Pressing Matters of a Sound Mind: August 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Generations Project: The Thomas' and Clark's

Eliza Jane Thomas (the grandmother of Ella Colton, who married Joseph Palmer, Jr.) was born June 6, 1828 at Michelstone, South Wales, the sixth child of a family of 14. Eliza was baptized the 22 November 1837.

All of her siblings and parents, except 2 brothers Llewellyn and William, eventually came to the United States. At 21, Eliza was the first of the family to emigrate. She came as a servant girl to the family of a Thomas and Sarah Jeremy, thereby earning her passage over, and being in their care for the trip.

Eliza Thomas

They left Waterloo Dock, in Liverpool, England on Monday, Feb. 26, 1849 about 2 p.m. As the ship pulled out those on deck sang, "The Saints Farewell" a popular Welsh LDS hymn, wondering when they should meet and see their families and loved ones again. On board the Buena Vista, on which they sailed, there were 249 Welsh Saints under the direction of the great Welsh missionary, Dan Jones. Many of the Saints were very seasick and Captain Dan Jones, and several others administered to their wants by making gruel, etc. for them. The sickness lasted only a few days.They had fine weather and fair wind nearly every day. They reported that the middle of March was like June. After being on board seven weeks and day, they landed in New Orleans April 18, 1849. They traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis where in 48 hours, 62 of their company died of cholera. They went from there to Council Bluffs, Iowa where they stayed six weeks to prepare for the trip across the plains to Utah by ox teams. Eliza traveled in the George A. Smith/Dan Jones Company. This company combined with the Ezra T. Benson company, as they traveled close together.

William Clark

Despite considerable trouble with the Indians on the Platte River, romance abounded on the plains. Eliza met William Hiram Clark, who was also from Wales, while crossing and they were married out on the plains, the 14 Sept. 1849 by Issac Clarke, near Deer Creek on the Platte River. William was born in 1831 in Cardigan, Wales, and was baptized the 20th November 1847. He was 15 years Eliza's senior. William had crossed on the Hartley ,the Buena Vista's twin ship, his first wife Frances having died while on the Mississippi River in May 1849, most likely from the cholera outbreak. They arrived in Utah in October, 1849.

William Howells Thomas

Eliza's parents, William Howell Thomas and Ann Williams Thomas, along with seven more of their children, (Thomas, Charlotte, Maria, Catherine, Janet, Henry, and Fred) came to Utah in the fall of 1853 with the Joseph W. Young company. Father William Thomas was 62.

Before the Thomas' and the Clark's came to Idaho they lived in Brigham City, Utah, being among the very early settlers in the area. While in Brigham City, William Clark, who was a tinsmith by trade, established a tin shop on North Main St. and mended his neighbors meager supply of tin ware. The pewter which was used in mending was purchased in the form of spoons, plates, cups, etc. Both families then moved to Malad, ID in about 1863. William and Eliza eventually had nine children including Louisa (my great-great grandmother) who was born in 1866 in Atchinson, Kan. where they lived for a time (sometime between 1860-1867), then moved back to Malad. During this time, Eliza acted as a nurse and mid-wife for many years until her health failed. She ushered into the world hundreds of babies including five of her daughter Louisa's nine children.

Daughter, Louise Clark Colton

She also vaccinated her own family and perhaps others for smallpox. Louisa attended people with that disease and never contracted it, having had only the one vaccination, although crudely done.

Eliza was a widow for nine or ten years and died in Malad March 4, 1899. At that time seven of her nine children survived her.

http://welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/1373
http://adventuresinfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/eliza-jane-thomas-clark.html
ttp://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/MiscellaneousBooks,1567
http://homepage.mac.com/venitar/Genealogy/WebCards/ps08/ps08_336.htm
http://welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/2975
http://adventuresinfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/william-howell-thomas.html http://homepage.mac.com/venitar/Genealogy/WebCards/ps17/ps17_106.htm

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Generations Project: The Collin's

The Collins are my maternal grandfather's ancestors. William Collins was born 1 September 1863 in Uttoxeter, England. On the 24th Dec. 1887, William and Mary Garrett were married in St. David, Wales. Mary was born 23 December 1870, so William was 24 and Mary, 17. William was a coal miner by trade and worked hard hours below ground in poor work conditions for little pay. I couldn't find any photos of William, Mary, or their family online, so I hope this post isn't too boring!

