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Pioneer Stories

Title: Pioneer: Author:
 
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF ISAAC MORONI CHAPMAN, MY GREAT GRANDFATHER:  Isaac Moroni Chapman  Rodney Orr Chapman  
Moroni was born to October 6, 1832, in the state of Indiana to Isaac Benjamin and Solona Brown Chapman . He experienced the early history of the Church in Farr West, Nauvoo and across the plains to Utah arriving with his four sisters in 1852. He settled in Mill Creek, but had to move to Tooele during the Johnston Army scare. He was a guard at Echo canyon in the Johnston’s army incident. Aft...

A Great Pioneer Colonizer  William Frederick Rigby  Jay M. Smith, Jr.  
WILLIAM FREDERICK LITTLEWOOD RIGBY William F.Rigby was born in Yorkshire County England. His mother was Margaret Littlewood who was born on the Isle of Man off the English Coast. His father was Joseph Rigby, though Joseph and Margaret never married. Joseph had another family. Margaret later married William Howarth and had several children by him. William was given the name of Little...

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF MY GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER, ROBERT ORR  Robert Orr  Rodney Orr Chapman  
Robert Orr was born August 2, 1803 at Kilburnie, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the son of James Orr and Anne Houston. He was an engineer by trade, being employed at one of the large woolen mills where wool fabric was woven. Robert married Elizabeth McQueen in Scotland April 16, 1828, and they made their home at Kilburnie. It was here they were visited by Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Chr...

A Widow Supporting Her Family  Jane Jenkins Howe  Ray Don Reese  
Jane Jenkins was born on 24 August 1806 in Wick , Glamorgan, South Wales. She married William Howe on 7 May 1833 in St. Brides, Glamorgan, South Wales. They made their home in Wick which is a small community near the sea. They were blessed to have four children born to them. They were Cecilia, William, Ann, and Jane. Her husband, William, was the talk of the surrounding country because he w...

Albern Allen  Albern Allen  LaRon Taylor  
ALBERN ALLEN & MARCIA ALLEN Albern Allen, b 22 May 1802, Cornwall, Litchfield, CT, Md Marcia Allen, 1826, Hartwick, Otsego, NY, d 2 Jun 1867, Ogden, Weber, UT In a rapidly changing world, Albern Allen was born four months after Napoleon was elected President of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic, and just 1 day before Washington DC was incorporated (1). We know little of Albern’s childhoo...

Andrew Wood Cooley - A story of Devotion to Family  Andrew Wood Cooley  Jay M. Smith  
Andrew Wood Cooley was a descendant of Benjamin Cooley, a settler in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1640s. His ancestors had moved westward through the years until they arrived in Michigan in the mid 1800's. It was from here that Andrew left for California in 1863, but stopped in Utah to visit an aunt who had joined the Mormon Church in New York. He learned about the Church, was baptize...

Benjamin Cross  Benjamin Cross  Ivan Y. Haskell  
BENJAMIN CROSS and Family Benjamin Cross, was chosen to be the first bishop of Peteetneet Creek March 23, 1851 and was Ordained by President Brigham Young, also sustained by the members at the meeting with Heber C. Kimball and President Brigham Young in attendance. The counselors he chose were Joseph Curtis and Breed Searle. The family of Breed Searle and Benjamin came to Peteetneet tog...

Charles Jameson - Haun's Mill Survivor  Charles Jameson  LaRon Taylor  
Charles Jameson, b 28 April, 1803, Codorus, York, PA, m Mary Ann Hedrick abt 1823, d 19 Oct., 1886, Minersville, Beaver, UT Just as the United States doubled in size through the Louisiana Purchase, David Jameson and Magdaline Miller added to that number by the birth of their son, Charles Jameson on 28 Apr, 1803 while living in Codorus, York County, Pennsylvania. He and Mary Ann...

