Time Travel Tuesdays~

Pioneers and Present Day Saints

Me in the early 1060's at a Primary Pioneer Day celebration. Mesa Twelfth Ward, Mesa, AZ.

I am writing this on Monday, the 25th of July. It is a state holiday here in Utah. The actual date for Pioneer Day is July 24th, but that was a Sunday and we don't do parades on the Sabbath around here, no sir! We like parades and fireworks in  this state and they tend to be rowdy, un-Sunday-like affairs, so all state employees get a Monday off and an extra day of Pioneer remembrance.

I grew up in Arizona, descending from pioneers who braved the sun and heat to help make the desert bloom. Before they helped build up Mesa they lived in Utah and were pioneers of the crossing the plains type! I thought it would be fun (and maybe a bit of a chore) to make a list of all of my personal ancestors who made their way west mostly on foot walking alongside wagons or pulling handcarts.


1. Edmund Lovell Ellsworth~ Member of the original Mormon party of 1847. He was the captain of the very first company of handcarts in 1856. He was one of many who crossed the plains several times in service to the Lord, bless their poor tired feet! He eventually settled in Showlow, Arizona.



2. Mary Ann Bates Ellsworth~ She joined the church in England as a  young girl and came to America on the same ship that Edmund was on, returning to Utah from a mission to England.. She was a member of the first handcart company, pushing or pulling all the way to Utah. Mary Ann married Edmund in Oct. 1856. Their grandson George Franklin Ellsworth Jr. is my grandfather.


3. Jacob Vernon Hamblin~Came by wagon in 1850  after his wife abandoned him and his four little children. Met and married Rachel Judd along the way. He was asked to help colonize southern Utah and be a missionary and a liaison to native Americans in the area. For many of the natives, he was the first white man they had ever seen. He was called "Father Jacob" by many of them and gained their trust and confidence with his kind, peaceful approach to life. Later married Sarah Priscilla Leavitt. Jacob's son Don Carlos Hamblin is my grandfather.




4. Sarah Priscilla Leavitt Hamblin~Crossed the plains as a young girl of about 6 years of age. She later wrote of adventures with Native Americans and stampeding buffalo herds along the trail. She settled with Jacob in Santa Clara, Utah and became a nurse midwife.

5. Isaiah Hamblin~Traveled by wagon in 1859 with his son Jacob. His wife, Daphne, died along the way. He settled in Tooele, Utah. He was a War of 1812 veteran.

6. Daphne Haynes Hamblin~Came by wagon with her husband and her son's family. She was very ill and died near Council Bluffs, Iowa. She is buried somewhere along the trail there.

7. John Doyle Lee~Left his home in Illinois to Utah with the church. His farm and home were valued at $8,000 in 1847. All he got for it was $12.50 by those who moved into Nauvoo after the Mormons left and would offer no more than pitiful sums of money for the abandoned properties. He was sent to southern Utah to man a ferry across the Colorado River for those who were being sent into Arizona to colonize.




8. Agatha Ann Woolsey Lee~Came across the plains by wagon in 1847 with her five small children & her husband John D. Lee. A baby boy was born to her and died in 1846 as the family camped in Nebraska at Summer Quarters before the main trek began.

9. Jeremiah Leavitt~ Started by wagon, became ill and died at Bonaparte, Iowa in1846.


10. Sarah Studevant Leavitt~ After her husband died she kept on going with 6 children and several of her married children and their families. They had to wait a time because of illness and need of supplies. She arrived in the Salt Lake Valley August 3, 1850 and eventually settled in southern Utah. There is a beautiful statue of her in a park in Santa Clara, Utah.

11. John Wesley Clark~ Left his land holdings, cotton, and cattle in Anderson, Texas, traveled by steamer from Galveston up the Mississippi River to Iowa, then across the Great Plains by wagon in 1853 with his wife Evaline and 4 children. Eventually settled in eastern Arizona.
 

12. Evaline Brown Clark~Crossed by wagon with her husband and 4 children in 1853. She was pregnant when they began their journey and gave birth to twins near chimney Rock, Nebraska in a covered wagon. She deserves a gold medal for that one!



13. Lucinda Margaret Clark Lee~She was two years old when her family's journey began in 1853. She later married John Willard Lee and settled in eastern Arizona in a little town called Nutrioso. Their daughter Ida Lee Hamblin is my grandmother.

14. William Alexander Follet~Son of King Follett (Joseph Smith preached a famous sermon at his funeral).
He started his journey across the plains in June of 1852 by covered wagon with his wife and small son. They settled in Pima, Arizona. He was a member of the Mormon Battalion called to fight in the Mexican American War.

15. Nancy Mariah Fausett Follett~Crossed the plains at age 25 with her husband William and her 4 year old son. Their daughter Sarah Mariah is my great grand mother.

Fifteen! I am sure I missed someone but these are as many as I could find. I am honored to be descended from them all. These hardy, faithful souls crossed a span of 1300 miles because of what they believed to be true. They loved their God and wanted the freedom to worship him and live in peace. They were persecuted for their beliefs and left all they owned to start over again in a new place.  How grateful I am for them!

Many of them sang this song as the put one foot in front of the other. I love to sing it in church today. It always gives me a lump in my throat and a warm, grateful feeling.

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil or labor fear; But with joy wend your way. Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day. 'Tis better far for us to strive Our useless cares from us to drive; Do this and joy your hearts will swell — All is well! All is well! Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard? 'Tis not so; all is right. Why should we think to earn a great reward If we now shun the fight? Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. Our God will never us forsake; And soon we'll have this tale to tell — All is well! All is well! We'll find the place which God for us prepared, Far away in the West. Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; There the Saints will be blessed. We'll make the air with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King; Above the rest these words we'll tell — All is well! All is well! And should we die before our journey's through, Happy day! All is well! We then are free from toil and sorrow, too; With the just we shall dwell! But if our lives are spared again To see the Saints their rest obtain; Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell — All is well! All is well!