day came round 21 of Mar 1917 and they prepared for a grand celebration. William moved his office equipment and building tables up to the large office room and they invited their old friends and loved ones to come and celebrate with them. The room was filled with well wishers and they had a lovely program and wedding dinner. The children purchased a gold-headed cane for Jane and a gold handled umbrella for William. The afternoon was spent very pleasantly and although she had to be carried in an armchair up and down the stairs, she was cheerful and very happy. They had their picture taken and lovely announcements printed and that was the best picture they ever had.

WILLIAM DIES

In August of the same year (1917), they were finishing another remodeling and William lifted a stove and must have hurt himself for on the 8th he took sick and Jane sent for Agnes. Agnes went to her place and found him in terrible pain. The doctor gave instructions what to do and she carried them out till after midnight when he went to sleep. Jane thought Agnes had better go home as she had a baby so she went. Agnes called in the morning on the phone and Jane said he was lots better and she needn't come down. After dinner, Agnes sent her daughter Jennie down to see how he was and was told that he had just eaten a big bowl of gruel and had dismissed and paid the painter who had gotten through with the remodeling. He went to sleep in his chair down in the store by the stove where she had made him comfortable. To allow him some quiet, Jane went up the 2 steps into the kitchen, where she loved to sit, as it was so light, to look over the mail. After a while, she called to him to hear the letter, but he didn't answer, so she looked at the paper and let him rest awhile longer. Finally, she went down to wake him, thinking he wouldn't sleep at night. When she put her hand on his head, she found he had passed quietly away. This shock was terrible. She hurried to the telephone and called both doctors but it was too late. He had gone to reap his reward and was happy, but she, poor soul, was so shocked and dazed she didn't know anything that went on around her. She never did get over that tragedy. She sat like one in a trance, but kind hands and loving hearts once more came to her aid. After he was laid to rest, she got a little girl (Alice Gale) to come and stay with her day and night. She let her go to school but all the time she had to spare, she was faithful to Jane. She gave the horse and buggy to Haler Gale, the girl's father, if he would see that she got to her meetings.

She often sighed and said, putting her hand on her chest or heart, "I don't know what's the matter, I have such a funny sinking feeling in here." Everyone could tell it was that terrible, void, lonesome feeling that must always accompany the separating of two loving hearts that had passed fifty years together on the ocean of life. Her faith and knowledge that they had complied with the ordinance that bound them together for time and all eternity buoyed her up.

She still tried to do all the good she could in the short time that would elapse till she would be called to join him over on the other side, where neither death nor anything could ever separate them again. That was the very thing they had looked forward to ever since they had heard and obeyed the gospel. Eternal life and a crown of glory awaited her on the other shore. She still tried to attend her meetings and keep up with everything and come and visit her family on Sunday and keep them cheerful as possible. She always had a smile and a kind word for everyone.

BUYING BONDS

In 1918 when the world war was raging and President Wilson the President of the U.S. asked people to buy war saving stamps and liberty bonds to help finance the nation, she did her share. The following excerpt is copied from the Beaver Press dated Oct. 28, 1918 entitled "A Patriotic Pioneer."

"Mrs. Jane Bickley, in the hearts of the people "Aunt Jane" widow of our late friend and townsman, "William Green Bickley" is today the largest owner of second liberty bonds in Beaver. When the campaign for second liberty bonds came on, Mrs. Bickley came forward with the purchase of a $1,000.00 bond and as the campaign became more active and more intense she surprised the committee and community by subscribing for another $1,000.00 bond. She is a native of England having been born in Rugby Oct 6, 1839 and was married to Wm. G. Bickley in Pine Valley in 1867. They celebrated their golden wedding a few months before his death. Mrs. Bickley, in spite of her crippled condition is still active in her social and charitable work of the community of which she was the president of the Relief Society for a number of years. She still conducts her own business at the store on the corner opposite the courthouse, "The Novelty Bazaar" giving it her personal attention. Although her personal wealth isn't great, she is so loyal and patriotic that she is willing to give a larger amount and far larger percentage of what she possesses than anyone in the community. It is such mothers as this that make for the good of mankind and should put to shame some of us, who young in years and more liberally supplied with this worlds good, think we cannot subscribe to assist the cause of the world's freedom. Would there were more Mrs. Bickleys in the land."

STROKE

After father's death, she still came and spent many pleasant Sunday afternoons with Agnes. It was another blow to her when Charles Woodbury, Agnes husband bought a store in Hinckley and moved her last living child away but she came to all the farewell parties given to them and was cheerful and realized she had to go where they could do better for their family. She came up to Hinckley and had a nice visit with them and Agnes went back with her to help her on the train and stage which was an automobile. They enjoyed a few days together until Agnes returned to her home. She carried on fine, as the girl she had with her was a good girl and was so much company for her as well as doing all the work. She awoke one morning in April 1919 and could not move. When she tried to call the girl, she couldn't talk. When she finally could say something, she called for Bessie and asked her to tell Agnes. Bessie wanted to catch the first train but her husband said, "If your mother is sick enough to send for you, she needs you and you can't wait for a train." She called Agnes on the phone and asked her if she could go down. Agnes hurried and got ready, Mr. Law (Bessie's husband) hired a car, and they came and got Agnes. When they got there, she was in an awful condition. The doctor was there. He said she had suffered a stroke of motor power, but not the nerve and she was suffering intense pain. She was down in the store in her folding bed so they immediately put her bed in her lovely parlor where it was light and cheerful and where she had so many pretty things. They moved her in there where she could be as comfortable as possible. Henry came from Minersville and May from Draper and they were with her to the end. One day she found she could talk a little so she gave each of her children a pretty present from her household articles. She gave Agnes a lovely large oval mirror and a tall stand with a tall vase of palms, which Agnes prized very much. Several times, she felt so much better. They would lift her into her wheel chair. She wanted Bessie to play on the piano, she often entertained her for hours playing and singing, and it passed off many pleasant hours. When she was bad, it took all of her children to handle her as she was a large heavy woman and helpless. They had to turn her often. They turned her using a sheet.

Sometimes she could talk a little and other times she couldn't say a word but her mind was as clear and alert as ever.

She prayed often, when she was suffering so much, for the Lord to take her out of her suffering but she always said she wanted to suffer for every mistake of her life that when she got over on the other side she would be free to receive the blessings that awaited her.