Elder Timothy

A missionary, Elder Heber A. Timothy, from Vernal, Utah converted my great-great grandparents William and Mary in England. LDS records indicate he was baptized 26 August 1894. He would have been 31.

When they joined the Church, they were disowned by their family in England and little is known about the remainder of the family that stayed in England.

When they were converted, they had 3 children, James, Elizabeth, and Mary Hannah, and were living in Wales, where their families were from. In 1895, they left England and came to the US.

Ellis Island Ship passenger manifest (Wm. Collins, Mary, James and "Elizthe") showing ages upon arrival. It also indicates they were Utah bound, and traveling with 4 pieces of luggage.

Ellis Island records indicate the Collin's sailed from Glasglow to New York, on The Furnessia and arrived in the US on Dec. 3rd, 1895. They lost a baby daughter, Mary Hannah en route who was burried at sea.

The Furnessia

When they landed on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, they had about 7$ US in money. They did manage however, to get to Salt Lake City, probably by train. They first lived in Murray, UT, where William worked with miners in the area. They were also sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, May 25, 1898. They then moved to Vernal, UT. An Indian Reservation in nearby Ballard was opened to homesteading, so they moved there and William tried his hand at farming. In 1906, they lost their eldest daughter, Elizabeth to typoid fever, she was 14.
William died at the age of 57, Nov. 19, 1921, from an accident involving a runaway horse and wagon. Thomas Golden, who was just 14 at the time of his father's death, had to assume the position of man of the house and provide for his mother and younger siblings.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Generations Project: The Wallin's (Petterson's)

This side of my family is from my paternal grandmother's line. The Wallin's joined the Church in Sweden around the turn of the 19th century. Carl Gustaf Wallin was born in born 1863 in a small village called Eggby. Carl Gustof joined the military in 1880. He was born Carl Gustof Petterson, but when he joined in the army in Sweden, there were so many Petterson's enlisted, they changed his name to Wallin. He served in Varnhem as a soldier in #8 Royal Vastgota Regiment. On 21 Nov 1884 Carl married Charlotta Karolina "Lotta" Andersdotter. They had 11 children and 7 of them grew to adulthood. Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to the Pettersson home in about 1895. The Church had been established in Sweden since 1853. Johannes and Margareta, Carl's mother and father listened to their message, and they may have sent the missionaries to share their message with Carl and his family too, since the Church records show that Johannes, Margareta, Carl and Lotta were all baptized in June 1898.

Johannes and Margareta Petterson

Their daughter, Elizabeth wrote, “When I was five years old the first missionaries came to our home. Their names were Erickson and Olsen, from Logan, Utah. My folks got baptized in 1898. That was about two years after the first missionaries. My father's parents were baptized at the same time. After that the missionaries tried to tell them to come to Utah, but it didn't seem very easy because dad had been in the Army for seventeen years. He quit the Army after he joined the Church. I don't know what kind of work he was doing. Just odd jobs here and there.” My great-grandmother, another daughter, Hilma said, “I can remember Dad coming home one night. Mother had been reading aloud in the Book of Mormon. Dad listened and said, ‘Well that sounds true.’ That was a pretty good explanation of what the Book of Mormon was talking about. He figured right then that it was good, of course in Sweden the worst thing they could call you was a 'Mormon'. They all thought that was a terrible thing. We just loved it when the missionaries came over. They were always so nice and we kids later loved them.”

The Wallin's

This family photo was probably taken about 1905 before the family began their emigration from Sweden. The 4 girls from left are: Hilma, Esther, Elizabeth and Helen. The boys bottom to top: Enoch "Nic", Gustaf and Carl, Jr. The expense was great, and they decided to come to America in phases, as they could afford it. A missionary loaned enough money to Carl to buy passage for him and his oldest daughter, Helen. (Phase 1) One can only imagine the emotions experienced by the family when the day came for Helen's and their father’s departure. Helen tells us about it in this way. “We went by train to Gothenborg. We met with the missionaries until it was time for us to take the boat. We had a very nice trip over. I got so, so sick on the land before we even left. I don't know what from, but I was sure sick. That was awful!"

