Lucyette Phelps

Notes:

[From this Phelps site.]

Autobiography of Hyrum Smith Phelps

Hyrum Smith Phelps first saw the light of day in the once beautiful city of Nauvoo, Illinois, February 26, 1846. Referring to his early life he said:

My parents, Morris Phelps and Sarah Thompson Phelps, had already been expelled from their homes twice--Kirtland, Ohio and Independence, Missouri--leaving them very little of this world's goods. Some three or four thousand Saints had crossed the Mississippi River by ferry boat and on the ice headed for the valleys in the Rocky Mountains.

By the middle of the following June, my father had a yoke of oxen and cows to pull one wagon, and in company with some others he started to follow those who had gone previously, arriving at what they called "Winter Quarters" on the Missouri River in Iowa. We remained there until June 1851. Father worked at wagon making most of the time. When he had managed to raise two teams of oxen and cows, a company of sixty wagons was organized, Father was made captain, and they started for Utah.

After many trials and hardships, they arrived in Salt Lake City September 25, 1851. The first winter Mother and two children stayed with her brother, Samuel Thompson, in Mill Creek Canyon. During the winter, Father found a location in Alpine, Utah County and a house (such as it was) built on a piece of ground he had taken up. Soon after we were located, another member was added to the family, a son, Charles Wilkes Phelps, who lived four years and died with measles. During 1853 and 1854, Father, his son-in-law, James Holmes, Isaac Huston and James Preston built a saw mill near the mouth of Dry Creek Canyon about a mile and a half from Alpine. During the summers from 1853 to 1859, I herded sheep that belonged to the settlers of Alpine. All I had for my dinner was segos [lily bulbs] that I would dig out of the ground with a digger that I carried with me. (It was a pointed stick something the shape of a beaver's tail.) It was while herding sheep that I was tempted the hardest to steal It came very near getting the best of me. James Preston was down in the penstock of the saw mill repairing something, and I brought my sheep near the mill. I spied a dinner pail and taking the lid off I saw some flour biscuits. I put my hand in the pail to take a biscuit and was reminded of that commandment, "Thou shalt not steal. " Then I remembered the teachings of my mother, "Thou shalt not steal. " Finally I got courage enough to get away and I went out in the mill yard and began to pick gum. Soon I heard a voice call my name and when I went back, James Preston gave me a biscuit and a leg of chicken. Maybe you think I wasn't thankful I had resisted the temptation. We had been without wheat flour for several months and had been eating musty corn meal bread. I can now [1922] remember those days just as vividly as though they had been within the last two years. Only those that experienced the hardships of those days can realize what they were.

I went to school three or four months in the winter until I was seventeen years old. About the fifth grade was as far as I reached. When I grew large enough to put a yoke on the oxen, I quit herding sheep and worked on the farm and in the canyon. When I was sixteen, I calculated I could do as much as a common man at most anything. In the spring of 1864 I was 18 years old. Father sold out all his lands and home and decided to go up to Bear Lake Valley, Idaho. James Holmes and my half brother, Joseph Phelps, and my father fitted out ox teams and made the start April 1864. They landed in Montpelier on May 17, 1864. All three took up a farm and started once more to make homes. They built log houses with dirt floors and roofs.

In the winter of 1865 I commenced keeping company with Miss Clarinda Bingham. In the fall of 1866 frost had killed all of the grain and Calvin Bingham decided to move back to Hyrum, Cache Valley, as he had to depend on blacksmithing for a living. That meant he would take his daughter Clarinda also. She and I talked the matter over and we decided to get married. When I laid the matter before the blacksmith, he said, "Nothing doing. You are both too young!" (Which was verily true.) I talked the matter over with a friend, and he advised me to give the old folks the dodge and get married anyway. So on the evening of September 26, 1866, we invited a high priest by the name of John Turner to come over to the neighbors' and perform the ceremony for us. For a short time it looked like something interesting was going to happen around the place. I didn't have very much to say, but a good many things ran through my mind that space will not permit me to mention. Finally, things began to get normal again, and we decided if I would go down below to the town of Benningston and help get the sheep across the Bear River, we would be forgiven. This was carried out to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Now for a description of the home I took my bride to: My mother's house had but one room 18 by 17 feet, a dirt roof and floor with a straw carpet. She had her loom in there during the winter. Her bed was in one corner and I had a bunk built in another corner. It was built into two sides of the house and one log stood out in the room. A straw bed, buffalo robe and quilts comprised our bed for the winter. In the spring, the fore part of May, I found there was going to be an increase in the family, which put me to my wits' ends to know how to meet the situation. But it happened that providence had smiled down on me again by sending the Indians into the valley somewhat earlier than usual. I happened to be the sole owner of a little brown pony which I sold to an Indian for a buffalo robe and seven elk skins. The nearest dry goods store at that time was Richmond, Cache Valley, some 65 miles across a big mountain. It happened that my brother Joseph was in the same boat that I was, and he and I started out to find a market for what we had to sell. I sold my buffalo robe and three of my elk skins, (I had four elk skins left to make me a suit of clothes) and bought a few yards of flannel and a few yards of calico, a bottle of castor oil, a box of Grafenburg pills and three hundred pounds of flour, and I went home with a smile on my face that did not come off for a long time. That summer I built a house and moved in and we called it our home. Father took a contract that summer to build a bridge over Blacksmith Fork about 60 miles southwest en route to Ogden. He let James Homes, Hyrum S. Rich and myself in with him, and we received $86 each in store pay on Williams Jennings in Salt Lake City.

Now, reader, I want to tell you that was the first time in my life I had worked for money and appropriated the proceeds for myself. Previous to that it had always been for Father's family. With my store bill I bought me a scythe to cut hay, a pitchfork, a shovel, ax and kitchen furniture. And we were just as happy as young married folks can be Then for the next ten or fifteen years, every sixteen or eighteen months, an extra member was added to the family until we had an even dozen. I forgot to say that we obtained the cattail feather bed from bulrushes on the river bottoms the first winter.

My spare time was occupied trying to improve my home and surroundings. Crops were cut short by the early frosts. Sometimes entirely. But with all the drawbacks that I endured, I accumulated means and felt I had been wonderfully blessed. In the summer of 1872, Brigham Young came to the valley on one of his annual visits and he preached discourses on plural marriage. (Up to that time, polygamy had never appealed to me very strong. I had been raised in a polygamous family, and I thought I never wanted any of it in mine.) After I heard Brigham Young's sermon, there was a feeling came over me that I had better at least make the attempt to get another wife, but to eliminate the courting; just ask the consent of the girl and her parents and if either was opposed, that was to be the end of it. When I raised courage to put it to the test, everything was in the affirmative. September 8, 1873, I was married to Mary Elizabeth Bingham, sister to my first wife, in the Endowment House. Being raised in a polygamous family, I thought I knew about as much as anybody on how to guide the ship. How well I succeeded, those that have been acquainted with me can be the judge.

During the winter and spring of 1874 and 1875, Charles Mallory and I built a sawmill in Montpelier Canyon. After that I could build and finally got comfortably situated. On May 22, 1876, Father died after spending the winter in Southern Utah. He arrived home May 17 and died five days later. The early frost and cold long winters caused me to make a change to a warmer climate. With consent of Apostle Charles C. Rich, I disposed of all my belongings and put it into teams, wagons and cattle. On October 3, 1878, in company with Charles Dana and son Roswell, John Hibbert, John and William Lesueur, Charles Warrener and Robert Williams, we set out for Salt River Valley, Arizona. We arrived at Mesa on January 17, 1879. Robert Williams stopped in Salem, Utah. He had an ox team and the rest of us had horses. We arrived in Mesa with four teams, three wagons and about 25 head of cattle, mostly cows. The first settlers had only been located since October. They were living in tents and sheds mostly. The company let us join them, giving us a chance to work out water rights to get shares in the company.