Daniel Allen - A Life of Consecration  Daniel Allen  LaRon Taylor  
Daniel Allen was born on December 9, 1804, just one week after Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII. And this it was just 4 days after Thomas Jefferson was re-elected as President of the United States. We have little information relating to courtship and marriage, but Daniel met, courted, and eventually married Mary Ann Morris on 6 Oct, 1831 (1). D...

David Dutton Yearsley...Giving His All  David Dutton Yearsley  LaRon Taylor  
David Dutton Yearsley & Mary Ann Hoops David Dutton b 3 Mar 1808, Thornbury, Chester, PA; md Mary Ann Hoopes 11 Sep 1830; died 1849, Rocky Ford, NE David Dutton Yearsley was raised in a prosperous religious family in Pennsylvania and belonged to the Society of Friends “Quakers”. His father was a successful merchant and, after his death, David inherited the family business ...

ELIZABETH JANE GREEN Biography by Cora Beck Adamson and amended by Rodney Orr Chapman  ELIZABETH JANE GREEN  Rodney Orr Chapman  
ELIZABETH JANE GREEN 19 Feb 1840 - 2 Apr, 1890 Elizabeth Jane Green was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, South Wales, 19 Feb 1840, the daughter of Richard William Green and Anna Phillips. Elizabeth was the second child in a family of nine children, she being the eldest daughter. Richard Charles 1-15 Mar 1838, Elizabeth Jane 19 Feb 1840, Ann 1841, David Donovan 27 April 1842, Edward S...

Experiences of My Great Great Grandfather, John R Young  John Ray Young  George Lamar Brinkerhoff  
My great great grandfather John Ray Young was born 100 years before me. I was born April 13 1937, and he was born April 30 1837 in Kirtland Ohio. His parents were Lorenzo Dow, and Persis Goodall Young. Lorenzo is the youngest brother of Brigham Young, and the son of John and Abigail Howe Young. When John R. was one year old the family moved to Far West Missouri, and a year later were driven ...

George Freestone, Frontiersman  George Freestone  Angus H. Belliston  
GEORGE FREESTONE, FRONTIERSMAN By Angus H. Belliston My mother had a special love for her Freestone grandparents and longed to see her grandfather, George, who lived so far away in the Uintah Basin of Utah. In her journal she mentioned his name with reverence, and wished she could see “that tender hearted, soft-spoken, very kind man” again. George Freestone wa...

Harrison and Mary Freestone Maughan  Harrison Davenport Maughan  Angus H. Belliston  
HARRISON DAVENPORT MAUGHAN AND MARY ELIZABETH FREESTONE By Angus H. Belliston My grandfather, Harrison Davenport Maughan was born in Wellsville, Cache County, Utah on 17 September 1861, the fourth of thirteen children in the family. Brothers and sisters were evenly balanced, six of each. His patriarchal blessing identified him as “a mixture of Ephraim and Manasseh.” Wh...

Inspirational Story  James Mellor  Roger Slagowski  
While with the Martin Handcart Company, Mary Ann Payne, James Mellor Senior's wife decided to lighten their load by selling some of her children's clothes in Iowa which was two miles away. She knew that the company would go on without her; but, she felt that she could catch up quickly because she would be traveling light. She left early in the morning with her oldest daughter, Louisa (...

James Davenport and Almira Phelps  James Davenport  Angus H. Belliston  
JAMES DAVENPORT AND ALMIRA PHELPS By Angus H. Belliston James Davenport and Almira Phelps were my great-great grandparents -- great grandparents of my mother, Elsie Maughan. James was born on 1 May 1802 in Danville, Caledonia, Vermont. We know very little about Almira, except that she was born on 23 January, 1805 in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York, and was ...

James Thomas and Louisa Belliston  James Thomas Belliston  Angus H. Belliston  
James Thomas Belliston was born on 18 February 1819 at St. Giles in the Fields,Westminster, London, Middlesex Shire, England. He was the oldest of twelve children of JohnBelliston and Elizabeth Carpenter. Only six of these children lived to maturity. The family weremembers of the Wesleyan Church; James Thomas joined the Baptists in about 1843, after he hadmoved to Birmingham and had married Louisa...