Helen and Carl Wallin

I wonder if Helen and her father had this photo taken to send back to the family in Sweden during their separation, which, lasted just under 2 years.

Meanwhile back in Sweden, Lotta was torn about leaving her elderly mother who was losing her sight. Her mother insisted that she should go take care of her family in America. (Phase 2) Lotta and the 4 youngest children departed on the 22 March 1907. The other two girls, Elizabeth and Hilma, remained in Sweden. Elizabeth was working, and Hilma was staying with the grandparents. They had auction sale to sell everything before they left Sweden. Apparently the crossing was rough, and the entire family became ill, except Carl, Jr. , a young boy who liked to make mischief who "had nothing to do and nobody to holler at me. I was free! What a glorious time! As far as I can remember they [my family] were sick a majority of the time on the way over here. I did a lot of things I shouldn't have done..." A favorite family story tells how Carl stole several smoking pipes to show his father, then threw them overboard when he was afraid of getting caught.

After arriving in the US, they took the train to Utah. Enoch records, "I remember the first banana that my mother bought for us when we were on the train. We didn’t peel them. We thought we were supposed to eat them, peelings and all. They weren’t very good!...They gave us some tomatoes one time too and we didn’t like them either.”

In Salt Lake, one day Carl ran into a missionary from Pleasant Grove who asked him if all his family was there. When he learned that two daughters were still in Sweden, he offered to loan what money was still needed to pay their passage.
(Phase 3) On 15 Nov 1907 the two sisters, Elizabeth and Hilma, began their adventure as follows: ”It took us three weeks to get here. We were two days on the North Sea and we landed in Hull, England. We went from there on the train to Liverpool. That took about half a day. Then we took a boat from Liverpool. We were on the boat thirteen days and landed in Canada. Dad had bought our ticket on the ‘South Pacific’. We didn’t go with the missionaries or anyone we knew, because Dad bought the cheapest tickets he could find. We landed in Quebec or St.John, Canada.” (Lizzie) Hilma described it this way. “We left Gothenborg on a Friday. We were supposed to leave at one o'clock but we didn't leave until six that evening. It was a beautiful evening. The North Sea was clear and still.” Now back to Lizzie’s version.
“From there we took the train on into the United States. I don't remember how many days we were on the train. We had a wonderful trip. Of course, being able to feel well on the trip helped...We went from Denver to Salt Lake straight through. The date was December 8, 1907. About 9 o’clock Dad came on his bicycle. Of course, we hadn't seen Dad for two or three years. We recognized him though and were glad to see him. We walked home to the house where they were living. Mother had only been gone about nine months so that hadn't been so long. They were all excited looking for us girls.”
Hilma must have been happy to get there. She said that she hadn’t slept well on the journey because she was too nervous. She stated that she liked to stay up late and sleep in but Lizzie was just the opposite.
The family lived in Murray, UT for about 8 years, from 1905-1913.The younger children attended school. Carl worked at a smelter but he wanted to farm . He had started buying 40 acres of ground in the Strawberry Valley. The family moved to Riverton, UT where Carl got a job in a carpenter shop there. During this same time he had gotten a letter from his daughter, Elizabeth who had married and was living in Idaho. She told them about homestead land that was to open up soon. The homestead program that the government offered gave a person an opportunity to live on 160 acres of land. There only requirement to live on the property for several years, and make improvements, and then they could pay a small amount to own the property. 160 acres sounded like a dream come true to Carl. The family ended up on a homestead in Idaho’s Pocatello Creek area.