It was hard to get a home and get comfortably located again. I disposed of all my surplus stock, teams, and wagons which enabled me to buy provisions until I got houses, such as they were, to live in. Everything went well with us until September 1884 when Charles I. Robson, Oscar Stewart, Alma Spillsbury, George Wilson, James Wilson and I were indicted for polygamy and unlawful cohabitations. We never tried to evade the propositions as we believed the law unconstitutional, and we had no trouble getting bondsmen. The next spring the trial court convened in April, We all went down to Phoenix, the county seat, about a week before our trial was to come off to see if we had any friends that we could depend on. We found about all the friends we had were saloon men and that kind of people. We employed lawyers and the church sent Tom Fitch of Los Angeles to take charge of the trial. Things looked darker to us every day. Our lawyers worked with the judge and did all they could to get some assurance from him to show us some leniency, but failed. Alma Spillsbury's case was brought to the jury and in less than twenty minutes a verdict was given--Guilty. Our lawyers told us there was no use for any other to stand trial, and so they informed the judge that the others would plead guilty. We were told to appear at 10 a.m. the next day. The judge said we would have to promise to obey the law. That caused me some serious reflections. I will now relate a dream I had two or three nights before. I went to bed wondering what the outcome of it all would be. I dreamed I was out in an open country all alone, close by me stood a very small bull, a cherry red in color, the most perfect and handsome animal I had ever seen. His horns looked to be transparent and came to a very sharp point. As I looked, at a great distance I saw a large object moving towards me, and when it came close enough to tell what it was, I saw that it was a monstrous bull. I discovered that he was mad, and the closer he came the more mad he became. I saw he was making for the little bull, and he looked as large to me as an elephant. He never halted till he came up within six or eight feet of the little fellow, and all the while the little fellow stood chewing his cud not seeming to pay any attention to the monster bull. When the monster stopped, I thought he put out his tongue and his eyes were like balls of fire. He made a dive at the little bull, and at the same time the little bull caught him in the neck, completely unjointing it. The monster fell and I woke up. This dream brought joy to all of us. We felt that something was going to happen that would cause a change in our favor. On the morning of April 11 at 10 a.m., we all appeared ready to take our medicine. The first name called was Hyrum S. Phelps.

The judge asked, "Mr. Phelps, you have pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful cohabitation. Have you anything to say why the court should not pass sentence on you?"

"I have just one request, your honor," I replied. "That is that you do not insist on me obeying the law as you interpret it. I consider the law unconstitutional and made especially to punish the Mormons. I will hold myself subject to the law at all times, but I don't want to make any promises."

"Mr. Phelps, I am not here to decide on the constitutionality of the law, but punish those that violate the law as it stands, and I shall expect something from you that will convince me you will obey it the same as all law abiding citizens," he said.

"Your honor, God gave me my wives. They were virgins when I married them. I can hold my hand up and say before God and man that I never did, outside of the marriage relations, have anything to do with any man's wife or daughter." I spoke for fully five minutes on the purity of marriages and why we practiced it. At the conclusion of my talk I said, "That is all I have to say."

The first word he spoke was to those sitting near him. He said with tears in his eyes, "Gentlemen, you may think that this is a desirable position to pass sentence on these men. This is the hardest thing I ever had to do. You are some of the best citizens we have." Turning to me he added, "Mr. Phelps, I realize your family needs you at home, and I shall give you only ninety days and no fine to pay." I thanked him for being so lenient.

The next day the warden inspected us, gave us a clean haircut, a shave and a brand new suit of clothes with the stripes running horizontally. The night before I was sentenced, Mary Elizabeth gave birth to a baby girl and a month following she lost her little two-year-old boy. The warden gave us all privileges that were possible and the most comfortable cells in the prison.

We were turned loose again on July 12, 1885. I then went to living again as I had always done. The stake authorities thought I was running desperate chances as I was living with both families, and advised me to go to Mexico. In the spring of 1887, I drove down to Juarez, Mexico to see what I thought of the country. I did not like the government in that country. On Dec. 3, 1890, I received a call to serve a mission to the Southern States and to be in Salt Lake to leave for the mission Dec. 16. I told my boys I would borrow the money and start Dec. 5 to go up to Bear Lake and see my folks there before going on my mission. The third day after I received my call, I started. I arrived at Maricopa where I was to change cars on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The train stopped, I looked out of the window and who should I see but my old friend the Federal Marshall who was after me. The Spirit told me he was wanting me and for me to get off the car on the opposite side from where the others were getting off. I was to go around, and come in behind and get on the other train on the opposite side from where the others were getting on and walk lame. When I came in full view of the officer, the Spirit seemed to operate on me just like some person giving me a command. When the train started off, I looked out the window and saw that my poor old uncle Brother Sam Thompson was returning home after a short visit with my mother. I did not have time to tell him what was taking place. I waited in Yuma until the next day and Uncle was on the train, so we went on our way without any more trouble. I visited my relatives in Bear Lake and they contributed more than enough to pay my expenses from Salt Lake and back again. I arrived at my journey's end (Spartanburg Mills) on Dec. 23, 1890. I had just one dollar in my pocket, and I gave that to the family I was to stay with to buy Christmas presents as they were very poor.

David LeBaron was my first companion. I was gone 23 months, but never slept out one night, only had to pay for one night's lodging during my entire stay in the mission field. While on my mission I baptized four persons. When I returned home, I was a better man and had a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel During my absence, President Wilford Woodruff had issued the Manifesto and my law breaking was at an end.

On the 26th of February 1889, I fitted out two teams and went to St. George, Utah, to work in the temple. I took my mother, wife Clarinda, daughter Lucretia and son Calvin. We had our three oldest children sealed to us and mother had her two oldest sealed to her and father. I also did the work for Grandfather Spencer Phelps and his wife. We were gone from home six weeks. The work done at St. George completed all the vicarious work on my ancestors that I knew of at that time. My mother made her home with me from the time we left Bear Lake, Idaho until her death January 31, 1896.

About the year 1900, I received a letter from my nephew, William R. Holmes, who was laboring as a missionary in Massachusetts at the time that The Phelps Family of America and Their English Ancestors was being published in two volumes and there might be a chance for me to get my family included in the work. I sent a list of my family, but it was too late to be inserted in the book, However, I sent an order and received the genealogy of my ancestors back for eight generations. My wife Mary Elizabeth and I have been working in the temple at Logan, Utah most of the time since April 1919 to 1925.

After returning home from my mission, my time was occupied on my farm and surroundings until about the year 1910. My sons being married and myself along in years, I was not able to do the work required. I decided to sell the 80 acres and when the buyer came along, I sold for $19,000 and bought a city lot in the town of Mesa, and built a home on it for Clarinda and a home for Mary Elizabeth on 20 acres I had left previous to my selling. On October 13, 1906 Mary Elizabeth's house burned down. We were sleeping out of doors at the time and everything was burned except the beds and clothing we had taken off our bodies when we went to bed. It was a brick house and it burned so quickly that the walls were not damaged very much. I soon rebuilt and was comfortably situated again. During the winter of 1917-18 I sold my ranch home and we moved into another home I had built in town. My plans were to spend the balance of my days working in the temple for the redemption of my ancestors who are dead and gone.

Now in conclusion of the story I have given of my life, I must say that I have been true and faithful. On the advent of another birthday, I will be 77 years old and I have every reason to believe I will live till I am 95 years old. If I should live that long, I expect to hear of more sorrow and suffering from wars, famines, earthquakes and destruction by the destroying elements than I have ever heard of in the last fifty years. I have never sought after notoriety of civil offices. I am thankful that I was counted worthy to be called into the High Council at the organization of the Maricopa Stake, which office I held and tried to honor until the 8th of December, 1912, when I was ordained a patriarch. And I say as Nephi of Old, "I was born of goodly parents" who did all they could for their children under the circumstances by which they were surrounded.

And as my ancestors before them. I am proud to know that I am of such stock, for many of them fought, bled and died in the Revolutionary War. I thank my God that I am permitted to do their work in the temple of the Lord, and I pray that my children will join with me as soon as circumstances will permit them to do so. I know the Lord expects it of us, and if we fail to do what we can for them, we will come to our condemnation. (You have ears to hear, take warning.) As for myself, I know I have made many mistakes and fallen into many habits that were not becoming to a Latter-day Saint. I have not controlled my tongue and have said many things I should not have said. But with all my failings, I have always tried to be honest with my fellow men. I have had no dollar in my life that I would be ashamed for any person to know how I came by it, not have I ever spent a dollar that I would be ashamed to tell my children— Clarinda, 12, and Mary Elizabeth, 14. Eleven of them have passed to the great beyond. Three of them died and left infant babes. A daughter, a young woman grown and a son 19 years. The others ranged in age from three months to four years. I have also two daughters that are left widows with ten and five children to take care of.

So I feel content to know that when my time comes, I will have loved ones to mingle with over there. I thank the Lord that I was permitted to be born when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was again on the earth. I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world and that Joseph Smith was and is Prophet of God and that the Church known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed the only church that is acceptable unto Him as a church. This is my testimony and I here subscribe to it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

P.S. When I die, I prefer to be buried by the side of my mother without any display of flowers, the same as the rest that have gone on before me. It is a satisfaction to know I will have loved ones to mingle with when my turn comes to go. Given this day the tenth of December, 1922, at Logan, Utah.

/s/ H. S. Phelps

[Hyrum Phelps died April 23, 1926 after being gored by a bull. Kenneth and Lavel Whatcott were with him when he was gored and said that his intestines were lying on the ground in the manure. He died two days later.]

Hyrum married Mary Elizabeth Bingham on 8 Sep 1873 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Mary (daughter of Calvin Bingham and Elizabeth Lucretia Thorne) was born on 25 Dec 1853 in East Weber, Weber, Utah; died on 14 Nov 1933 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona; was buried in Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 17 Nov 1933, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

Notes:

Died of diabetes.