The townspeople were so helpful as well as the nurse they hired. One day she could talk and she said, "Send for Sam White, an abstractor, I must get my property fixed up." He came and sat down by her bed and she explained to him what she wanted and he deeded all the property she owned to Henry, May, Agnes, Bessie and Will's children, as he was dead. She said she didn't want the lawyers to get the property she had worked so hard to accumulate. She suffered so much that she often asked for the two Patriarchs, Brothers Reese and Mumford, to come and plead for the Lord to take her home. They came many times but her heart was so strong it seemed she had to wear it out. At last, she sank into a coma and rested peacefully for three days. It was a relief to see her suffering cease for she had been so bad for weeks that she couldn't eat or drink. She was suffering every minute. The only peace she got was from hypos (shots) and they caused a terrible itching all over her body that was almost worse than the pain.

On the 21 of June, she quietly and peacefully passed away about 11 o'clock. Before she went into the coma, she said she was thankful for every trial she had been called to bear and surely she went to a good reward.

FUNERAL

The funeral was held at the opera house next to her store. It was lovely and inspiring and she was laid away in her beautiful temple robes, beside William, in the Mountain View Cemetery at Beaver City, Beaver Co. Utah 23 June 1919.

At the funeral services the following resolution of respect was read by a member of the Relief Society.

"We, the officers and members of the Beaver East Ward Relief Society do mourn the departing of our faithful sister and co-laborer, Sister Jane W. Bickley, whose life has been a noble example to us. We will miss her, but her ever-ready testimony will live in our hearts--surely her work will follow her.

"During the 20 years she served as an officer in the Relief Society she exercised her calling with unselfish devotion. She was fearless, faithful to trust, strong and decided in her views, and what seemed most noticeable was her beautiful and abiding faith in the life hereafter. She taught us the great lesson of cheerfulness, optimism and honest integrity that has characterized her life and labors.

"Her loyalty to the church and country is evidence of her confidence in the authority over her. We knew her to be courageous, in the performance of every duty imposed upon her. She did not shirk nor tire, but her course was so well defined. She was so much the master of herself, that her dearest possession was the joy of a tranquil mind. Her example was always in harmony with precept, especially so in the strict observance of the Word of Wisdom, tithing and temple and ward donations. She lived the Gospel impressively and in that devotion to the principles she had laid up treasures in Heaven where with a heart full of calm assurance, she has gone to enjoy.

"We now appreciate her worth in that she has performed her labors to the best of her ability. Even in her affliction she was uncomplaining and submissive to the will of the Lord. Whereas in His wisdom, God has seen fit to remove our beloved sister from our midst, make it befitting that we record our appreciation of her.

"Be it resolved that we honor and cherish her memory as one of Gods' noble women and strive to emulate her example. Resolved that we extend our heartfelt sympathy to her family in the loss of their mother and may they realize she has gone to reap the reward of a well spent life."

DIVIDING UP HER PROPERTY

After she had been laid peacefully away, it fell to the lot of the children as the heirs to take care of the division and disposal of the property and so there would be no feelings they got together and organized themselves with a president and secretary. The very first thing they did was to order a beautiful tombstone and have both William's and Jane's inscriptions engraved on it and placed at the head of their graves. The cash bonds and sheep were divided equally between Henry, May, Agnes, Bessie and the three boy sons of William, they getting his share.

Stock was taken of the goods in the store with a liberal allowance made for the older stock. When a fair estimate was made, this stock was sold to May and the building rented to her till she could dispose of the stock, which she did mostly and finally moved the rest to her home in Draper, Salt Lake Co.

The furniture was numbered. Each child put a price they thought it was worth on a paper. They put it in the hat then the secretary would average it. They all drew for a number and whoever got it paid the averaged price and took the article. The bedding and small articles were put in five piles as equal as could be made, then a number placed on the piles and one to correspond placed in the hat. Each drew and took what they got or exchanged it for what they wanted. The books were put out and each one drew in turn a book from the pile except the volumes of Church history and state history were drawn for. They got along lovely and there was even more love among them for their visit together. The property was put up for sale later and sold. As the money came in it was divided.

After everything was disposed of that they could all attend to, they bade each other good-bye and departed to their homes. The pictures and keepsakes were drawn for and Agnes got Father's gold-headed cane, which she prized very much. (This cane is now in the possession of her grandson Gerald Charles Woodbury). The children that grew to maturity all married and had families: Henry Walton 11 children, William Green 3, May 9, Agnes 9, and Bessie 10.

A few of the hymns and songs she sang and loved were "Sweet Hour of Prayer", "How Firm a Foundation Ye Saints of the Lord", "Home, Sweet Home" from Hymn book, "Come, Come Ye Saints", "The Trials of the Road Will be Nothing When We Get to the End of the Way", "Down In a Green and Shady Bed a Modest Violet Grew" and a number of others. She wrote all of William's poems and some of his songs in books so his children could each have one.

VISIT FROM BROTHER TOM

In 1897, her brother Tom Walton and his wife came from England to visit with his two sisters, Elizabeth Russell the oldest one of the family who lived in Cottonwood Salt Lake Co., Utah and Jane Bickley who lived in Beaver City. They were all together at Elizabeth's and got a picture taken. He spent several weeks with them and they all learned to love him. Then they returned to England.

Parents: Job Pitcher Hall and Jane Walton sealed in the Endowment house Sept 20, 1861. Sealing cancelled Mar 13, 1867

Children:

Henry Walton Hall born 12 June 1862

Jane Dyson Hall born 12 Jan 1864

Ida Matilda Hall born 8 Oct 1865

Parents: William Green Bickley and Jane

Walton married 21 Mar 1867, sealed 8 Oct 1869

Children:

William Green Bickley born 3 Jan 1868

Mary Ann Bickley born 24 Apr 1870

Christiana May Bickley born 21 Jan 1872

James Harwood Bickley born 12 Apr 1874

Agnes Isadore Bickley born 28 Feb 1876

Bessie Isabell Bickley born 18 Dec 1878

Personal Record:

Baptized by Elder Ware about 1856

Left Liverpool Apr 23, 1861

Reached New York May 22, 1861

Reached Salt Lake Sept. 15, 1861

Sources:

Patriarchal blessing by John L. Smith

17 Mar. 1874

Height 5 ft. 4 inches. Weight 175 lbs.

Eyes brown. Hair brown.