Carl and Lotta

Sometime after 1930 when it was too much work to upkeep the farm, Carl and Lotta sold their homestead and bought a place in Pocatello. In later years, Lotta needed a wheel chair to get around in but it was Carl who died first 20 Jan of 1947 at age 83. They had been married for 62 years. Lotta passed away about 6 months later on 5 Aug of the same year at age 87. Both are buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Pocatello. They had stayed true to each other and the faith that they had embraced all those years before.

http://www.shaweb.net/Wallin/Wallin.htm

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Generations Project: The Hohne's

Christine Sophia Hohne

Christine Sophia Hohne (also "Hoehne") was married to Charles Taylor (grandson of John Taylor of the "Taylor's" post). She was born in Nuremberg, Germany June 19, 1878. She was baptized into the Mormon Church at the age of fourteen in 1892. She was the daughter of Johann Gustof Rudolf Hohne and Katharine (Katharina) Pabst Hohne. Rudolf was a carpenter, he made cabinets and pianos.
The Mormon Church was being preached in Nuremberg around 1892. Officials used the Church's doctrine as a reason to persecute members and arrest missionaries, so the meetings were held secretly out in the forest. The family took a streetcar two miles out of town, then would walk into the forest. They would have to leave at noon and then come home late at night. Christine reports "There were detectives watching for us all the time. Twice I had to appear before court because I was caught attending these meetings. If I had been caught one more time I would have had to pay a fine." All the members of the church would invite the missionaries to their house to have supper. Rudolf (LDS records show show he was baptized in 1896) invited the missionaries in to their house often . Christine records "Many times I can remember father bringing missionaries home for supper when I was a little girl." Her brother Adolph, who also had joined the Church in 1886, was the first to come to America. Then a sister, most likely Anna Theresia , who came over next in 1894 with a Frank Young, a missionary who had been in Nuremberg. Rudolf wanted to come to America but Katherine, his wife, was afraid to cross the ocean.
In 1898, Christine Hohne was eighteen and she came to America. A rich aunt had given her $800.00, which helped pay the cost of travel, it cost $500.00 to come first class across the ocean. She went from Nuremberg to Hamburg, the from Hamburg to Scotland she rode a small boat across the North Sea. Says she, "We were only on the boat thirty-eight hours, but the North Sea is very rough and everyone got very sick. We had to wait three days in Scotland for our ship." There, the company received a new ship and sailed from Scotland to New York. While on ship she reports having very good meals, mostly fried fish and fresh fruit. Also, they held big concerts every night on the ship. While en route, she met on the ship an Elder Howard from Vernal, UT who had been on a mission in England and a professor Miller who taught music at BYU. The voyage lasted on the ocean ten days and eleven nights. From New York she went to Salt Lake City, UT then to Vernal, UT where Christine stayed with her sister Anna Theresia (McCoy). She went to school at an old academy in Vernal held in an old lumber building painted white, as there were no brick buildings in Vernal at that time. She attended school for two years. She did not speak English, and undoubtedly learned it there. She reports "It was very easy to learn to read and write but hard to learn to speak English."
Her brother Adolph returned to Nuremberg, Germany on a mission and converted her mother (baptized 23rd, November 1900), her older sister Anna Elisabeth and twelve others, but they did not come to Utah. Christine often sent packages and letters back to Germany, but never went back and did not ever see her mother again.
Having finished school, she married Charles Taylor, son of Teancum and Mary Hiatt Taylor, and had four boys . The oldest was named Rudolph Teancum but went by the name of "Charley", Rudolph Teancum Taylor, or "Grandpa Chuck", as I knew him, is my great-grandfather. The Indian Reservation there was opened for homesteading, and they moved to Lapoint, UT. There was no schoolhouse at the time. The boys had to travel about three and a half miles south of Lapoint, for school, to a South Liberty schoolhouse. The boys rode to school on horses.
Christine Sophia Hohne Taylor died December 30, 1951 from complications of diabetes. She was buried January 3, 1952 at Lapoint, Utah. It is recorded that the day of her funeral it never got above 23 degrees below zero all day.

This is a picture of Grandpa Chuck, his wife Pearlis Caroline Nielson Taylor (center), and their children (my grandparents) and grandchildren (my parents). I just had to include this one. Note my mom and dad, far left.

http://www.ourlifehistory.org/genealogy/histories/Life%20History%20of%20Christine%20Sophia%20Hohne%20Taylor.pdf
http://www.ourlifehistory.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I16&tree=Richens-Sorensen
http://www.ourlifehistory.org/genealogy/histories/History%20of%20Rudolph%20Teancum%20Taylor.pdf

Friday, August 19, 2011

Generations Project: The Palmer's

John Palmer, Jr.