"Mary Elizabeth Bingham Phelps," by her daughter Barbara Ann Phelps Allen:

Mother was born on Christmas day, 1853, the daughter of Calvin Perry and Lucretia Thorne Bingham. Her early life was as useful and busy as were her later years. She worked out some, and also helped her grandfather Ashael Thorne make butter and cheese plus other work to be done on a farm.

When she was a young lady, she earned money to buy herself a nice yellow calico dress with black dots in it and thought it most beautiful. She, like Father, loved to dance and said often after they had danced until after midnight, a crowd would get into a sleigh and ride until daylight.

She had quite a number of boy friends, one in particular she liked real well, It was while she was keeping company with him that she married Father (Hyrum Smith Phelps) as a plural wife. She said she didn't know why she did it, but supposed it was meant to be that way.

At the time she married they lived in Montpelier, Idaho, but the winters were too severe so they moved to Mesa, Arizona after three daughters had been born, Laurett, Lucy and Barbara. Laurett died of diphtheria before they left Idaho.

The journey to Arizona was a long hard one, especially for mother, as she was in her last months of pregnancy. The company laid over three days at Lee's Ferry because of her condition, and on the third day, Dec. 2, 1878 her oldest son, Gove Edward, was born. They arrived in Mesa Jan. 17, 1879. Mesa was practically a desert when they arrived and they lived in tents the first three months until Father and his sons could make adobes to build a house.

The first one was a long three-room house. Mother lived in one end and Aunt Clarinda the other. The center room was used for awhile to store corn and grain, and later Grandma Bingham lived there awhile. While she lived there, he son Ashael died.

In 1881 Father built a home on the corner of First Avenue and Hibbert Street for Aunt Clarinda. This house was a T-shape with a porch on two sides, had a shingle roof and dirt floors. It still stands today [1953] but has been improved. Mother had the long house then to herself. It was here that Hattie, Orson and Yuma were born. The Federal officers had been after Father and Mother for plural marriage, and Father was arrested. He was sent to Yuma, Arizona Penitentiary for three months. Mother was taken to the home of Ed Jones in Lehi. She stayed there until just before Yuma was born, then went to her mother.

Father bought or traded and got eighty acres one mile east of town and built another home for Aunt Clarinda who had a family of boys and moved mother to the home on First Avenue and Hibbert because she had mostly girls. Here Grace, who lived only a few weeks, Amy, Esther, Clara and Gertrude were born.

After Aunt Clarinda moved to the ranch, Mother was allotted a few cows for her support. It was Gove's job to drive the cows to and from the pasture, and he often rode a cow called Puso. I remember we had a lot of grief because the cows would often get out of the corral and get into Brother Hibbert's place at night, and he would come and awake mother and say ugly things to her. We milked some of the cows that were brought from Montpelier. When Esther was a few months old, Father went on a mission to the Southern States.

Mother lived in this home until 1895 when Father sold it and built her a nice brick house on the eighty acres. Wilford, Mother's fourteenth child, was born here. He was the pride and joy of the family. Father used to call him the little prophet. He is four months younger than my oldest son, Ashael. Mother practically raised him with Wilford. They were like brothers.

While living in this home Mother's greatest sorrow came when Lucy died. At the time she was confined to her bed with a sore leg, and couldn't go see Lucy during her sickness. Lucy had developed blood poison after the birth of her fourth child and namesake, Lucy. Brother Calvin was surely good to mother during Lucy's sickness; he would come three times a day to keep her informed of Lucy's condition. Sometimes he would call at midnight. Lucy died Jan. 6, 1905. Mother took little Lucy and raised her as her own.

Because of Father's age and the boys married and gone, he found he couldn't do the work on the ranch, so he sold to a Mr. Fraser and moved onto twenty acres on Home Lane. He built mother the nicest home she had had and built two houses in town on Sirrine, one for Aunt Clarinda and one to rent. As age kept creeping, he found he had to stop work altogether, so he sold the twenty acres and moved Mother in the house he built to rent. Here they spent their last days. Father died April 23, 1926, after having been gored in the belly by a bull. Mother died 17 November, 1933 from the effects of diabetes.

Mother was a wonderful mother to her family, a typical Bingham, the most unselfish and generous person to be found. She always went without for her family. I've seen her many times skim the cream off the milk and give it to father and she would use the skim milk. She didn't go out very often, having 14 children, two babies most of the time. One May Day she sent us on ahead to a picnic. Amy was the baby. Lucy and I took her and the other children on; Mother came later. When we took Amy to her, the baby didn't recognize Mother and began to scream. It was the first time she had seen Mother in her dress-up clothes. Amy cried with hunger, so Mother had to go home and change her dress so Amy would nurse.

Mother had inflammatory rheumatism while Amy was a baby. At that time there was an epidemic of some kind of fever, and Aunt Clarinda's oldest son, Hyrum, had it. Father had to be with him until he died. Lucy and I, with Grandma Sarah Phelps had to take care of Mother and the baby. She suffered something awful. Her legs were swollen twice their size, and she couldn't bear to be moved. After Hyrum died and Father came to help take care of Mother, he and Grandma decided to get her up on an open bottom chair and steam her. They got her on the chair, but it was cruel what she suffered during the ordeal, and the sad part was that no good came from it. She finally got well.

Mother was quite spiritual. A number of times things happened and it was made known to her before hand. One time she was troubled and went into the bedroom to pray. As she came out, she said just above the door she heard the sweetest music she had ever heard, and as the music died away, a peaceful feeling came over her and she was comforted.

Very few people suffered as much as Mother. One time she and sister Annie went into the field to glean wheat, and they came in contact with poison weeds and their legs broke out with sores. Mother's was the worst. Both her legs were solid sores from her knees to the soles of her feet. It took weeks for them to heal. Every summer for several years at the same time, her legs would break out with the same kind of sores, but each year they would he more mild. This was a few weeks before Grace was born; after that her legs caused her a lot of misery. There were quite a few other things that caused a lot of suffering that I'll not take time to mention, besides giving birth to 14 children without the aid of a doctor or having something done to ease the pain.

Mother was a good Latter-day Saint. She always donated liberally, paid her tithing and fast offerings. When she began paying, she saved all her statements from the dairy so she would know how much she owed, and at the end of the year, she owed a few cents more than ten dollars. I don't know how she managed to live. She had a few hens, but they didn't lay any eggs until the price went down to ten cents a dozen. Lucy was the main stay of the family. Hattie and I worked some. When either of us earned any money, it was turned over to Mother. Not a cent did we use for ourselves without her telling us to. She would shine our heavy shoes with stove soot. We were quite large before we could afford dress shoes. We weren't the only poor people, however; most everyone was alike

We had a happy home, Mother made it so. Our home was a house of prayer. We had family prayer night and morning, and I think that had everything to do with the spirit of our home. I know I speak for all of the family when I say I am thankful for wonderful parents and what they did for us.

Notes:

Transcription of a handwritten history of his family by Morris Charles Phelps, here.

Transcriptions of some entries, from August 1851, of the journal of the Morris Phelps Emigrating Company.

Transcript of a journal of daily events kept by Morris Charles Phelps in Alpine, Utah from 1856 through 1859.

Much more about Morris Charles Phelps here.

By "SMSmith" at Find a Grave:

"Morris' line goes back to William Phelps who immigrated to America in 1630. Morris' mother was the descendant of a Hessian soldier who was captured at Trenton during the American Revolution. He then joined the colonial army and fought with Washington. Morris attended school in various frontier communities as his family moved west. They settled in Ohio and he had the opportunity to attend school briefly at Mentor, Ohio. His diaries and letters show a better than average vocabulary and he was excellent penman.

"When he was about nineteen years of age, he visited his relatives in Illinois. While there he met and fell in love with Laura Clark. Laura was born in New Fairfield, Connecticut on July 28, 1807. Morris and Laura were married March 26, 1826. They lived in Illinois for five years and their two oldest daughters, Paulina Eliza and Mary Ann were born there. They became interested in the new religion of Mormonism in 1831 and after several weeks of investigation, they were baptized in the Dupage River on August 18, 1831. They left Illinois two months later and joined the Saints in Missouri. Their daughter, Harriet Wight, was born soon after their arrival. Morris and his family were driven from their homes in Jackson County and moved north into Clay County. He was called on a mission for the church in 1834 and was sent to the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. This left Laura alone with her three daughters. She taught school and practiced obstetrics. Charles C. Rich traveled with Morris as his companion, Morris baptized Laura's parents who moved to Missouri and help her while Morris was away.

"Morris spent the winter of 1835-36 as a carpenter on the Kirtland Temple in Ohio. He was ordained a high priest and attended the dedication of the Temple on April 6, 1836. He then returned to his family in Missouri. He returned home in time to help his family move again because of persecution.