Died June 21, 1919

Special interest in merchandising

Jennie M. W. Lee wrote from a record written by Jane Walton Bickley

"A Sketch of the life of my mother Jane Walton Bickley" by Agnes Isadore Bickley Woodbury

"Jane Walton Bickley" by Bessie B. Laws
William Green Bickley

WILLIAM GREEN BICKLEY

m. Jane Walton

|

AGNES ISADORE BICKLEY

m. Charles Robert Goddard Woodbury

|

DONALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mary Eunice Naylor

|

GERALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mona Rae Lamb

WILLIAM GREEN BICKLEY

Came west in the Ansel P. Harmon Handcart Company (1862)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

William Green Bickley | 1 May 1842 | 8 Aug 1917 | 20

William Green Bickley was born at Small Hill, Shropshire Salop, England on the 1st of May, 1842. He was the son of Samuel Bickley and Mary Green. He grew up in comparatively poor circumstances. While a baby he had the misfortune to get an infection in one of his eyes. His parents did everything they could to save it but after much suffering they realized it had to be removed. William often told of how he could remember, even though he was only about four years old, how he sat without anything to deaden the pain while the doctor cut the cord and removed the eye. He said every time he thought of it he could still feel the pain. He was paid in a way, as the other eye had double strength. He became a great reader and a well educated man. All his life he was able to converse on any subject. On Nov 13, 1849 his only full sister, Betsey, was born. Shortly before her birth his father Samuel died. Five years later when William had just turned 13, his mother, Mary, married a man named William Brown. We don't know much about young William's life in England. His sister Betsey grew and married George Watterson and raised a large family. She lived to the ripe old age of 82. She died 15 June 1931 in England.

IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA/UTAH

He must have been fortunate enough to have heard the gospel preached and was converted, for at the age of 16 he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 24 July 1858. Although his mother pleaded with him not to come to Utah, the spirit of immigration was so great that he had to obey the call. At the age of 19, he came to America all alone and arrived in Salt Lake City on 5 October 1862, at the age of 20. He traveled with the Ansel P. Harmon Company. He had no family but was willing to work. He remained for some time working at odd jobs, really anything he could get to do to sustain himself. He often told of how he walked over fences delivering the mail from house to house with snow covering the fences.

William was endowed June 3, 1863 in the Salt Lake Endowment house.

MUSICAL TRAINING

He must have been born with natural musical and poetical ability. He took every opportunity to associate with those interested in that art. His first music lessons were given him by a lady for whom he used to blow the organ while she practiced. At school he had the advantage of instruction from Dr. Munden and Dr. Stimpson, both of whom were imminent musicians. He joined the Tabernacle Choir, at that time led by Brother Charles J. Thomas and later by Elder Robert Sands.

When he arrived in Utah he composed the following poem for his mother to show he still remembered her tender tone and care of him during his terrible suffering with his eye and two broken wrists, which he received when he fell on the ice as a child.

Dear Mother

When to this earth I helpless came

An infant blessed with life's sweet frame

Like yours dear mother.

When sickness made my body weak

Who in my ears did comfort speak

'Twas you dear mother.

As year by year I grew, whose care

Protected me from every snare

'Twas thou dear mother.

Tho now divided by the sea.

I still will always think of thee

And pray that God will always bless, protect and guard thee by his grace

My dearest mother.

The next we hear of him was in Santa Clara, Washington Co., Utah as a very young man. Bro. Staley had organized a Swiss choir and when William Bickley came, he was asked to organize a choir of English-speaking people. He stayed there about a year and had an excellent choir.

MEETING AND MARRIAGE TO JANE

He must have traveled around the Dixie country quite a bit for the next we hear of him, he was in Pine Valley. On a cold day, he stopped at a hut to get warm and found there a woman, Jane Walton, and her little boy. They had but very little fuel and no door or windows to keep the cold out. The next day he procured a team and wagon and brought her a load of wood. His kindness and cheerful disposition won her love. She was married to a man who didn't appreciate her or her love and sacrifice. She hadn't had any kindness shown her since she reached that country and had had such a hard struggle for existence for herself and little son Henry Walton Hall that she longed to be free to marry this kind young man who had expressed his love for her.

When President Brigham Young came down there, she told him of her plight and the trouble she had had. She wanted to know if she could be free and he told her if Job Hall, her husband would give her to this young man whose name was William Green Bickley, she could be as free as she ever was. After she gained her freedom on Feb. 2nd 1867, he wrote an acrostic to her name as follows.

My own dear love Jane Walton

My thoughts are centered on the one I love.

Ye muses aid me from thy throne above

Oh thou whose spirit haunts my every hour

Whose voice to me is like a silvery shower

Neath thy enrapturing glance I bow I own thy power

Despite the dangers that beset my path

Each one of which might hurry me to death

Assisted by thy smile I'd brave their wrath

Regardless of the frowns of men or hell beneath

Loving and kind thou art my dearest one

On my dark path thou art a beacon light

Vested in thee, thou hast a benison

Ever reminding one of woman's might

Just be thy life and may the peace of God

Attend thy sleeping or awaking hours

Nor let the tempter lure thee from the road

Each one must take to gain Celestial Bowers

When these few lines you read from him who sues

A heart and hand of her to him most dear.

Love if you can, for if you then refuse

This world to him will be most dark and drear.

Oh then if in your breast you feel loves dart

Not hide, but bring it forth to cheer my heart.

She already had born 3 children whose names were Henry, Jane, and Ida. Henry was the only one still living as both girls had died as infants. They were married in Pine Valley, Mar 21st, 1867 and moved to a number of places. Eagle Valley and Clover Valley in Nevada are both mentioned when speaking of the hardships incident to pioneer life.

While in Eagle Valley on the 1st of Jan 1868, he wrote the following lines for Jane.

To my Wife

The seasons of another year, have rolled away with rapid stride

What changes have we seen my dear, since last we spent the Christmas tide

Let us review our deeds and see what progress we have made in truth

Where ere we've erred, let's try to be humble in future as was Ruth

As for myself I love what's right and wish to walk in wisdom's path

That I may live in virtue's light; and in the end escape God's wrath.

My love for you has stronger grown, as day by day I see your face.

The deeds of kindness you have shown, have helped to make my happiness.

I pray that we may ever be, united in the bonds of love

And may contending spirits flee, that we may taste of joys above.

What ere occurs let us be one, come weal come woe let us rejoice

And always be subservient unto the glorious priesthood's voice.

Here on the 3rd of Jan 1868 their first child was born. He was named after his father, William Green. They also had a little daughter, MaryAnn who was born and died before we hear of them again. It seems he must have come to Minersville, Beaver Co, Utah as the following lines were composed and sent to his wife on May 18, 1868 from Minersville.

To my dear Wife

I'm lonely since I've left thy side, thou dearest one my only love

There is no woe can me betide so hard as from thee to remove

I miss thy kind and genial smile, tho others strive to make me gay,

No pleasure can my thoughts beguile, I long to see thee every day.

I'm lonely since I've left thy side, I feel as if I had no life

I could have set me down and cried, the morn I left thee my dear wife

But soon I hope to meet again, and clasp thee to my heart once more

And hear thy lips pronounce my name, more sweet will be than ere before.

