Mormon Pioneer Family History

[pam]

I just had to share this as I have been really excited about my discovery yesterday.

 

I've always been a bit jealous of those who can tell stories of ancestors who were Pioneers or had ancestors who were involved in the very early workings of the Church.

 

I knew that my mom's side of the family went pretty far back but it wasn't until yesterday that I discovered just how far back and how involved they were.

 

I've been in St. George for a couple of days doing nothing but going to Mormon historical sites and trying to learn more about some of the history of the church.

 

I went out to Mountain Meadows and along the way there was a turn off to go to Pine Valley.  I felt impressed to go out there.  In Pine Valley sits the oldest LDS church that is still in use.

 

So I started to do some reading and research of this area.  Low and behold, the name Isaac Riddle came up.  Now I come from a line of Riddles so I wondered if I was related.  Come to find out Isaac Riddle is my great great great uncle.  He discovered Pine Valley. He, Jacob Hamblin and others were sent by Brigham Young to So. Utah to start a settlement.  

 

Here are a couple of links regarding Isaac Riddle:

 

http://wchsutah.org/documents/platt/isaac-riddle-autobiography.pdf?hc_location=ufi

 

In this biography of himself, he mentions the day that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

 

http://www.stgeorgetemplevisitorscenter.info/pv/pvship.html

 

 

So interesting to know that I have ancestors that were very involved in the early settling of the church and were around during the time of Joseph Smith.

 

 

[pam]

So I'd like to hear your Mormon history family stories.

[Connie]

That's awesome, Pam.  :)

 

I have a very rich pioneer heritage. Newel Knight is my 3rd great grandfather, and anyone familiar with church history probably is familiar with who he is.

 

I am also related to the Leavitts who helped settle southern Utah. You may or may not have stopped in Santa Clara where there is a monument to Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. She is a 4th great grandmother of mine.

 

The Leavitts also helped settle Mesquite and Bunkerville, Nevada. There is a small Leavitt museum in Mesquite, and i'm probably related to nearly everyone buried in the Bunkerville cemetery. There are several monuments to my ancestors there.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Connie

[Capitalist_Oinker]

So I'd like to hear your Mormon history family stories.

 

Well, ahhh

You see, uhhh

It's like this, uummm...

 

My great great great grandfather was John D. Lee  

[David13]

Are you bragging or confessing, Cappy?  Or just passing time?

I will read these links.  History was my college major, in particular American History and 'the old days' have always interested me.

We visit Torrey Utah every May and Sept and there are any number of old houses out there, including a Mormon pioneer house still in use in Fruita which sells various items that the settlers that far from Salt Lake City would have prepared, and perhaps sold.

I can't see any of the history without imagining what it must have been like to settlers over 100 years ago coming out to those areas and farming, etc.

There is a Mormon settlers house at least 120 years old, which has been for sale in Torrey.  I have considered buying it for a few years.  A lady in Torrey said "well, your name is on that house".

I would like to see that some day.

dc

[carlimac]

I'm related to Butch Cassidy!

[yoyoteacher]

I just had to share this as I have been really excited about my discovery yesterday.

 

I've always been a bit jealous of those who can tell stories of ancestors who were Pioneers or had ancestors who were involved in the very early workings of the Church.

 

Like you, I've always felt jealous of the Mormon ancestry of others and the family history stories they have as a result. As a convert, it's more of a yearning for an interesting connection to church history, even though there are benefits that come to being a convert when it comes to family history and research.

 

It turns out, however, that despite being the only member in my living family, I am not the first person in my family to become a member of the church. My fourth great grandfather, Thomas James Britt. joined the church in Hastings, England in 1851. The first moment I learned this, my heart absolutely soared. Shortly after joining the church, they began the process of moving to Utah, coming over the Atlantic on the Emerald Isle in December of 1855. They landed in New York City on December 31st and made their way with the nearly 300 other Saints from England. My family made it all the way to Winter's Quarters and, for reasons I've yet to find/suss out of distant relatives, ended up converting to the Episcopalian church in Omaha and moved to the St. Louis area.

 

My late grandmother, from whom I got much of my research and my "genealogy bug" was adamant about disagreeing with their being LDS, despite church records that I still see evidence of every time I go onto Family Search. When most of the baptism dates for your family are from you performing the work, seeing an 1855 in there does wonders to make your heart sing with delight.

[Vort]

My great-great-grandfather was a member of the Martin handcart company. He got sick at Winter Quarters and was unhappy to have to miss the trip with the company. Spent the rest of his life telling how thankful he was he got sick.