"Morris established a home on a small farm just outside of Far West and it was here that his first son, Joseph Morris was born in 1837. Although there was intense persecution and bitterness, this was a time of happiness for the family. Morris invested in a merchandising business and did quite well. The happiness did not last for long, because new mobs formed and caused a great deal of damage and sorrow. They raided the Phelps home and threatened Morris' life, but only killed his hogs, Morris said in his diary that 'I was attacked by the mob...my property was confiscated and I was made a prisoner. (October 31, 1838.) Was put in jail where I remained until July 4, 1839, from which made my escape with Parley P. Pratt, by the assistance of Orson Pratt and my wife, Laura.'

"While Morris was incarcerated, Laura and the children went with her parents to Montrose, Iowa. They found an abandoned farmhouse and made a home. Morris and Parley Pratt were chained with wrist and ankle irons in such a manner that they could only sleep on their backs. The story of Laura's plan to free her husband is amazing and illustrates the great faith courage. She and her brother, John Wesley Clark, rode horseback from Montrose to Columbia, Missouri, a distance of 160 miles. A grandson, Will R. Holmes left the following account: 'Here was her plan to free them: She would secrete three horses in some brush a short distance from the jail. As an excuse to get the jailer to unlock the prison door, she would suggest to the jailer that he open the door and pass the coffee pot in to the prisoners through the open door. Should the jailer unlock the door, it would be the signal to get busy, pull the door wide open, grab the jailer, throw him to the floor and flee for their lives.'

"Laura was warned by her brother, John not to touch the prisoners or assist them as that would be an offense. Will Holmes' history continues: 'The scheme worked but not without difficulties. The second door was unlocked and King Follett (one of the prisoners) pulled the door open and ran out, Parley P. Pratt was to follow and grandfather Phelps, being an athlete and wrestler, was to throw the jailer down and he would follow. It proved to be an exciting event...it was the fourth of Fourth of July and hundreds were nearby celebrating.'

"The escapees made it to where Orson Pratt and John Clark were waiting with the horses. They split up and made their way to Illinois. Morris was quite ill from exposure and being confined to prison for eight months. Laura was left to the mercy of the mob in Columbia. A young man sneaked her away from the angry mob and then assisted her in returning to Illinois where she found friends.

"Morris went on another mission east in 1839. He took Laura with him and also his youngest child, Joseph. Another son, Jacob Spencer, was born in Indiana. Morris' writings reveal the next tragic event, which occurred shortly after the end of the mission to the east. 'Rested a few days, got our children together and settled in Macedonia, Illinois, 25 miles east of Nauvoo. Here we lived in peace and quiet for some time. My wife, Laura, acting in the capacity of a midwife, by over exertion and by traveling day and night, took sick 1st of February and died on the 9th of February, 1842.'

"Laura's death was a great sorrow to Morris, especially with the five small children. Persecution against the Mormons was beginning in Illinois and he worried about protecting them from the mobs. Morris met Sara Thompson, the daughter of David and Leah L. Thompson. Sara was twenty-two years old and a schoolteacher. She was born March 20, 1820 in Pompey, New York and had come to Nauvoo with her widowed mother. Morris and Sara were married March 27, 1842 and they moved into Nauvoo where Morris could work on the temple. Two daughters were born to them while living in Nauvoo, but both died in infancy. Laura's youngest child, Jacob, was accidentally scalded to death. Morris' daughters Mary Ann and Paulina married Charles C. Rich and Amasa M. Lyman respectively. Hyrum Smith Phelps, Sara's third child, was born in Nauvoo on February 26, 1846. This was the bitter cold night that many saints were being driven from their homes and across the Mississippi River.

"The Phelps family reached Winter Quarters in the fall of 1846. They remained here for five years and prepared for the journey to the mountains. Morris spent five his time building and repairing wagons and travel equipment. Morris married Martha Barker Holmes on February 26, 1848. Martha was fifty years and the mother of James Holmes, who later married Morris' daughter, Harriet. They came to Utah together in 1851 and settled in Alpine. Morris and James Holmes owned interest in a sawmill and other properties in Alpine. Morris served as an Alderman and as a counselor in the bishopric while they lived in Alpine. In June, 1864, both men pulled up stakes and followed Charles C. Rich to Bear Lake.

"Morris' first home in Montpelier was a one room log hut with a dirt floor and a dirt roof. The floor was covered with straw and the roof leaked. The door was made of wooden planks with a latch that was operated by a buckskin, which was pulled in at night for a lock. The furniture was homemade and the beds were made of small poles bored into the walls and supported with crossbeams. The mattress was made of straw. The logs were obtained from 'Joe's Gap,' a narrow gorge two miles north of Montpelier, which opened into a pine-covered canyon. It was Morris's son, Joseph, who found the narrow ravine, and ever since that time it has been called 'Joe's Gap.' The food was cooked on open fireplaces or in Dutch ovens covered with coals. Clothing was all hand made. Every family had its spinning wheel and each community had good weavers. Sarah T. Phelps was one of the most prominent weavers. Most all of the clothing was made from homespun cloth. Men wore buckskin shirts and britches and beaver vests and caps to keep them warm.

"The first year, 1864, an early frost damaged the crops. Teams went to Cache Valley for flour, but before they got back it snowed so hard that they were unable to reach the settlements without additional aid. The winter was a long and severe one, the snow was deep and blizzards made travel impossible. Communication between settlements was made on snowshoes. By spring most of the people were eating frozen potatoes or sticky bread made from frozen wheat.

"Morris later built a large, two-story home with wooden floor and shingle roof, the first in Montpelier. This became a center for community gatherings. He became postmaster of Montpelier in 1869 and was ordained a patriarch by Brigham Young in 1873. Sarah was the first President of the Relief Society in Montpelier. She also served the community as a midwife and she delivered 580 women without a loss. Morris and Sarah lost one daughter, Martha, in Montpelier, who was nineteen. Their daughters, Amanda and Olive, grew to maturity. A son, Charles Wilks, died as a child. Morris and Sarah had seven children, but raised only three. Morris Phelps died at Montpelier on May 22, 1876. After his death Sarah moved to Mesa, Arizona with her son Hyrum. She died there on January 31, 1896."

Regarding the birth date and place of Morris Charles Phelps: Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve ed. Mrs. Gertrude van Rensselaer Wickham (Women's Department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission, 1896), quoted at length here, says that Spencer Phelps came to the township of Leroy in the Western Reserve in 1803, that Mary "Keneep" arrived two years later, and that Spencer and Mary were married there in December 1807. If this is true (which is obviously not established), it calls into question whether Morris Charles Phelps was in fact born on 20 Dec 1805 in Northampton, Massachusetts as reported in many family histories and on his headstone in Montpelier, Idaho. It's worth noting that we have been unable to find any record of the birth of any Morris Phelps in western Massachusetts in the first decade of the 19th century. Is it possible that Morris Charles Phelps was actually born circa 1808 in Ohio? This would mean he began courting Laura Clark Baldwin on his trip to Illinois when he was actually sixteen, and married her in Laurenceville when he was about eighteen -- exactly the ages at which a young man might be tempted to add two years to his claimed age, particularly when far away from any close relatives who might contradict him.

Morris married Sarah Thompson on 27 Mar 1842 in Hancock, Illinois. Sarah (daughter of David John Thompson and Leah Lewis) was born on 20 Mar 1820 in Pomfret, Chautauqua, New York; died on 31 Jan 1896 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Allegedly she and her mother Leah Lewis were founding members of the Relief Society when it was organized on 17 Mar 1842, but neither of them is mentioned in Wikipedia's coverage of that first meeting.

From Sarah Thompson Phelps, a memoir by her granddaughter Barbara Ann Phelps Allen:

Grandma was born March 20, 1820. Her parents were James and Leah Lewis Thompson. When she was four years old, her father died leaving her mother with seven small children, making it necessary for her to start out early in life making her own way. In spite of poverty, she succeeded in acquiring sufficient education to be able to teach school.

When she was eleven years old, the gospel came into their home. She, together with her mother and other members of the family except one brother, joined and were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After they joined, their friends turned against them, and from then on their trials began. They were driven from place to place and finally forced to flee to the Rocky Mountains. She was brave and courageous as a young woman.

She taught school when she was a young woman. It was customary for teachers to board among the homes of their pupils, which she did, and in doing so she learned many of the plots and schemes of the mobs to assassinate the Saints. She kept the saints posted, and when the final plot came for the general roundup of the saints, she made a dash on horseback to give the alarm to her people. She was followed for five miles one time, but her horse being fastest, she made her escape. Another time when she was teaching, she went to a home to collect her pay, and the people refused to pay. They said their intentions were to drive all the Mormons out and take the crops that they had recently harvested. She told them what she thought of them. While she was speaking, a voice came to her telling her to leave the next morning as soon as she arose. She did, and as she was leaving, she saw the mob coming and they tried to kill her.