John Carling  John Carling  LaRon Taylor  
John Carling & Emeline Keaton John Carling, b 11 Sept., 1800, Kingston, Ulster, NY, md Emeline Keaton 1 Sept., 1830, d 2 Apr., 1855, Fillmore, Millard, UT. The year 1800 began the nineteenth century with some notable events. The Italian physicist Alessandro Volta invented the electric battery, providing the first source of a continuous circuit. John Chapman, better known as...

John Harrison Maughan and Sarah Mariah Davenport  John Harrison Maughan  Angus H. Belliston  
JOHN HARRISON MAUGHAN AND SARAH MARIAH DAVENPORT By Angus H. Belliston John was the father of my grandfather, Harrison Maughan. He was the eldest son of the first Maughan pioneers, Peter Maughan and Ruth Harrison. John’s birth in Alston, Cumberland, England on 8 October 1830 was just six months after the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which...

John Streator Gleason and the Martyrdom of the Prophet  John Streator Gleason  Ann W. Engar  
John Streator Gleason (1819-1904) was a scout for the 1847 first group into Salt Lake Valley. He joined the Church in 1839 and moved with his wife Desdemona Chase and her parents to Nauvoo in 1842, where he became a trusted friend of the prophet Joseph Smith. The first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, printed June 7, 1844, advocated the repeal of Nauvoo’s charter and charged Jos...

Joseph Johnson Smith  Joseph Johnson Smith  Jay M. Smith  
Joseph Johnson Smith Joseph showed great courage while in Nauvoo, just as the Prophet Joseph Smith did. He and his wife, Mary, came from England in 1843 with two small children, Caroline 2 years and Mercy 8 months. It took them two months on the ship Montreal to sail from England to America. Often these immigrants were in very cramped spaces in the hold of the ship. Storms made the ...

JULIA ANN CHAPMAN LEE  Julia Ann Chapman Lee  Rodney Orr Chapman  
JULIA ANN CHAPMAN LEE 20 August 1825 - 10 July 1852 Julia Ann Chapman was born 20 August 1825, in Eugene, Vermilion County, Indiana to Isaac Benjamin Chapman and Solona Brown Chapman. She married Isaac Lee and had a daughter Mariette, born 1846, Elizabeth Ann, born November 20, 1848, Eliza Ann, born December 20, 1850. Isaac helped build the Nauvoo Temple. He was a member of the Nauvo...

Levi Roberts - Converted by Wilford Woodruff  Levi Roberts  LaRon Taylor  
Levi Roberts, b 26 February, 1815, in Deerhurst, Glouchester, England, md Harriett Ann Efford abt 18 Aug, 1835, d January 22, 1894 in Kaysville, UT On the day that Napoleon and 1200 men left Elba to start the 100 day re-conquest of France, Levi Roberts was born in Deerhurst, Glauchestershire, England. We find nothing of his childhood until his marriage to Harriett Ann Efford on August 1...

Life of John Pannell Wright  John Pannell Wright  John F. Wright  
John Pannell Wright was born 18 January 1805 in St. Swithins parish, Lincoln Lincolnshire, England to George Wright and Mary Pannell. He was a man of faith who loved the Bible, but was not affiliated with any church. He married Mary Hill Fish at St. Peters Eastgate in Lincolnl Lincolnshire 31 July 1825. He had worked on a ship from cabin boy to captain and was foreman of the Wake Shipyards, a very...

Maggie Anna Ferrell Orr, a life history  Maggie Anna Ferrell Orr  Rodney Orr Chapman  
Maggie Anna Ferrell was born September 20, 1847, in a small house on the outskirts of Sugar Grove, Butler County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of John Bell and Frances Jemima Sweatt Ferrell, both born in Lebanon, Tennessee, and both loyal Southerners. Maggie’s father was very likely named after John Bell, a noted Tennessean who was the Independent Candidate for President of the United States i...