MOVE TO MINERSVILLE

Finally, he moved his family to Minersville and made the adobes for a home. He traded his span of tricky mules for a yoke of oxen. He dug by hand the millrace located in the eastern part of Minersville and helped dig the canals often taking nothing but dry bread to dip in water for lunch. They had two more children born to them. Christiana May in Minersville, Jan 21, 1872 and James Harwood either there or in Beaver born 12 April 1874. Wherever they located he used his talent for the uplifting of the community. He was an excellent musician playing the violin, flute, accordion, brass instruments, and organ; so when the piano came on the market he played that perfectly.

MOVE TO BEAVER

They moved to Beaver City, Beaver Co, Utah and lived in a little log room till he could do better. He purchased a 4 acre tract of land in the northeastern part of town and built a brick home and raised hay and potatoes and planted fruit. He bought another 4 or 5 acre tract joining on the north which he planted in hay. He moved his family into the new home before it was finished and on 28 of Feb 1876 Agnes Isadore was born. They had to tack up carpet and quilts for doors and windows to keep out the cold. One night little James Harwood who was about three years old woke up with membranes croup, they did everything possible for him but he died. That was a terrible blow to them as he was talking so cute and was father's little man. On the 18th of Dec. 1878, Bessie Isabell came to bless their home. She was their little flaxen haired lassie and the joy of the family and was musically inclined from the first.

William was a very influential self-educated man and had many responsibilities in social circles. For a number of years he, with his son, William and daughter May furnished the music for the soldiers at Fort Cameron to dance till the wee hours of the morning. He played the violin; Will played the bass viol and May the little organ that they always took with them. He also furnished the orchestra that played the music between the acts of the theatrical plays put on in the old Field's Hall. That made many happy evenings for the rest of the family as he always got tickets for them all.

They entertained many relatives and friends with musical socials held in their home. Everyone loved to hear William sing. He could sing the laughing songs so well they never grew old. These included "The little gray fat man", "When I was a baby they tickled one so", "The charming young woman I met on the train", "The crocodile" and "They all come home to roost" and many others. He and Jane often sang together.

For several years he traveled up and down the state as an agent for the Kimball Organ Co. and sold many instruments. Wherever he was, the evenings were spent by inviting neighbors in to enjoy a musical entertainment.

He wrote the words and composed the music for "Haste to the Sunday School," which was a favorite hymn.

MISSION TO ENGLAND--SAVED FROM INJURY

He was called to fill a mission to England, his native country. He left home 16 Oct 1889. When he received a blessing in Salt Lake City before his departure, he was promised he should go in peace and return in safety. The promise was soon fulfilled as he missed the train by a small margin and caught one an hour later. They passed the train he should have taken-- wrecked. He humbly acknowledged the hand of the Lord in his behalf. On the voyage he entertained his fellow passengers with music and songs which were well received. His mother had passed to the great beyond but he was welcomed by his two half sisters, Sarah Brown Makinson and her little daughter Lillie and a maiden about 30 years old Christiana Brown who had been faithful to his mother till the last. He taught and baptized them and with his wife's financial help they immigrated to Utah and lived with them in their home in Beaver till they both married. Sarah died in 1899, Lillie several years later and Christiana in 1937. They are all laid to rest in the Mountain View Cemetery in Beaver. William filled an honorable mission and returned home in 1891. He loved to be kept in the harness. He worked with Robert Stoney probably as organist for the choir.

ST GEORGE TEMPLE DEDICATION

The following is taken from the history of Beaver by J. F. Tolton published on the 75th anniversary of the founding of Beaver City 1856 to the admittance to Statehood 6 Jan 1896.

"The dedication of the St. George temple was an event of great moment to the people of Beaver. The stake had contributed liberally towards its erection and now felt that it had a joint ownership in the structure.

"The Beaver choir was invited as a body to be present in common with other choirs in the temple district, to furnish music for the services. Some forty members of the choir under the leadership of Robert Stoney and William G. Bickley attended. During this period, Beaver not only had a choir of fame, but also a fine brass band."

It consisted of 12 members of which William was one; playing the cornet. At dawn the choir was escorted to the top of the temple and as the sun came over the mountains the band played "The Star Spangled Banner," followed by the choir singing "The St. George Temple," a song especially composed by Prof. Bickley.

St. George Temple Song

Composed by William G. Bickley

Lo, a Temple long expected in St. George shall stand

By God's faithful Saints erected here in Dixie land,

Hallelujah, hallelujah, let hosannas ring,

Heaven shall echo back our praises

Christ shall reign as King.

The noble task we hail with pleasure

Coming from our head,

Brings salvation, life eternal

For our kindred dead.

Holy and Eternal Father

Give us strength, we pray,

In Thy name to build

This Temple in the Latter Day.

Oh, how anxious friends are waiting,

Watching every move,

Made by us for their redemption

With a holy love.

MUSICAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE COMMUNITY

The choir and brass band furnished fine music for all National programs and celebrations as well as many other occasions.

From Our Pioneer Heritage we learn, "When the Mormon Church leaders made tours of the state, the people of Beaver met them several miles out and escorted them into the city. At such times all band members, with shining instruments and well-practiced pieces, were there to add to the gaiety of the occasion. Political leaders were greeted in much the same way and for many years the brass band was in great demand by both political parties to lead processions and spirited demonstrations just prior to Election Day.

Occasionally, on a summer evening, this group of musicians went in a farm wagon to serenade their families, or church and civic leaders of the community. Wherever they played, crowds of small boys gathered and followed along, enjoying the rhythm and melody. A few times the band went to other settlements of the county to participate in festivities. July 1890, they attended a special Twenty-fourth of July celebration at Panguitch Lake for several days. In 1897 the Beaver Band purchased new instruments and uniforms to go to Salt Lake City to the Jubilee on the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Utah. Here they marched and played in the famous parade on July 24.

The members of the first band were: William Robinson, Robert Stoney, Lorenzo Schofield, Sam Fennemore, Enoch E. Cowdell, Charles C. Harris, William G. Bickley, Fergus O. Willden, Elliot Willden, William Dean, Henry Tattersall, and Joseph Tattersall."