At the time of Haun's Mill Massacre, she lived but a few miles from the mill on the creek; some of those who were fortunate enough to get away came to her home. While the mob was going through the country, they crossed the creek where Grandma and all the women were washing clothes. She told many times how they looked, saying they had their faces painted and were disguised in every imaginable way. Some of the women were so frightened, they fainted, but grandma shouted, "Hooray for the captain!" Two of the men rode up to her and asked if she wasn't afraid of them. She said she hadn't been raised in the woods to be afraid of owls. They asked her if she didn't recognize them, and she said she did not. They told her she should, they were her old neighbors. She then asked them what they intended to do, and one replied, "Kill everyone on the creek." Grandma asked what they had done that they should be killed. Their reply was they did not know, they were only obeying orders. On two different occasions, she was chased by a mob who tried to shoot her, but their guns refused to go off.

One time when they had been driven from their home, she said they had traveled all day in the rain driving their cattle. She had on a sunbonnet that was quilted so that cardboard slats could be inserted. The rain had dissolved the slats, and the front of her bonnet flopped in her face. She was soaked to the skin, weary and tired after plodding the mud all day. As they were passing a farm house, a lady saw her and invited her into her home to dry her clothes and get warm. She was taken into the parlor by the fireplace. There were two young ladies and their boy friends sitting there, and when they saw grandma they burst out laughing. She said she was nearly in tears; she looked them in the eye and said, "You must have been born in the woods."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 27 Sep 1827, Fowler, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, New York
• Alternate death: 29 May 1883, St. David, Cochise, Arizona

Notes:

A memoir of his daughter Mary Elizabeth Bingham, by her daughter Barbara Ann Phelps, calls him "Calvin Perry Bingham."

From The Bingham Family in the United States, citation details below:

Calvin and his family were with the earliest Mormon groups to move across America. The oldest child of Lucius Augustus, Calvin was born in NY, lived in Upper Canada as a child, and by 1840 when he was thirteen, lived with the Mormon group in Henderson, Knox Co IL. About 1848, probably in IA after the Mormons moved to Pottawattamie Co, Calvin married Elizabeth Lucretia Thorn. He, his wife and her entire family, mother and siblings lived in one household in 1850.

Between 1853 and 1867, Calvin and his family lived in several different UT settlements. They then lived for about ten years in Montpelier, Bear Lake Co ID before returning to Box Elder Co UT by 1880. After Calvin died in AZ in 1883, wife Elizabeth moved to Vernal, Uintah Co UT where she lived with grown children William and Alice in 1900.

Posted to ancestry.com by user NORDSEEKER, with the remark: "This account was written by their great grandson, Wes Martin. I don't know where he got all the information, but I found it typed on the back of a family group sheet in his genealogy book."

"Calvin Bingham was the son of Lucius and Sarah Stone Bingham. He was born Sept. 7, 1827 in Fowler, St. Lawrence County, New York. He was the oldest of eight children: four brothers--Benjamin, Augustus, Perry, and Prosper-- and three sisters: Emeline, Lucy, and MaryJane.

"His mother died about 1849. His father remarried but never came west to Utah. Calvin was baptized into the Mormon church at the age of seventeen in Bannock County, Illinois in 1844.

"Elizabeth Lucretia Thorn was the daughter of Ashael and Sarah Lester Thorn, born in Monrovia, Cayuga county, New York on March 25, 1832. She was the second child in a family of ten: three boys--William L., Richard, and Isaac, and seven girls--Maryann, Sarah, Nancy, Lydia, Abigale, Barbara Ann, and Elizabeth Lucretia. Her mother died about 1852 and her father re-married Elizabeth Lusk, a widow. They came west with his family.

"Calvin and Elizabeth were married December 18, 1848 in Pottawatamie, Iowa. Sarah and Calvin were born to them here. In 1853 they and several other members of the Thorn family moved west to Utah settleing in the West Weber area (now known as Uintah). Their third child, Mary Elizabeth, was born here. While living in Uintah, Calvin was called to serve in Col. Johnson's army. They were among the saints that made the move south--leaving their homes to be burned if necessary. On returning they settled in Farmington, Utah, where Lucy Melissa, their fourth child, was born. Later they moved to Three Mile Creek which is now known as Perry, Utah. In about 1857, the Ashael Thorn family moved here too and they built their homes near each other. Barbara Ann, their fifth child was born here. Three years later in 1860 they moved to Hyrum, Utah.

"Being among the first settlers in Hyrum, they took an active part in civic and church activities. Calvin became the first Bishop of Hyrum and was loved and remembered by people for a great many years. Two more children were born to them here, Anna Marie and Ashael.

"In 1865 they were called to settle the Bear Lake, Idaho area. They settled in Montpelier where due to very harsh winters, they lost their crops. Very discouraged, they returned to Hyrum, Utah. Their son, William Augustus, was born here in Montpelier.

"About 1868 they returned to Montpelier. Elizabeth taught the first school in town--teaching out of their small log home. Another daughter, Lydia Emeline, was born to them here. Later, they built a large home on the banks of the creek that ran through town. Their last two children were born here--Orissa Vilate and Alice. Orissa Vilate died at nine months old. Also at this residence, their daughter, Lucy Melissa Bigham Williams, died after giving birth to a baby girl. She was only eighteen years old. This two week old baby girl was raised by her grandparents, Calvin and Elizabeth.

"In 1878, the Binghams, their married son and daughters, and a large group of other people left Montpelier intending to go to Arizona and settle an area there. But upon reaching Salem, Utah, they decided to stop there for a year or so. The Perry Bingham family and the Robert H. Williams family were among those that settled in Salem for that short time. In 1880, with several other families including the Alonzo Bingham family, Calvin and Elizabeth headed for Arizona again. They stopped in St. Johns, Arizona where their daughter, Anna Marie and husband William were living. They stayed there until 1891 when they moved to St. David, Arizona. Arriving on Christmas Day, they joined others of the original group who had settled that area and started up a freighting business. This business engaged in the freight business between Benson, Tombstone and Bisbee. Although Calvin was a blacksmith by trade, he found freighting more profitable. So he bought a team of large horses to go with the team he already had, and followed this occupation for a little more than a year.

"Calvin Bingham left his home with a wagon loaded with freight for Bisbee, about 56 miles from St. David. On the following day, May 27,1883, while going down a steep grade, his freight wagon upset pinning him under the wagon and causing his death.

"His body was brought home by three men from his ward. Funeral services were held in the ward at St. David May 29, 1883. Speakers were Patriarch P.C. Merrill, President David P. Kimball, J.H. Martineau, Bishop Henry Horn, and S.B. Merrill, who all spoke highly of the integrity, faithfullness and honesty of Calvin. After the death of her husband, Elizabeth Lucretia Bingham, with her family consisting of the younger children Ashael, William, Emeline, Lucy Jane, a grand-daughter, and Alice moved to Mesa, Arizona where her three oldest children, Clarinda, Mary Elizabeth Phelps, and Calvin Perry Bingham lived. She had only been there a short time when another sorrow came into her life. Ashael, then 23 years old, had an appendicitis attack and died just four months after his father's death.

"The family spent three years in Mesa and then returned to their former home in Montpelier, Idaho. Then in 1888 they moved to Vernal, Utah where Lucretia spent the remainder of her life. She was a faithful LDS woman and worked in the Relief Society organization. While in Montpelier she had been called to work among the sick and dying. She helped make burial clothes and to dress and lay out the dead. She underwent many hardships of the early pioneers. She learned to be thrifty and to economize so she could feed and clothe her family. It is said that when she bought a piece of calico, she would tear a quilt block from it for the quilt she was making. She made very nice quilts that were the envy of her friends and neighbors. Thread was expensive, so she would ravel out cloth to sew her blocks together with. She taught her 11 children to be thrifty and industrious too. She passed away at her home in Vernal Nov. 28, 1903 as a result of a heart attack."

Calvin married Elizabeth Lucretia Thorne on 18 Dec 1848 in Big Pigeon, Pottawattamie, Iowa. Elizabeth (daughter of Ashal Enoch Thorne and Sarah Lester) was born on 25 Mar 1832 in Moravia, Cayuga, New York; died on 28 Nov 1903 in Vernal, Uintah, Utah; was buried in Vernal Memorial Park, Vernal, Uintah, Utah. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Fought in the War of 1812.

Spencer Phelps (1782-1865) appears in most online genealogies as a son of Spencer Phelps (1753-1829) by his second wife Theodomy Allen (1755-1841). But the older Spencer's first wife Naomi Clark died in 1784. If the younger Spencer was born in 1782, his mother was Naomi Clark, not Theodomy Allen.

Evidence:

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 shows Naomi Clark born 4 Oct 1753 in Northampton, Massachusetts, daughter of Ezra and Martha Clark.

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, "CLARK, NAOMI of Northampton, Intention of marriage to Spencer Phelps, published March 19, 1781."

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 shows Spencer Phelps born 24 May 1782 in Chesterfield, Massachusetts (just outside Northampton), son of Spencer Phelps and Naomi.

This headstone at Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Massachusetts, of "Mrs. Naomi Phelps Wife of Mr. Spencer Phelps who died May 25 1784 In the 31st Year of her life".