 

A great-great-granduncle came to the rescue of the Willie and Martin companies. His father (my g-g-g-grandfather) and his brother (my g-g-grandfather) both marched with Zion's Camp -- and both survived it.

 

My grandma was the daughter of a polygamist marriage, one of the last legitimately contracted polygamous marriages, and was born in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico (Colonia Moreno, I believe).

[pam]

That's awesome, Pam.  :)

 

I have a very rich pioneer heritage. Newel Knight is my 3rd great grandfather, and anyone familiar with church history probably is familiar with who he is.

 

I am also related to the Leavitts who helped settle southern Utah. You may or may not have stopped in Santa Clara where there is a monument to Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. She is a 3rd great grandmother of mine.

 

The Leavitts also helped settle Mesquite and Bunkerville, Nevada. There is a small Leavitt museum in Mesquite, and i'm probably related to nearly everyone buried in the Bunkerville cemetery. There are several monuments to my ancestors there.

 

 

I did actually go to Santa Clara.  I went to the Jacob Hamblin home and also stopped at a group of homes on the main street.  I think there was a Relief Society building there.  

 

What great heritage you have there.

[Palerider]

I am going to share mine later on today. Awhile back I wanted to know who was the first person in our family to join the church. Find out I did....very exciting

[pam]

I am going to share mine later on today. Awhile back I wanted to know who was the first person in our family to join the church. Find out I did....very exciting

 

Anxious to read your story.

[Pa Pa]

So I'd like to hear your Mormon history family stories.

I joined the Church I. Germany when there were only 4,000,000 members and being from Georgia where there were few members. As such since there were few members in Germany and Georgia, I am a pioneer. Not to mention my wife's aunt many times removed joined when Missionary activities first started here...she joined, went West and became one of became one of Brigham Young's wives. So pioneer can mean many things. I am the only member in my family (of course my wife, children and grandchildren are members) also makes me a pioneer. So from 4,000,000 when I joined and now 15,000,000 counts for something. Rejoice that (if you are the first) or that your family joined a Church of pioneers. :) God bless you. If we all live long enough, we will one day marvel at how many membership grows too, and we will talk about when the Church was so small and how we helped grow it. I marvel how much it has grown just since I joined and how much it has prospered. At my age, I won't get to see it grow by 3x+, like it has since I joined...but maybe, who knows.

[Capitalist_Oinker]

Are you bragging or confessing, Cappy?  

 

Not sure how you brag about such a thing, so I guess it's a confession. 

[pam]

 If we all live long enough, we will one day marvel at how many membership grows too, and we will talk about when the Church was so small and how we helped grow it. I marvel how much it has grown just since I joined and how much it has prospered. At my age, I won't get to see it grow by 3x+, like it has since I joined...but maybe, who knows.

 

I can already talk about that.  I remember when I used to be able to name every single temple.  Can't even begin to do that now let alone be able to pronounce some of them.

[Pa Pa]

I can already talk about that.  I remember when I used to be able to name every single temple.  Can't even begin to do that now let alone be able to pronounce some of them.

At 144, who could? :)

[Str8Shooter]

So I'd like to hear your Mormon history family stories.

I love family history! I regard the journals and accounts of my ancestors as sacred. My g-g-g-g grandfather is Joseph Knight Sr.

There is an account of one of my past relatives conversing with one of the three Nephites. Another of my great grandfather and his companion restoring sight to a child with a priesthood blessing.

There are also the humorous accounts. When my grandfather was in WWI he was an airplane mechanic. He would hook up a magneto to the control cables of the British planes and when they would check the control cables he would crank the magneto and shock the British. They would either get thrown back by the shock or they couldn't let go.

There are the sad accounts. When my g grandfather was on a mission, my g grandmother was left to take care of the homestead in NW Utah and four children under the age of 5 and a newborn. They were poor and times were very, very hard. She said that sometimes her only dinner was to scrape the bits of food left over from the kids plates into as cup. She would add water and make a soup. She did not like talking about those years.

Keep a journal! They are scripture!

[Palerider]

As I mentioned earlier one day I wanted to know who the first person was to join the church in my family. I asked my sister who is into family history really really big. Found out it was my grandfather x4. He and my grandmother were living in Canada and were neighbors of Brigham Young. Brother Brigham helped them build a barn on their farm. Brigham joined the church and moved to Kirtland. Later on Brigham sent his two brothers back to Canada to teach my grandparents the gospel. They joined the church and moved to Kirtland and joined the other Saints. My Grandfather x4 James Lake drove a team from the Quarry to the Kirtland temple site each day while construction was going on the Temple.