MUSICAL ABILITIES

The instruments he played best and loved most were the violin, cornet, accordion, flute, and organ. When the piano came on the market he played that perfectly and taught both the organ and piano, having many students. When he returned from his mission he took up his labors again both in civic and religious duties. He was appointed chorister, which position he held for a great many years. His daughters, May and Bessie, acted as organists for his choir for a number of those years. He put his heart and soul into his work. He composed many of his anthems, preparing words and music for the different voices in manuscript form. He composed the music and arranged the hymn, "Sons of Michael" into a beautiful anthem. He also set his own music to many of the hymns in the hymnbook. He contributed "Haste to the Sunday School" and "Call and Answer" to the Sunday School Song Book. He also wrote the words and music to "Invocation" in the blue Relief Society songbook but as only one verse was published the entire text will be included here.

Invocation

As we are here assembled, to sing thy praise oh Lord.

And from thy holy priesthood/sisters (In RS book) To hear thy sacred word

We ask Thee now to grant us, the unction of Thy love,

So that our hearts and voices, Shall reach Thy throne above.

We love to sing Thy praises and come to Thee in prayer

While from our hearts we thank Thee, for tender love and care

And while we bow before Thee, Oh wilt Thou deign to lend

Thine ear, while we adore Thee, Our Father and our Friend.

Preserve Thy chosen servants, Be Thou their constant shield

Till Thou their soul with wisdom, and give them grace to wield

The sword of gospel freedom, To urge its saving power

Among Thy sons and daughters, In sorrows trying hour

And when our task is finished, On earth and we are free

May we all be found worthy, To ever dwell with Thee

In Thy Celestial Kingdom, among the ransom blessed

Where Thou hast said the faithful, Shall enter into rest.

BEST LOVED SONGS:

Here are two of his best-loved and enjoyed love songs.

Darling I love Thee

When the balmy Spring returns, breathing fragrance fresh and sweet

From the buds and mossy ferns, Then, my darling we shall meet

Yes and sweet shall be our meeting, saving be our words of greeting

While our lips and hearts repeating, Darling I love thee

Darling I love thee. Darling I love thee.

Though our fate should be apart, There is comfort in the thought

That I'm reigning in your heart, and you love me as you ought

Love me! Oh how sweet the pleasure, That we are each other's treasure

And can sing in joyful measure, Darling I love thee

Darling I love thee. Darling I love thee.

And should sorrow cross our path and misfortunes gather round

So we may escape God's wrath, May our trust in Him be found

And, when earthly life is ended, and our soul to Heaven ascended

We will sing sweet music blended, Darling I love thee

Darling I love thee. Darling I love thee.

Clara Bell

Near a sparkling, rippling brooklet; In a pleasant shady dell,

Dwelt a fair and dainty maiden, Darling little Clara Bell

Fawn-like was her form in neatness, from her eyes soft radiance fell

In my heart was holy sweetness, and I loved sweet Clara Bell

Chorus:

Though she left me sad and lonely, yet I cannot say farewell

For when this short life is ended, I shall see my Clara Bell

On a balmy summer's evening, We were straying side by side

When my state of love I whispered, And she said she'd be my bride

Stars were winkling, moonlight gleaming What my joy was none could tell

As her eyes with love was beaming and I kissed sweet Clara Bell

Chorus

Now alas the grave has hidden, Her I loved from mortal view

And her soul has gone to Heaven, With the angels good and true.

Though she's left me sad and lonely, Yet I cannot say farewell

For when this short life is ended, I shall see my Clara Bell.

Chorus

He could pick up any song and sing it right off by sight. He carried a little tuning fork in his pocket by which he got the pitch. He organized a large music class and taught them sight reading from a chart.

POSITIONS OF SERVICE

Included in the history of Jane Walton is the story of how they sold the old home and moved to town and lived in the cottage behind the store. Also how years later they purchased the store and Relief Society hall and remodeled it and made a very comfortable home and store.

His office was up over Jane's store where he had his typewriter and books and carried on his work as secretary for a number of corporations and canals. He held the position of city treasurer for many years, a member of the Stake Sunday school union for more than 20 years, and also worked in the ward Sunday school and put on many lovely cantatas and musical programs, usually having appropriate services on Easter Sunday and Christmas.

He was Stake Clerk for 16 years and traveled with a team and buggy through the stake retrieving the reports from the wards so he could always have his reports in to headquarters on time.

Once he was the guest of honor at a social gathering with a program of songs, sketches and readings and a fine luncheon. He was presented with a beautiful gold-headed cane costing $25.00 as a mark of esteem and appreciation.

The following speech was given by Honey F. Tolton:

Dear Bro. Bickley: The committee has expressed a desire that I voice their sentiments in bidding you a welcome to this gathering with Stake and Ward officers. On the occasion of paying our respects to our fellow laborer and guest of honor Elder W.G. Bickley.

Our purpose it to do honor to Bro. Bickley and by our meeting together in fraternal friendship, remind him of the fact that we appreciate his doing faithful service in the cause of the Master for though he has passed beyond the quoted days of man and his body bows with the weight of years, as the sturdy oak bends before the wintry blast yet his heart is warm in the work of the Lord.

We set down and recognize the worth of one with whom we come in daily contact until distance or change of environment severs the relationship. "A prophet is not without honor; save in his own country." This saying is first as true of and applies with equal force to the earnest servant as the one who foretells future events. For many years, as our guest of honor has served as chorister, as music organizer and director, as clerk of several organizations. His secular fitness to the latter calling has been surely demonstrated during the last 15 years while he has served as the clerk of the stake and of the High Council.

For this service he has received on numerous occasions the econiums of the Presiding Bishopric as well as the appreciation of the Stake authorities for promptness in submitting reports, for painstaking effort, and responsive action to the call of duty. For these valuable trails of character, we hold the subject of kind remembrance and wish him continued success in life, and peace and contentment of mind in his release from the burdens of business and official activities. As a token of appreciation and memento of this association and service with the presidency and high council we have resolved to present to our Bro. Bickley, this beautiful ebony cane surmounted with a handle of gold, engraved with the following inscription: "Presented to W G Bickley, April 15, 1915 by the High council of Beaver Stake." In the selection of this cane, the committee had in mind the choosing of an article, which would be symbolical of the character of the beneficiary. We selected Ebony to represent durability, strength of character, permanency, Gold to denote singleness of purpose, endurance, freedom from dross. It's malleability for plastic thought, ductibility, for capability of being wrought to a tension of utility and service as enduring as time. This memento is fitted to bear the weight and infirmity of man. In case Bro. Bickley needs to lean upon it for support in the future. "Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." So wrote David of old.

May the appropriateness of David's thought follow Bro. Bickley through life and this memento be a staff that will add to his comfort and peace, is the wish of the donor and his fellow servants.

GETTING AN ORGAN FOR BESSIE'S WARD

Most of his children moved to make homes elsewhere which left only Agnes and her family and Will's boys and Aunt Christiana Willdon for them to visit so they spent many afternoons at the home of Agnes. William stopped by often on his rounds about town on different collections or other business for his corporations and they always enjoyed his company.