Spencer married Mary Kniep. Mary (daughter of Christian Burchard Kniep and Maribah Miller) was born on 13 Dec 1784 in near Mt. Tom, Hampden, Massachusetts; died on 22 Apr 1851 in Kirtland, Lake, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In some records as "John David Wesley Thompson". Claimed is various LDS family histories as being born in Pelham, Massachusetts, but the 1904 edition of Pelham vital records shows no entry for his birth.

David married Leah Lewis about 1812. Leah (daughter of Gideon Lewis and Sarah Card) was born on 7 May 1787 in New Ashford, Berkshire, Massachusetts; died on 3 Nov 1843 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Allegedly she and her daughter Sarah Thompson were founding members of the Relief Society when it was organized on 17 Mar 1842, but neither of them is mentioned in Wikipedia's coverage of that first meeting.

Obituary, from the Nauvoo Neighbor, 15 Nov 1843:

Died on the 3rd inst. in this city, Mrs. Leah Chiles [Childs], of cancer and rheumatism, in the 57th year of her age.

Sister Childs was a firm believer in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they have been revealed in the last days to man through the medium of revelation.

She shared all the persecutions heaped upon the saints -- was driven with them from the state of Missouri, and suffered much from exposure and fatigue. Never was the name of a more generous, benevolent and sympathetic woman enrolled upon the records of the Church. She was truly a "mother in Israel." She possessed great faith, which seemed, for a long time, to baffle the destroyer, death; but it was the will of her Heavenly Father to take her to himself, that her soul might be emancipated. She [was] released from the vicissitudes of this troublesome world. She had been afflicted for more that a year, and suffered the most excruciating pain, but she was perfectly resigned to the will of heaven and when the period of her desolution arrived she fell asleep, as calm as the sleep of infancy, with the unwavering hope of participating in the first resurrection, when she should awake to everlasting youth, immortality and eternal life.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1 Sep 1804, Vergennes, Addison, Vermont
• Alternate birth: 7 Sep 1804, Vergennes, Addison, Vermont
• Alternate birth: 27 Sep 1804, Vergennes, Addison, Vermont
• Alternate death: 11 Apr 1857, Iowa

Notes:

From The Bingham Family in the United States, citation details below:

With his brothers Reuben and Jeremiah 2nd Jr., and his mother and her second husband, Abner Whipple, Lucius Augustus and his family moved west to near Brockville, Upper Canada about 1829. None of them appeared on the NY 1830 Federal census. The group remained in Canada until the late 1830s when they decided to embrace the Mormon religion and moved to Henderson, Knox Co IL, near Nauvoo. They may have passed through Oswego Co NY where brother Aaron lived. Lucius, Reuben, and Jeremiah 2nd Jr. were all enumerated on the IL 1840 U.S. census. By 1850, part of the group had moved on to near Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie Co IA, but it is not clear what happened to Lucius Augustus. He was not named on the IA 1850 Federal census, but his oldest son was. There is also a record of a child born to him and second wife Rebecca White at Harrison Co IA in 1853. Instead of going on to Utah, Lucius Augustus remained in IA and died in 1857.

Lucius married Sarah Stone in 1826 in Fowler, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, New York. Sarah (daughter of Josiah Stone and Sarah Darby) was born in 1804 in Londonderry, Rockingham, New Hampshire; died in 1849 in Pottawattamie, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 21 Apr 1804, Londonderry, Rockingham, New Hampshire
• Alternate birth: 21 Apr 1805, Londonderry, Rockingham, New Hampshire
• Alternate birth: 21 Apr 1806, Londonderry, Rockingham, New Hampshire
• Alternate death: 1850, Pottawattamie, Iowa

Notes:

Also called Sarah "Sally" Stone.

The database "Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848" states that her parents were Josiah Stone and Sarah Darby/Durby/Daby.

Lucius Augustus Bingham and Sarah Stone were great-great grandparents of TNH's third cousin twice removed, Harold Bingham Lee (1899-1973), eleventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after whom the main library at BYU is named.

Notes:

Headstone says "Ashal (Asahel)".

Listed in the 1850 census at "South Fork of the American River, El Dorado, California", as Ashel Thorn, born abt 1808, New York.

Departed Six Mile Grove (near Winter Quarters, Nebraska) 9 Jun 1853; arrived Salt Lake Valley 9 Sep 1853. (Pioneer Immigrants to Utah Territory, at ancestry.com)

From "A Biography of Asahel (Ashel) Thorn," credited as "written by a great-grandson Enoch Thorne 'in the first person'", reproduced on "Crapo-Hegsted Family Tree" on ancestry.com by tree owner "Jerrirud":

"In 1800, my father, RICHARD, and mother, MARY ANNER ARMSTRONG, with their 10 children migrated west to Pennsylvania. While there I married a beautiful young girl named SARAH LESTER. All of us, but my father, joined the Mormon Church and began to gather to Nauvoo, Illinois. Before we were driven from Nauvoo, 8 of us were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple. We were fortunate to escape with our lives and, as a family, pressed on to Pottawattamie, Iowa and camped at Six Mile Grove, about six miles west of Winter Quarters. I built a house there for Sarah, and I, now also, had ten children.

"At Pottawattamie, my eldest son, WILLIAM, and I decided to go to California to participate in the gold rush. While in California, I was called home because of the serious illness of my wife, SARAH, and I left by boat home, leaving my teams, wagons and son, WILLIAM, in California. My California venture was a financial aid to me for the rest of my life.

"At Pottawattamie, Iowa we organized a company of Saints and started for the Salt Lake Valley on June 9, 1853. We were part of a company consisting of 202 souls and 70 wagons with Daniel C. Miller and John W. Cooley in charge. My uncle JOSEPH THORN was one of the Captains of 50. While on the plains of Iowa my wife passed away, and I buried her while on the move to Zion. That day I shall never forget. The Company divided soon after leaving Elkhorn, and my children and I arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 9, 1853 in the Captain Thorn Company."

Ashal married Sarah Lester on 3 Aug 1829 in Clinton, Dutchess, New York. Sarah (daughter of John Lester and Nancy Appleby) was born on 15 Jun 1809; died on 9 Aug 1853 in Pottawattamie, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 14 Jun 1809, Albany, Albany, New York

Notes:

Death location on (modern) memorial marker says "ON THE PLAINS, POTTAWATTAMIE, IOWA". [Find a Grave entry for Sarah Lester]

Notes:

Spencer Phelps and Naomi Clark were third cousins, being both great-great grandchildren of Isaac Sheldon (1629-1708) and Mary Woodford (1636-1684). Who were themselves Gx5-grandparents of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Spencer married Naomi Clark after 19 Mar 1781. Naomi (daughter of Ezra Clark and Martha Phelps) was born on 4 Oct 1753 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 25 May 1784; was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

See the entry for her son Spencer Phelps (1782-1865) for proof that Spencer was her son, not a son of Theodomy Allen, second wife of Spencer Phelps (1753-1829).

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 30 Sep 1825, Lukin Township, Lawrence, Illinois

Notes:

Revolutionary War, under General von Riedesel, on the Loyalist side.

Also known as Burchard C. Kenneipe (or Kenneippe).

From Our Family Histories:

Christian's Kniep name appeared in a list of (Brunswick) soldiers who fought in the American Revolution under General Von Riedesel.

The Elector of Hesse, Frederic II, had troops ready to sail in February 1776. On March 21 and 22, 1776, the soldiers marched past the Elector for inspection and prepared to sail. Col. Roll departed May 6, arriving at Sandy Hook, New York on August 17, 1776.

Christian's company fought in the battle of Trenton, New Jersey on December 24, 1776 where he and 963 of the Hessian soldiers were captured. January 18, 1777 they began their march escorted by Lt. Lindberger across the Potomac. In the Winter of 1777 Christian and many of his fellow captured Hessian soldiers worked on Massachusetts farms. The US Government set up a condition where prisoners could purchase their freedom if they swore allegiance to the US and paid $80 dollars or enter into a contract for three years to someone whom paid the $80 dollars. It is believed that Christian entered into this "Old Blue Law" arrangement with John Miller.

The Miller family gave Christian a home and privilege to work on the family farm. Before the expiration of the three year term, he had fallen in love with the Miller's daughter Meribah. Christian M. Kniep and Meribah Miller were married in Northampton, Mass. on November 17, 1778.

His christening record, from Our Family Histories:

St. Vincenez, Schöningen, Brunswick: Church Records, (1720-1790, copy of transcripts in private archives of Robert Fred Bingham), Christening Register: anno, 1756, page 327, nr. 2, 6 Apr 2001.

"Master Johann Andreas Kniep, citizen, resident, and shoemaker here, had a son christened on 15 January [1756] who was born on 9 January at 2 a.m. and named Christian Burchard. The godparents were (1) Mr. Johann Burchard Zimmermann, citizen, resident and city musician here, (2) Mr. Johann Christian Mueller, citizen and journeyman musician, (3) Sabina Magdalena Deike, wife of Mr. Johann Christian Frickes, Quartermaster in Captain von Hoym's Company."