Nelson Higgins - Through it All  Nelson Higgins  LaRon Taylor  
Nelson Higgins was born in Otsego County, NY on 1 Sep, 1806 (one month after the end of the Holy Roman Empire) to Daniel Higgins and Mary Dagget. The name Nelson means courageous, a champion, the chief. It didn’t take long for Nelson to live up to that name, and he did so throughout his life (1). Several articles report that Nelson’s dad moved to Ohio when Nelson was 10 years old, but ...

Peter Maughan  Peter Maughan  Angus H. Belliston  
Because of his prominence, much has been written about Peter Maughan, the great pioneer colonizer of Cache Valley. This account will serve only as a vignette, summarizing hislife. John was the progenitor of the Mormon Maughans, and was my own great great-grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. Born in the little village of Milton in Cumberland County,northern England on 7 May 1811, Peter...

Richard Carlisle and Jane Field  Richard Carlisle  Angus H. Belliston  
RICHARD CARLISLE AND JANE FIELD By Angus H. Belliston Richard Carlisle and Jane (or Jenney) Field were both born in England – Richard on 30 April 1798 in Riseholme, Lincolnshire and Jane on 18 November 1795 in Willingham, Lincolnshire. The couple was married on 27 June 1822. By 1840, just eighteen years later, twelve children had been born to them. Only six lived to ma...

Sanford Porter - A Visionary Man  Sanford Porter, Sr  LaRon Taylor  
Sanford Porter, b 7 Mar 1790, Brimfield, Hampden, MA, m Nancy Arreta Warriner 1 Jan 1812, d 7 Feb 1873 Sanford Porter was born 7 Mar, 1790 in Brimfield, Hampton, MA to Nathan Porter and Susannah West. When he was old enough to leave home, he traveled to Willink (since called Holland), Erie, NY and established a farm for one year. He then returned to his parents home for 3 months to cou...

Thomas and Sophia Belliston  Thomas Belliston  Angus H. Belliston  
On 1 December 1845, Thomas Belliston was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire,England. His father, James Thomas, and mother, Louisa Miller, were both age twenty-six andliving with their little family in Birmingham. Thomas was the fourth child, but a little brotherand sister had died three years earlier of whooping cough. Now his two year old brother,William Robert had a baby brother to play with. The ...

Thomas Freestone and Ann Fall -- Perseverance!  Thomas Freestone  Angus H. Belliston  
THOMAS FREESTONE AND ANN FALL By Angus H. Belliston Thomas Freestone, the father of my great grandfather, George Freestone, was born in Fixton, Suffolk, England on 19 May 1795. This was a comparatively prosperous time in England, and Thomas could have stayed there in relative comfort. But in about 1825 Thomas left England to emmigrate to Prince Edward Island, Canada. ...

Thomas John & Margaret Thomas  Thomas John  ElRoy Taylor  
Thomas John & Margaret Thomas Thomas John, b 29 Jan 1820, Pembrokeshire, South Wales, m Margaret Thomas, Jul 14, 1840, d Jan 20, 1890, Portage, Boxelder, Utah. In the 19th century, shoemaking was a respected and much needed trade, but it was hard to make a living at this during the poor times in Wales. Thomas John was a shoemaker, and worked long days trying to provide food on ...

Thomas Rees - Poor Welch Immigrant  Thomas Rees  LaRon Taylor  
Thomas Rees, b 4 Jan, 1820, Pembroke, South Wales, md Rebecca Williams 8 Apr, 1841, d 8 Sept, 1892, Wayne County, Utah. This biography is a story of conversion and of a struggle to come to Utah that took years and cooperation of a faithful son. Just 8 days before the Royal Astronomical Society was formed in England (1), heaven sent a choice spirit to earth to experience mortality un...