Jane and William made a trip once a year to visit Bessie and May and attend Conference. In 1917 on their way back from Salt Lake they stopped off in Delta to visit Bessie, as usual. He was always a strong advocate of the organ for sacred music and was concerned that Bessie (she was organist) had to play a piano for ward services. He suggested that he had a little time to spare and with the consent of the Bishop, Bishop Maxfield and chorister Avery Bishop, he would be willing to come and give his services in some way to help get an organ in the ward. The offer was accepted and arrangements were made for his return. They went home to arrange his affairs and through correspondence with Bessie, arrangements were made for him and Jane to present a program to earn money for an organ. They arrived in Delta on the 26 of May. They arrived safe and stayed for a few weeks presenting a sacred Oratorio "King in Zion" which was very well done and the neat sum of $66.65 was realized. This was to be used as the first payment on an organ for the church. They purchased the organ and it furnished beautiful music for all church gatherings in the first ward hall.

Some years before this, as he was getting up in years, he was released as chorister of the Beaver ward and given a lovely testimonial and social with as many of his choir members possible being present, they presented him with a comfortable rocker.

WILLIAM FALLS SICK AND DIES

On the 8 of Aug 1917, Jane sent for Agnes as William was sick. She hurried down and found him in awful pain. They had been doing some remodeling and painting and he lifted a stove and must have hurt himself. The doctor was there and gave her orders just what to do. She followed his instructions to the letter and a little after midnight he relaxed and went to sleep. As she had a small baby Jane insisted on Agnes going home so she went and in the morning she went to the phone and called her mother. Jane said he had a good night rest and was feeling lots better. After dinner, she sent Jennie (her daughter) down to see how he was and she said he had just eaten a bowl of gruel and felt fine.

He had dismissed his doctor and paid him and also paid the painter and was seeming pretty well again.

He was sitting down in the store and had gone to sleep so Jane got her mail and went up the two steps into her kitchen to look it over. There was a letter from Bessie, who had been to the hospital with Eloise for an operation after having pneumonia. Jane called to him to listen to the letter but he didn't answer so she looked at the paper. She soon called to him again, but receiving no answer she took the letter and went down the steps, thinking she had better wake him or he wouldn't sleep at night. When she put her hand on his head she realized he had quietly passed away. That was a great shock for all the family but a grand way for him to go for he never could stand to sit around idle and a long sick spell would have been unbearable to him.

All his life he had been a very busy man and undoubtedly he is busy on the other shore. He passed away without having heard about the fine organ the Delta Ward had purchased through his help and suggestion.

They had celebrated their gold wedding on the 21 of March and the memory of the occasion was still fresh in the people's minds. He had waited patiently on Jane for a number of years as arthritis crippled her.

He was well respected in the community and as he was a stockholder in the First National Bank they draped the bank door with black crepe for thirty days. The following resolution of respect was written and published in the Press.

"Whereas the great Ruler of the Universe has seen fit to call Bro. Bickley from our midst, that he might continue his labors on the other side, and whereas Brother Bickley was a man among men, a man worthy of every trust and whereas Bro. Bickley will be missed at our council table because of his faithfulness, honesty and industry.

Therefore be it resolved that while we regret his passing to his work on the other side, we are satisfied that he was well prepared for the work and ready to proceed at the call of his master.

Be it further resolved that the charter of this bank be draped in mourning for the period of thirty days and that we express to his widow and children our sympathy and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mrs. Bickley," signed Director of the First National Bank, Beaver City, Utah.

FUNERAL

The funeral was held in the Opera House which was filled to capacity with sympathetic friends and relatives. The floral offerings were profuse and lovely. The services were peaceful and inspiring. A number of his best loved songs were rendered by members of the choirs he had led in Beaver. One number being, "Only Remembered by What We Have Done." The speakers were Elders George Parkinson, George Munford and Bishop F. Farnsworth. He was laid away in his beautiful temple robes in the Mountain View Cemetery in Beaver till the morning of the First Resurrection.

Sources:

The Life of My Father William G. Bickley by Agnes Isadore Bickley

Our Pioneer Heritage
Mary Pearson

MARY PEARSON

m. Abraham Woolfenden

|

MARGARET WOOLFENDEN

m. Robert Goddard

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FRANCES GODDARD

m. Orin Nelson Woodbury

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CHARLES ROBERT GODDARD WOODBURY

m. Agnes Isadore Bickley

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DONALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mary Eunice Naylor

|

GERALD CHARLES WOODBURY

m. Mona Rae Lamb

MARY PEARSON WOOLFENDEN

Came west in the John R. Murdock Company (1862)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

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*Mary Pearson Woolfenden | 31 Aug 1802 | 25 Sep 1881 | 60

Sarah Ann Woolfenden | 31 Mar 1840 | 11 Dec 1863 | 22

Mary Ellen Woolfenden | 12 Nov 1842 | 13 Sep 1920 | 23

* Direct Ancestor

Mary Pearson and Abraham Woolfenden were married in England on 1 June 1824. She was 3 years his senior. He passed away on 20 May 1859 at the age of 53 leaving Mary a widow. They had 11 children born to them. All but two of them were married at the time of his death.

LEAVING FOR AMERICA

Her married daughter Margaret and her husband Robert Goddard left for America to join the Saints in 1861. She left England in 1862 with two unmarried daughters, Sarah Ann and Mary Ellen. It appears that they traveled with two of Margaret and Robert's older children, Frances and Thomas Goddard. They were 18 and 16, respectively. Possibly they stayed behind to help make sure their grandmother and aunts arrived in Utah safely.

CROSSING THE PLAINS

They came to St. Louis, then by steamboat to Florence the early part of July 1862 and waited two weeks for the ox-teams to get ready for the long journey. Florence was the outfitting place for those crossing the plains. With hundreds of others, they started from camp on the 24th of July in the John R. Murdock Company. They prayed night and morning and were told to go to bed early. This they were glad to do as they were tired after their long day's travel. They always had a short service on Sunday. Another family shared their wagon. One old couple and a young woman with dropsy were allowed to ride, but the rest walked every step of the way. They had fairly good food and saved a small piece of dough which they would wash out and use as yeast to rise the next batch. They mixed every night and baked in the morning.

Once a terrible wind storm came up in the night and they held fast to their bedding and tents. Another day the rain soaked them and their clothing which they tried to dry at night by campfire. The train would camp for noon and night as near to water and grass as convenient. It was hard to find wood as many trains had taken the wood close by.