The Palmer's are my paternal ancestors, and where my last name comes from. My great, great, great grandparents were John Palmer, Jr. and Eleanor Doves Palmer. John was born March 31, 1806 in England. He married Eleanor Doves Palmer November 20, 1829 in Lincolnshire, England. John was 23, Eleanor was 16.

When it was necessary for Eleanor to work in the fields to help provide for their growing family, Eleanor would lock the children in the house for fear they might fall into the canal, Hagnaby Lock, running behind their house or drown in the close-by ditch. She may have been particulairly concerned for her children's well-being as one daughter, Susan, died when she was 4 in an accident when she fell in to an open hearth.

Eleanor Doves Palmer

According to LDS records, John and Eleanor were baptized 17 November 1849, possibly in the canal behind their home, by an Elder Charles Clark and confirmed the same day.

A family by the name of Moore, who had been close friends with the Palmer's, and had immigrated to America in 1852, and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. They were very desirous of the Palmer's coming to join them in the states and offered to help pay their passage. John was an industrious farmer, but was in poor circumstances when he decided to come to America.

On 28 March 1857, John Palmer and Eleanor sailed with their family, on the ship George Washington, a sailing vessel weighing 1,759 tons registry. Captain Commings was the ship’s Master and Orson Pratt was the agent for the group. Several hundred LDS emigrants left the port of Boston, Lincolnshire, England that day. Listed were the following: “John Palmer, age 50, laborer, Eleanor, age 45, wife.” They had 9 children (Helen, Emma, John, Susan, Sarah, Phillip, Joseph, George , William Henry), as well as Eleanor’s parents who made the crossing together. I am a direct descendant of Joseph Palmer, age 8 at the time of the crossing. Joseph Palmer was born December 24, 1850, the 7th of 9 children. Joseph, and some of his siblings were all blessed on Jan 28, 1851 in the Hagnaby Lock Branch.

All were listed as ordinary emigrants, and the address they left was c/o Richard Harper, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, which is near Hagnaby. Little is known of their voyage and there seemed to be no problems as they made land at Boston, Massachusetts, twenty-four days en route. Soon after it is assumed they relocated to St. Louis to join the Moore's. Some children stayed in Boston attending school under the care of an older daughter who worked there. Having to borrow money to reach their destination, they began their career in this country in humble circumstances, but gradually advanced by honorable and industrious efforts to a fair degree of material prosperity. After arriving in St. Louis, John worked for some time as a farm hand, and was also a farmer for about four years. John Palmer's indenture, or financial obligation, was to a Mr. Loupe, a saloon keeper, in St. Louis. This obligation was probably to cover the transportation costs for the Palmer family. This family is listed in the 1857 ship list for the SS George Washington (Liverpool to Boston, MA) and in the 1860 Missouri Census, St. Louis Co., St. Ferdinand Twp., as farmers.

In 1863, the family went by boat up the river to Omaha, Nebraska where they were compelled to wait twelve weeks on account of illness, and from that point went across the plains with ox teams in a train of twenty-six wagons to Salt Lake City.

In the fall of 1863, the family was at Smithfield, UT where they worked several years. Then, in 1868, they relocated one hundred miles north, on land about 4 miles west of Malad City, Idaho, where one of the sons-in-law [William Cole] had settled previously, and there for was engaged in farming, freighting and stock-raising.

The Palmer family arrived in the spring of 1868, in Malad, Idaho Terr. They met a man who was anxious to leave Malad and they bought his farm for a yoke of oxen. The farm was about 4 miles west of Malad and was called the "Big Bend [of the Little Malad River]." The Palmer family moved onto the land on March 25, 1868. The family consisted at that time of 5 brothers and John and Eleanor. The sisters were all married at this time. There, they built a cabin and began farming. The log cabin they built, although in bad shape, is still standing today and is said to be the oldest in the Malad Valley. My father grew up in this same house, and I have fond memories of peeking in the old windows hoping to catch a glimpse of a ghost as a child!