Christian married Maribah Miller on 17 Nov 1778 in First Church of Christ, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. Maribah (daughter of John Miller and Hannah Bush) was born about 1757; died before 1820 in Painesville, Lake, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1761

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 15 Dec 1749, Lanesborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts
• Alternate death: 3 May 1810, New Ashford, Berkshire, Massachusetts

Notes:

He was a miller.

Gideon married Sarah Card. Sarah was born about 1754 in New Ashford, Berkshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said to have been a daughter of John Card and Dorcas Potter, and a granddaughter of Job Card and Judith Greenman.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 17 Apr 1760, Norwich, New London, Connecticut

Notes:

From The Bingham Family in the United States, citation details below:

Jeremiah was born in the Franklin section of Norwich, New London Co CT where his parents, Joseph and Rachel Ween Bingham, then lived. Based upon his date of entry into military service, he was probably born on 17 Apr 1760, but the Norwich records cite the name James, and not Jeremiah. [PNH: see note below.] By 1776 Jeremiah was apprenticed to Henry Baldridge in Bennington VT, but when the army recruiting sergeant came to Bennington, Jeremiah broke his apprentice agreement and joined the army. He served his first thirty-four months in Maj. Allen's company of Col. Rufus Putnam's MA regiment of the Continental Line, 20 Feb 1777 to 31 Dec 1779. He signed up for another year and a month, consequently, his final date of service was 31 Jan 1781. He would have been almost twenty-one when he was discharged. Jeremiah returned to Bennington where he stayed until about 1784 and then followed his uncle Jeremiah to Cornwall, Addison Co VT.

Jeremiah married in Cornwall, Mary Ives, 27 Nov 1786. The next month, they purchased nearly four acres adjoining their house lot. Near the end of 1788 when Jeremiah received his back military pay, he bought twenty-five acres from Edward Harris. This deed is most intriguing as it also recorded Harris's gift of five acres to Joseph Bingham. Joseph could have been Jeremiah's father or brother.

The births of Jeremiah and Mary's first three children were recorded in Cornwall, but not the births of the other children. The 1800 U.S. census for Cornwall credited the family with three boys under 10, one girl under 10, and one girl 10-16. The family was also enumerated in Cornwall in 1810. Several Cornwall deeds between 1789 amd 1793 indicate that Jeremiah sold portions of his twenty-five acres. In 1794, he bought thirty-four acres from Jared Ives, but sold it five months later in 1795. That deed was the last record for Jeremiah in Cornwall. His pension application file contains a statement by his uncle Jeremiah of Cornwall that he lived "here" in 1806 and his son, Aaron, stated that he died in 1813 during the late war with England.

Mary, his wife, married second, Abner Whipple, about 1820. Jeremiah's sons Reuben, Lucius and Jeremiah lived in Ontario, Canada in the late 1820, but by 1840 they had returned to the U.S. and all three lived in Knox Co IL. Son Jeremiah moved on to IA in 1845 where his mother Mary died.

*****

We are a little skeptical about Donna Bingham Munger's assertion that "[b]ased upon his date of entry into military service, he was probably born on 17 Apr 1760", since, as Munger observes, "the Norwich records [for a Bingham birth on that date] cite the name James, and not Jeremiah." It seems clear from records cited by Munger herself that James Bingham was a separate individual. We find it entirely plausible that Jeremiah was born in 1761, was an apprentice at fifteen, and ran away to join the army at approximately sixteen.

*****

Some online sites state that this Jeremiah Bingham fought in the War of 1812 as well as in the Revolution. We believe this is based on a misreading of son Aaron's 1849 statement, referred to in our entry for Jeremiah Bingham's wife Mary Ives, that Jeremiah "died during the late war with England in 1813." It seems clear that Aaron was merely noting the period of history during which his father died, not claiming that he father actually fought in that war. Most notably, after their mother's death, Aaron Bingham and his brothers Jeremiah, Joseph, and Lucius Augustus Bingham put a great deal of energy into proving their father's Revolutionary War service in order to obtain their portions of their mother's pension. If their father had also fought in the second war with England, this surely would have been mentioned in their various statements about his military history.

Jeremiah may, however, have been a recruiter during the war of 1812. Via Barbara Nielsen, we have a photocopy of a Federal Bureau of Pensions form, undated but clearly produced between 1900 and 1909, since the pre-printed date line on top of the document reads "Washington, D.C., 190__". The top of the document is a form letter aimed at persons who have written to the Bureau in search of information about an ancestor's service in the Revolution or the War of 1812, and it requests that the correspondent please fill out the form at the bottom of the page and return it. The form at the bottom has been filled out by one Perry P. Young, requesting information about the service of this Jeremiah Bingham, and in the "additional information" space, Young writes that "family tradition" says that Jeremiah Bingham was a recruiter for the war of 1812. Young also states as a matter of fact that three of Jeremiah's sons, Calvin, Perry, and Joseph, fought in that war.

Jeremiah married Mary Ives on 27 Nov 1786 in Cornwall, Addison, Vermont. Mary (daughter of Enos Ives and Anne Cook) was born on 25 Apr 1766 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut; died on 15 Feb 1845 in Pottawattamie, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 25 Apr 1766, Norwich, New London, Connecticut

Notes:

On 15 Oct 1849, in Oswego County, New York, Aaron Bingham testified in open court that his father was Jeremiah Bingham who fought in the Revolution "for such a term as te entitle him to bounty land"; that this Jeremiah died in 1813; that this Jeremiah's widow (who was Aaron's mother) Mary then married Abner Whipple "about 1820"; that Abner Whipple died "in 1825 or in 1824"; that Mary died a widow on 15 Feb 1845, leaving the following married children over the age of twenty and all alive at the time of Aaron Bingham's testimony: Lucius A. Bingham, Jeremiah Bingham, Joseph Bingham, and Aaron Bingham himself. The record of Aaron Bingham's testimony also notes that the court has received a "judge's certificate" from probate court in Pottawattamie County, Iowa as proof of Mary Whipple's death. A copy of this handwritten document, annotated by Barbara Allen Crandall, was provided to us by Barbara Crandall Nielsen.

Notes:

Or Jesiah.

Josiah married Sarah Darby on 13 Sep 1797 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of John Daby and Sarah Hopgood) was born on 7 Feb 1772 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also known as Sarah (or Sally) Daby.

Notes:

The tombstone at Santa Barbara depicted on his findagrave.com page says "RICHARD THORN / DIED / JUNE 1883 / AGED 97 YEARS." Which if correct, and if this is our Richard Thorn's grave, would mean he was born in 1776, not 1786. On the other hand, his age could well have been exaggerated at his death.

Richard married Mary Anner Armstrong on 6 Sep 1806 in Clinton, Dutchess, New York. Mary (daughter of Asahel Armstrong and Elizabeth Nelson) was born on 22 Sep 1784 in Dutchess, New York; died on 7 Mar 1856 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary Anner Armstrong is currently the earliest-born direct ancestor of TNH for whom we have a photograph, albeit an obviously-retouched one.

Family records say she was born in "Philipstown, New York." Which is currently adjacent to Dutchess county, but in Putnam county. Was it in Dutchess county in 1784?

The metadata attached to her portrait in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers database at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU says: "Mary Ann Armstrong Thorn was born 22 Sept 1785 at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York. She married Richard Thorn 6 Sept 1806 at Clinton, Dutchess, New York and was the mother of ten children. They came to Utah 9 Sept 1853 with the Captain John Bigler Company. She died 7 Mar 1856 at Salt Lake City, Utah."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1847, Cayuga, New York

John married Nancy Appleby. Nancy (daughter of Abraham Appleby and Sarah Travis) was born on 11 Jan 1784; died after 1850. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Martin married Martha Parsons. Martha (daughter of Josiah Parsons and Sarah Sheldon) was born on 3 May 1727 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 16 Dec 1814 in Chester, Hampden, Massachusetts; was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 23 Dec 1814, Chester, Hampden, Massachusetts

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 19 Jul 1788, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts

Ezra married Martha Phelps on 13 Dec 1739. Martha (daughter of Samuel Phelps and Mary Edwards) was born on 19 Sep 1717 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 9 Sep 1803 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Johann married Catherine Dorothea Ebers on 22 Nov 1742 in Schoningen, Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany. Catherine was born in of Schoningen, Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Possibly the daughter of a Juergen Ebers, ship's master.

Notes:

Also known as John Millar.