The wagons were drawn in a circle and on the inside they pitched their tents and made their campfires. This method of camping also served as a corral for the livestock. A few members of their company owned their own outfits. They saw quite a number of Indians but had no trouble with them. During the last part of their journey they passed graves almost every day; one day passing eleven all in a row. They often saw wagon trains of people going to California for the gold. They passed a camp of soldiers before they got to Echo Canyon.

ARRIVAL IN SALT LAKE CITY

In the latter part of September 1862 they arrived in Salt Lake City. The company camped on emigration square and was surrounded with people who inquired for their friends. Those who had no acquaintances were taken care of by the Tithing Department until they could find a place to live.

It was early autumn in 1862 and saints were harvesting their crops. Mary her two daughters and two grandsons stayed in the tithing yard three days making arrangements. They found traveling companions by the name of Hogensen who traveled with them to Logan to relatives living there.

DOUBLE WEDDING OF SARAH ANN AND MARY ELLEN

In a double wedding Sarah Ann married Walter Phelps and Mary Ellen became the second wife of John Riggs Murdock on 10 Jan 1863. Tragically, Sarah Ann died in December of that year.

Mary never remarried but lived with her daughter and son-in-law Mary Ellen and John R. Murdock in Beaver, Utah until her death at age 79 in 1881.

Sources: Journal of Margaret Olsen Atkinson, Journal of Hans Christensen
James Samuel Page Bowler

JAMES SAMUEL PAGE BOWLER

m. Matilda Hill

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FLORENCE MATILDA BOWLER

m. Albert Henry Truman

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ELIZABETH MATILDA TRUMAN

m. Raymond Cannon

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FLORENCE CANNON

m. Justin "R" Lamb

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MONA RAE LAMB

m. Gerald Charles Woodbury

MATILDA HILL & JAMES SAMUEL PAGE BOWLER

Came west on a Pennsylvania Railroad car (1880)

Name | Birth Date | Death Date | Age at Arrival in Salt Lake Valley

---|---|---|---

James Samuel Page Bowler | 4 Sep 1845 | 16 Dec 1932 | 35

Matilda Hill Bowler | 19 Nov 1841 | 15 Dec 1900 | 39--7 months pregnant

Harry Hill Bowler | 1 Apr 1865 | 12 Nov 1952 | 15

Ann Elizabeth Bowler | 16 Feb 1868 | 3 Oct 1956 | 12

John Henry Bowler | 23 Dec 1869 | 9 Dec 1950 | 10

Kate Bowler | 2 May 1872 | 16 Nov 1933 | 8

Mary Ann Bowler | 31 Aug 1873 | 13 Mar 1921 | 7

*Florence Matilda Bowler | 17 Mar 1875 | 25 Apr 1965 | 5

Walter Wallace Bowler | 15 Nov 1876 | 29 Dec 1972 | 4

Francis Joseph Bowler | 27 Feb 1879 | 21 Nov 1968 | 18 mo

*Direct Ancestor

James Samuel Page Bowler was born 4 September 1845 on Pike Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, England. His parents were John Bowler, born at Long-Whatton, Leicester, England, and his mother, Ann Elizabeth Taylor, born at Preston, Lancashire, England.

An Aunt and Uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Page wanted little James to be the heir to their estate as they had no children of their own and begged for him to be named after them so his parents named him James after a brother and Samuel Page after this uncle. Later Uncle and Auntie Page wanted to adopt James but they set the requirement that he should have to give up Mormonism before this could happen so it was never done.

In his very early years he went to live with this Aunt and Uncle Page and was with them for a year or more, but because of differences of opinion concerning religion, J.S.P. returned to his family in Leicester.

HIS MOTHER DIED

James was nicknamed J.S.P. His mother died of childbirth when J.S.P. was 5 1/2 years old. His Grandmother, Ann Wanmer Taylor, cared for the family. Auntie Page came once more and pled her cause to get this child but, "No", they wouldn't let him go under the conditions requested. J.S.P. went frequently to the Hill Street Chapel grave yard to visit the grave of his dear mother.

He entered an infant school for children who had lost their mothers. The care of four motherless children was a task too much for his grandmother and it was suggested that he be sent to stay with his father's parents for awhile. This was just eleven miles away to Long-Whatton. He went by dogcart. (A dogcart is a light horse-drawn vehicle.) Here J.S.P. had many delightful experiences with his cousin, William Burrows, which he never forgot.

JOINING THE CHURCH AND LEARNING A TRADE

When he returned to his family they had moved. He became apprenticed to Elder John Walsom, the man who baptized him into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Walsom had a shoe factory in the city and taught him shoe-making. J.S.P. came home Sundays but stayed at work during the week.

After his grandmother's death, his grandfather married again to Miss Harry Moore of Keyworth, Leicestershire. He later said no one could have been better to him than his wonderful step-mother.

After quite a bit of searching J.S.P. got employment at a hosiery department and lived with his Uncle Benjamin Bowler. The Crimean War was on and an epidemic of measles was causing much death around the area. Between the war and the sickness everyone was down cast. Everything was sad and gloomy. He couldn't stand it so he returned to his home in Leicester. He was then employed at the Harris Factory working 12 hours a day. One day he broke his arm and had to go to the hospital for two weeks.

Persecution of the Mormons was so great that things were not pleasant anywhere. People were out of employment all around him but he found work with William Hardy and finished learning the shoe-making trade. He lived with Mr. Hardy and his wife in their home. While he was there he began to study music. He took a great interest in it and spent many hours studying. He later said, "Mr. and Mrs. Hardy were like kind parents to me. Any success I find in this life, I owe to them." He tried to get his brother John to stay and work and live with him and not wander around so much, but John preferred to enlist in the army. Later he deserted the army and went to America. His sweetheart, Mary King, followed him and they were married and settled in New York State. He became a Baptist minister. J.S.P. studied music and the shoe trade until his step-mother died. After her death, he lost all interest in it.

MEETING MATILDA

He was invited to a wedding reception and while he was there he met Matilda Hill. They saw each other for awhile and then decided to get married. After publishing the banns in St. Margaret's and St. Mary's parishes, they were married Dec 3, 1863 in St. Mary's church. Upon getting married they held a reception in their new home on Fleet Street.

Matilda Hill was the daughter of Joseph Hill and Mary Hensworth (or Ainsworth), highly respected members of the Wesleyan Church. Mr. Hill was a local preacher and home missionary. Matilda felt that her parents would have joined the Church had they heard about it because they had such good principles. She said her father said he felt like he was always looking for something and that he sometimes felt so strongly about baptism that he felt like going to the river and immersing himself.