Old Palmer homestead in Malad, ID

In the fall of 1869 the John Palmer family became discouraged because of the grasshoppers and crickets that continually ate their crops, so they left and went back to Nebraska, with the exception of my great, great grandfather Joseph & his sister Susan. Joseph was an unmarried boy of 20 when his parents and brothers left. He tells how sad and lonesome he felt as he sat on the shed watching them go. He wondered if he would ever see his parents again. (He never did, although he did make a trip to Nebraska in his later life and visited some of his siblings.) At last he felt so badly that he jumped on his pony and caught up with them and rode into Malad with them. Joseph Palmer stayed on the Idaho farm. 1868 was the last year for wagon trains and after that date travelers boarded the train at Corine, UT; so the Palmer family probably went by train back to Nebraska. It is 45 miles from Malad to Corine. John and Eleanor farmed the rest of their life in Nebraska. John died October 13, 1888 at the age of 82 in Nebraska. Eleanor Doves Palmer, died shortly thereafter, October 20, 1888 in Peru, Nebraska at 80. Both were buried in Mt. Vernon cemetery.

Joseph Palmer & Wm. Henry Palmer (standing)
Helen Palmer Moore & Emma Palmer Camomile (seated) about 1912

Joseph and his brother-in-law, William Cole (by some reported to be Jesse James, the notorious gunslinger, though my research proves otherwise) bought the ranch from John. It wasn't long until Cole became discouraged too, so he packed up and left his wife & children in the latter part of 1870. Susan then sold her part of the farm and went back to Nebraska to be with her folks. So, Joseph was left alone. He soon married a Maria Gardner, and they raised 9 children.

Children of Joseph Palmer, Sr. and Maria Gardner (my greatgrandfather Joseph, Jr. is 3rd from left)

Brothers John Palmer (III) & Joseph Palmer (standing) about 1909

Sometime between June 1908 and March 1911, very late one night a knock came on Joseph’s door. Joseph got up, answered the door and found a stranger standing there. The stranger asked if he was Joseph Palmer. Joseph confirmed that he was and the man said, "I am your brother, John." Since it had been around 40 years since the two brothers had laid eyes on one another, Joseph needed proof. He said "If you're my brother John you have a scar on a certain part of your anatomy." John produced the scar and the brothers were reunited after so long a separation. It is understood that this picture is of John and Joseph and was taken in Malad during John's visit.

Joseph Palmer died April 11, 1931 at the age 80 in Malad City, Idaho. He had a son Joseph Jr. (married to Ella Colton) who had a son, George Austin, my dad, then me!

My dad found this site from whence much of the information from the Palmer’s is gleaned.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nenemaha/palmer/index.htm#JosephPalmer.

http://www.geni.com/people/Helen-Moore/6000000003572080156

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Generations Project:The Taylor's

Saying that I’m “in to” LDS Church History is a gross understatement. I love Church History!!! I’m enthralled by Church History!!! I am passionate about Church History!!! I live for those “boring” D&C lessons where everyone’s struggling to stay awake on a sultry Sunday Morning. Needless to say, I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw this job post on lds.org …. Church History Acquisitions Specialist !

No WAY! Job description: "Assist the Church History Department in working with Church ... in surveying, identifying, evaluating and appraising, collecting and capturing, historical materials". How cool! It’s like a Mormon Indiana Jones! (Unless he is already Mormon, there is that scene in “The Last Crusade” that opens in Utah…?)! Almost am I persuaded to pursue… if not that I am 1. Under qualified 2. Not living in SLC. Oh well, we all can dream…I’m most passionate about early Church History, and I’ve always been interested by how my ancestors joined the church. From what I’ve been able to gather, I’ve really got a pretty broad spectrum of ways my ancestors joined the Church, early Saints who joined the church in the 1830’s, pioneers who crossed the plains, immigrants who joined the Church in the old country and traveled to the US by sea and rail, and more modern-day converts. I always knew that somewhere back there was some pioneer history, but it wasn’t until on my mission that I really become interested how my family joined the Church. I was thinking about it the other day, when when this great idea came upon me, "Why not do a series of blog posts about how my ancestors joined the Church?"

Awesome! I'm not quite sure all the details, so it will require to do a bit of research, but will be a unique way of documenting my family history as well as try to understand what role my ancestors played in the Church.