When they left Nauvoo during the exodus Brigham Toung called my grandfather as a Bishop in Council Bluffs and asked them to stay there for a few years to help the others. Later they joined the Saints in Utah. He was later called as a Patriarch for the Weber Utah area. He was the first one called.

Pretty awesome stuff.

[Connie]

My g-g-g-g grandfather is Joseph Knight Sr.

 

Hello, 4th Cousin! :)

[Guest]

My great-something grandfather was captain of a handcart company. I don't remember his name, I just found that information last year. Technically I'm eligible to be a Daughter of Utah Pioneers, but I wouldn't dare. It drove my mom nuts how my grandma (her MIL) bragged about that all the time.

 

I'm as proud or more of my great-grandparents who left Germany about 100 years ago to join the Saints here in Idaho. They gave up a good life there to carve a farm out of sagebrush. G-Grandma was a lady, and suddenly she was burning sagebrush for fuel (often finding snakes in the pile), drinking water from the Snake River from a barrel (which would be full of "wrigglers", probably mosquito larva, after a couple of days), and living in a house that, no matter what she did, didn't allow her to keep all the blowing dust out of their food. But they built a beautiful homestead, and G-Grandpa had a huge part in moving irrigation through this valley, which is now all beautiful farmland (where it's not developed). Most of all, their posterity has mostly stayed true to the Church. I always hope I'm doing them proud.

[Guest]

Hello, 4th Cousin! :)

 

It was fun to learn a few years ago that one of our good friends is my 4th cousin. :)

[Blackmarch]

I just had to share this as I have been really excited about my discovery yesterday.

 

I've always been a bit jealous of those who can tell stories of ancestors who were Pioneers or had ancestors who were involved in the very early workings of the Church.

 

I knew that my mom's side of the family went pretty far back but it wasn't until yesterday that I discovered just how far back and how involved they were.

 

I've been in St. George for a couple of days doing nothing but going to Mormon historical sites and trying to learn more about some of the history of the church.

 

I went out to Mountain Meadows and along the way there was a turn off to go to Pine Valley.  I felt impressed to go out there.  In Pine Valley sits the oldest LDS church that is still in use.

 

So I started to do some reading and research of this area.  Low and behold, the name Isaac Riddle came up.  Now I come from a line of Riddles so I wondered if I was related.  Come to find out Isaac Riddle is my great great great uncle.  He discovered Pine Valley. He, Jacob Hamblin and others were sent by Brigham Young to So. Utah to start a settlement.  

 

Here are a couple of links regarding Isaac Riddle:

 

http://wchsutah.org/documents/platt/isaac-riddle-autobiography.pdf?hc_location=ufi

 

In this biography of himself, he mentions the day that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

 

http://www.stgeorgetemplevisitorscenter.info/pv/pvship.html

 

 

So interesting to know that I have ancestors that were very involved in the early settling of the church and were around during the time of Joseph Smith.

jacob hamblin was a great great great etc.. uncle in my family. If you havent read his autobiography you should it's really interesting- both as a very spiritual person and with his interactions and insights with the local natives.

also related to the guy that kept Brigham young from being hung for the mountain meadows massacre. Also related to the guy that helped develop the Gunlock area. popular family tale was that he was challenged that he couldn't shoot the loose end of a handkerchef tied to a tree branch (the reason being is because the shockwave pushes the cloth out of the way before the bullet can go thru it) so he set up his cob pipe on a rock nearbuy and shoots that which causes one end of it to shoot through the handkerchef.

[Blackmarch]

I did actually go to Santa Clara.  I went to the Jacob Hamblin home and also stopped at a group of homes on the main street.  I think there was a Relief Society building there.  

 

What great heritage you have there.

used to live there, before it got all crowded (Ivins actually, but that was just a good 20 minute walk away back in the day)

[pam]

jacob hamblin was a great great great etc.. uncle in my family. 

 

So looks like our ancestors were friends back in the day.

[Blackmarch]

So looks like our ancestors were friends back in the day.

Indeed ^.^.

Small world, who'da thunk?

[EarlJibbs]

Not church history but still fascinating. 

 

My My mother in law is from Ireland and grew up there. Her mom (my wife's grandmother), when she was about 18, had her house bombed in WWII. It killed her entire family and blew her, and her mattress blocks away and she lived! Her daughter, my mother in law, joined the church when she was 18 and then traveled to the states. It is because of that miracle that I ever met my wife. I love that story. 

 

Church history; way back at the Mayflower, I have family lines with the Hinckley family line.