Within a year of James' and Matilda's marriage, their first child was born. They named him Harry. Soon afterwards they moved to Hazelock Street. There they had James Samuel (Jimmie). He died at the age of four years of brain fever. His mother always said she thought it was from having to go to school when he was so young that really caused his death. At the time, children went to school at the age of 3 ½. His father called him Chap. Those were his last words, "Dad's Chap". After Jimmie's death, there was a sympathetic strike at the place where J.S.P. worked and he had to find employment elsewhere. He found work in Gisborough; however, trade conditions were not favorable so he went to Nottingham and found employment with Charles Bentley. After working for six months he sent for his family. There on No. 2 Henry Street, his children, Ann Elizabeth (Lizzie), John Henry, Kate, Mary Ann, Florence Matilda, Walter Wallace, and Francis Joseph, were born.

LIFE IN ENGLAND

Living in England was difficult. Matilda opened an upstairs window in their house once, to let in some fresh air. She immediately received a knock on the door from a Bobby (Policeman) who told her she should close the window so that burglars wouldn't break in. Another time she hung her clothes outside to dry. When she went out later in the afternoon all her things had been stolen. The children had to stay in the house all the time except when they were in school.

MATILDA JOINS THE CHURCH

Matilda was expecting her first child before she found out that J.S.P. was a Mormon. He had feared her reaction so he didn't tell her until his Uncle Jabez Bowler came to bid them farewell before leaving for the United States and she found out that they were all Mormons. At first he was afraid she would leave but instead she decided to join the Church herself. This made life much more enjoyable for all. They enjoyed Church as a family group and as their children came, taught them the principles of the Gospel.

As a family group they sang in many places and enjoyed their musical abilities while in England. They began to think of going to Zion. A missionary, Zera P. Terry wanted them to come to Hebron, Utah. They only had a week before leaving for New York. They disposed of 6 rooms of furniture at a great loss, closed their business, and paid and collected all their debts. They left Liverpool, England for New York on Saturday, 23 Oct 1880, aboard the ship, "Wisconsin".

COMING TO UTAH

The company leaving England at that time consisted of 358 souls. They had a hard trip over. It took them three weeks to cross the ocean because the ship Wisconsin, got off its course. Everyone got seasick. They endured a terrible storm and almost met with destruction. The captain told J.S.P. that he always felt safer when the missionaries were on board ship. They were all very glad to land in New York alive. From there they took the Pennsylvania Railroad to Utah. The trip was most interesting. When they reached the Rocky Mountains, they all sang, "Let the Mountains Shout for Joy".

J.S.P. had promised the missionary, Zera Terry that he would come to Hebron with his family and help the people by leading the choir. He had led a choir in England for many years and was once told by Mission President Joseph F. Smith that he "had the finest choir in the European Mission."

The journey to Hebron from Salt Lake City was a long, tedious journey and took several days. They had to camp out at night which was a real hardship on Matilda who was 7 months with child. It was a happy day when they arrived in Hebron and were welcomed by the Saints there.

LIVING IN HEBRON

J.S .P. was immediately called to work in the music department in the Hebron Ward. This he enjoyed very much. He also worked in the Sunday School and MIA (the youth organization). He was very anxious to get to work as it had been a long time since they had received any money to live on. The boys immediately got work riding pony mail and herding sheep. George Hebron, their only child born in America, came Jan 15, 1881.

FIRE

J.S.P. went to Cedar City to work in the shoe factory that was just getting started but because of Matilda's poor health he was called home. When they first arrived in Utah their trunks were side tracked to a different location. When he came home from Cedar City he brought those trunks with him. He also brought materials to make boots and shoes. He was to return the finished products as pay for the materials. Just a few days later came the cry, "Fire!" The tool shop had caught fire and it had burned all of his precious tools and supplies. Now what to do? He began looking for another job. They traveled to Salt Lake City to General Conference and while there J.S.P. got work in the Z.C.M.I. shoe factory. They moved there and stayed for 2 years. They wanted to come back to Hebron because their older married children were there, so when he got a job teaching school in Hebron, they moved back.

MOVE TO GUNLOCK

After the school year ended, J.S.P. went to Panaca and operated a shoe shop in the back of Wadsworth's Store but this didn't work out. They heard of a quiet little town with a mild climate, fruit and vegetables, and beautiful trees: Gunlock. They decided to go there. After a visit, J.S.P. got a teaching job in Gunlock. He worked alternately in Gunlock and Hebron for 5 years.

One day Bishop Joseph S. Huntsman decided to sell his property in Gunlock and offered it to J.S.P. so he took the offer. He was immediately called as a counselor to Bishop Franklin O. Holt. He took a mail contract from St. George to Pine Valley. The contract was for 5 years, so after it was up he had to find something else to do. He traded homes with John F. Laub and moved back to Hebron. There he was Justice of the Peace and bought a cattle herd.

In Oct 1893 he secured a job teaching school at Fort Hamblin (Mountain Meadows) so he moved there for one year. In 1894 he went to Parowan to work in the Co-op store. He went back to Hebron, sold his holdings, and purchased a house in Parowan, renting a house from Donald McGregor. He later bought 2 lots and 12 acres of field. He was elected as Justice of the Peace and had the privilege of marrying several couples. He liked his work quite well but Matilda wanted to move back to Gunlock where she could be closer to her married children. So J.S.P. bought the old home back from John F. Laub and moved back. He later said if he ever felt a failure it was at this time. He was very discouraged.

MATILDA DIES

James got a job as a Census enumerator. His Matilda died soon afterwards on Dec 15, 1900. He was so lonely he felt he would die. At times he thought he could never survive this. A little over a year later he married (a widow) Sarah Westover Canfield on 27 Feb 1902. He got a commission as Postmaster in Gunlock. He was Justice of the Peace, superintendent of the Sunday School, worked in MIA, and his favorite, Choir leader. He also served as ward clerk and helped to get the telephone installed in Gunlock. He finally felt happy again.

Sarah died before he did. She had faithfully taken care of him. His son Harry and wife Hattie moved in with him and cared for him the rest of his days. He died Dec 16, 1932 at his home in Gunlock.

Source: http://www.softcom.net/users/paulandsteph/jspb/autobiography.html#toc

 Site indicated by a Historical Marker on Indiana State Highway No. 161, near Richland, Spencer County, on the Ohio River. The Indian, Big Bones, who killed Athe Meeks, Sr., was in a few minutes shot to death himself, by William Meeks, according to a recent newspaper history of the fight. Vengeance soon overtook the Indians, and the leader, Chief Settedown (Set-te-tah), arrested and in a log jail awaiting trial, was shot through a chink hole at night. The Indians then vacated the region.