When I came back from France, I enrolled in an Church History class at BYU-I, where my semester project was to write a paper on an early saint of our choice(related or non-related). I chose William (Warren) Taylor (read about him here http://www.taylorassociation.org/biographies/taylor/taylor_william_1787-1839.htm).I can't find the paper I wrote, I think I lost it in the Great Computer Crash of Dec '09, but since I already knew some of the information, it would be an easy place to start. The Taylors' are my maternal grandmother's side. More about their family at http://home.comcast.net/~susanjackman/burketweb/ancestornarrative/b273.htm. William joined the LDS movement in June 1834 as one of the first converts in Missouri, but I was touched deeply about by the life of his wife, Elizabeth Patrick Taylor .(http://frtaylor.community.officelive.com/ElizabethPatrickTaylorhistory.aspx)

Elizabeth Patrick Taylor

To me, she embodies early Latter-day Saint women and all they stood for. She was a seamstress and an excellent cook. Her's is a story of sacrificing home after home, bringing meals to the Prophet Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail, losing her husband to typhoid while fleeing Missouri, chasing off the mob with a burning brand from the fire, witnessing the speech where, being sealed in the Nauvoo temple to her dead husband in 1845, witnessing the “Mantle of Joseph” fall upon Brigham Young, and crossing the plains as a widow to Salt Lake in 1849. When Saints were ordered to leave Nauvoo, Elizabeth was one of the first to begin the trek, driving an ox-team, as far as Council Bluffs that year. She traveled with the William Hyde family in the Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company of 1849 to Salt Lake. Elizabeth Hyde records, “Sister Betsy Aldred [Elizabeth Patrick Taylor Allred] was with me, we traveled with ox teams”. My favorite story is how, during the flight from Missouri when an aged couple named Singleton lost their only horse, and were powerless to move their wagon beyond the reach of the mob, at Elizabeth's prompting, William unhitched one of his best horses and hitched it to the old gentleman's wagon and told the couple to take the horse and go in peace. Her stories are my favorites by far. Her son Pleasant Green wrote of her "What a kind and good mother she was." These good pioneer women to me represent everything good and giving, whose example of kindness and charity are inspirational. She truly lived the Savior's teaching " If ye have done it unto the least of these my bretheren, ye have done it unto me." She clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and cared for the sick, even when she herself had so little to offer. The 1842 tax list for Nauvoo has the location of Elizabeth's land at 212 6N 8W in Nauvoo.

Their son, John Taylor (not to be confused with “the” John Taylor, 3rd president of the Church) was my great-great.…???.... grandfather. He was a friend and bodyguard to Joseph Smith, participated in Zion’s Camp, and was imprisoned several times for his affiliation with the Church. (http://www.taylorassociation.org/biographies/Biography.asp?ID=155&Char=T ). During the Nauvoo period, Joseph Smith had considered several options for the Saint’s next exodus, as he knew they they would not stay in Illinois long. He considered a site in Wisconsin where timber for the Nauvoo temple was cut and floated downstream, out west past in Rocky Mountains (Salt Lake), as far as Canada, Mexico and California, and the newly founded Republic of Texas.

John Taylor

An early Apostle, Lyman Wight, was sent to discuss the possibility of these plans with Sam Houston, however the martyrdom of the Prophet cut these plans short. During the succession crisis after the death of Joseph Smith, Wight felt compelled to follow the orders Joseph Smith had given him to find a safe haven for the Latter-day Saints in the Republic of Texas. In 1844-45 Wight moved a group of Latter Day Saints there and eventually founded several communities on the central Texas frontier near Austin, TX. John Taylor and his family were part of this group! I have ancestors who lived in Texas! I can’t tell you how surprising that was! Brigham Young tried to get Wight to join the main body of the in the Utah Territory several times, but Wight refused each time, however it appears that the Taylor’s decided to accept President Young’s invitation, they moved to OK, prepared for 2 years to make the long trek, and joined the Saints in 1854.

This blog is too short to go on and on about how fascinating I find my family history, but in trying to keep it short enough to be interesting, yet long enough to cover the essentials, I am looking forward to learning more about my family history!

Pressing Matters of a Sound Mind