"During the Revolutionary War...enlisted in Capt. Ebenezer Strong's Company, Col. Sears Hampshire County Regiment and marched to Albany 17 August 1781. He was discharged 20 November 1781 after serving '3 mos. 10 days, at Saratoga.'" [Western Massachusetts Families in 1790]

John Miller and Hannah Bush were ancestors of Agatha Christie:

John Miller = Hannah Bush
Jacob Miller = Mercy Johnson
Alvah Miller = Martha Hillman
Nathaniel Frary Miller = Martha Messervey
Frederick Alvah Miller = Clarissa Boehmer
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan

John married Hannah Bush on 22 Sep 1756 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. Hannah (daughter of Ebenezer Bush and Miriam Noble) was born on 18 Nov 1737 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts; died on 3 Feb 1816 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1688, Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island
• Alternate death: May 1752, Richmond, Washington, Rhode Island

Notes:

He was a cooper. He married his first wife Abigail, whose origins are unknown, about 1708 in Washington County, Rhode Island.

All of his children and all of his Fordice stepchildren are mentioned in his will.

James married Susanna Petty in 1747. Susanna (daughter of William Petty and Mary) was born on 6 Jul 1716 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Robert Joseph Curfman (citation details below), while her birth was recorded at Charlestown, Rhode Island, she was probably born at Westerly.

Her first husband was John Fordis or Fordice, whom she married in Westerly on 27 Dec 1733.

Notes:

From The Bingham Family in the United States, citation details below:

Joseph's birth on 14 Apr 1738 was recorded in the Norwich records, but he was baptized on 16 Apr in the Franklin church. He grew up in the Franklin section of Norwich and may have served in the militia in the French and Indian War. When he was twenty-one he married Rachel Ween 5 Jul 1759. In 1760, their first child was born and the birth recorded in the Norwich records under the name James. Joseph's other children's births are not recorded in Norwich and other records have not been found to document Joseph's life after 1760. Neither are there records for James. However, it is known that Joseph's parents moved to Charlemont MA in 1760 and to Bennington VT between 1773 and 1779 and that Joseph's son, Jeremiah 2nd, was an apprentice in Bennington in 1777.

*****

A document at familysearch.org claims that "Joseph served in the French and Indian war as a Quartermaster of a troop of horses, fifth regiment in May 1757. He was Cornet in Oct 1761, and Lieutenant in Oct 1764."

"The town of Bennington voted each year from 1768 to 1771 to aid Joseph who has been under confinement. This Joseph, wife Rachel, and their named children were warned out of Bennington in 1768. The town discussed moving Joseph back to Norwich and to try to recover costs from Norwich in 1770. The town, again, voted assistance for the doctoring, nursing, and board for Joseph in 1771." [Early Vermont Settlers to 1784, citation details below.]

The town records of Charlemont, Massachusetts show payments in Dec 1773 to "Joseph Bingham, for work at the Road 6/ [shillings/pence], Calvin Bingham, for work at the Road 13/6, Daniel Kinsley, for work at the Road 30/6." If these Binghams are ours, this would be more likely to be this Joseph, as his father Joseph was 64 in 1773.

Joseph married Rachel Ween on 5 Jul 1759 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut. Rachel was born in of Norwich, New London, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her origins are the single puzzle that Teresa's maternal grandmother Barbara Allen Crandall most regretted never solving. The vital records of Norwich, Connecticut, recording her marriage to Joseph Bingham, clearly identify her as "Rachel Ween" and call her "of Norwich." No other individual with the surname "Ween" appears in any Connecticut vital records. This has led some to speculate that "Ween" was a typographical error for "Weed" and to identify her with the Rachel Weed who (according to the Rev. Elijah B. Huntington's Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families) was born 31 Aug 1737, a daughter of David Weed and Mary Weed who married one another in Stamford, Connecticut on 8 Nov 1733. But although this is attractive on chronological grounds, it is difficult to understand how a woman born of a couple in far-to-the-west Stamford would be referred to as "of Norwich", a town in the nearly-easternmost part of Connecticut. And furthermore, no daughter Rachel is mentioned in the will (9 Feb 1763 -- 17 Aug 1764) of David Weed.

We are in possession of a "family group record" sheet based on research performed by Lea (James) O'Neal and Elaine Smart that asserts that Rachel Weed married Joseph Bingham and that she was indeed a daughter of the aforementioned David and Mary Weed. The sources given are the aforementioned Rev. Huntington, the vital records of Norwich, and the 1917-23 Encyclopedia of Connecticut Biography, none of which actually say anything about the parentage of Joseph Bingham's wife. Also cited are "Records of Frederick Weed, 374 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass."

Notes:

Revolutionary War soldier: private, Vermont. DAR ancestor #A060729. "Service Description: 1) Capt. James Claghorn, Col. Mead".

Enos married Anne Cook on 16 Mar 1749 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut. Anne (daughter of Israel Cook and Elizabeth Clark) was born on 4 Jan 1727 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 4 Jul 1727

Notes:

Tanner and farmer. His French and Indian War service of 1755 was "in the expedition of that year against Crown Point". He was town treasurer of Harvard in 1784, 1785, and 1786. [Simon Stone Genealogy]

Note that Harvard, Massachusetts, founded in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, is a town of roughly 6,000 people about twenty-five miles west-northwest of Boston. Harvard University is in Cambridge, directly adjoining Boston.

James married Deborah Nutting on 13 Sep 1748 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Deborah (daughter of Jonathan Nutting and Mary Green) was born in 1724; died on 2 Nov 1774 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 30 Sep 1728, Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts
• Alternate death: 3 Nov 1774, Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts

Notes:

Or "John Daby".

Many online sources give this John Darby/Daby, husband of Sarah Hopgood, a birth date of 24 Mar 1741, and show him as a son of Simon Daby (1715-1802) and Mercy Wilson (1717-1751). It's chronologically and geographically plausible. And this John and Sarah did in fact name their first child Simon (b. 20 May 1765). But there are problems with it.

Henry Stedman Nourse's 1894 History of the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts: 1732-1893, in his list of the offspring of John Daby and Sarah Hopgood, calls this John Daby "John, Jr.". Warren Hapgood's 1898 The Hapgood Family (citation details below) also calls the husband of Lt. Shadrach Hopgood's daughter Sarah "John Darby, Jr."

And according to Viola A. Derby Bromley's 1905 Derby Genealogy, the John Darby/Daby who married Sarah Hopgood was born "about 1740", a younger son of John Daby (1688-1769) by his wife Hannah (1685-1744). In her reckoning, the John Darby/Daby who was born 24 Mar 1741 to Simon Daby and Mercy Wilson married a Dinah Willard.

Finally, the 1917 Vital Records of Harvard, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, in its register of marriages, also calls the John Daby who married Sarah Hopgood "John Jr." (Interestingly, it also calls the John Darby who married Dinah Willard "John Jr.", which creates another problem for Derby Genealogy.)

Of course, the problem with John Daby and Hannah (now known to have been Hannah Butterick) being the parents of the John Daby/Darby who married Sarah Hopgood is obvious. If John and Hannah's birthdates are as shown in the town records of Harvard, this supposed "John Darby, Jr.", born about 1740, would have been born when his father was 52 and his mother was 55. This is highly implausible. According to Wikipedia, in the United States between 1997 and 1999, only 194 women gave birth aged 55 or over. That's out of a population of about 280,000,000. The population of New England in 1740 was about one million.

The range of birthdates shown by Bromley for the other children of John and Hannah is 1712 to 1722. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that Bromley was aware that prior sources (Nourse, Hapgood, Harvard vital records) all called the husband of Sarah Hopgood "John, Jr.", and simply parked him as a child of John and Hannah because there were no more plausible local Johns Darby/Daby for him to be the offspring of.

There's little question that Simon and Mercy Daby/Darby had a son John who was born 24 Mar 1741. The Harvard vital records show a John Daby, "s. of Simon and Marcey, Mar. 24, 1741." Nourse lists, in his register of births, John Daby, born "March 24, 1741", among "The Children of Simon and Mercy."

It's also worth noting that the Harvard vital records show no birth of any John Darby, Daby, or Derby to John and Hannah Darby, Daby, or Derby.

Our suspicion is that the John Darby/Daby who married Sarah Hopgood was in fact a son of Simon Daby and Mercy Wilson, just as geography, chronology, and onomastics suggest, and that the idea that he was a "Jr." was introduced by an error in transcription somewhere along the way. We'd like to see the actual materials from which the 1917 Harvard vital records book was transcribed. But suspicion is not evidence.

UPDATE, 14 Feb 2016: ancestry.com has a handwritten record of Harvard, Massachusetts births, on which we see, under "Daby," "John s of Simon and Mercy" born 24 Mar 1741. No "Jr." in sight.

John married Sarah Hopgood on 17 Jan 1765 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of Lt. Shadrach Hopgood and Elizabeth Weatherbee) was born on 16 Jun 1744 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 17 Sep 1741, Flushing, Queens, New York

Notes:

Also spelled Phillip.

Philip married Elizabeth Cheeseman on 18 Aug 1779 in St. George's Church, Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Elizabeth (daughter of Joseph Cheeseman and Sarah Badgeley) was born on 4 Jul 1746; died on 2 Sep 1798 in Flushing, Queens, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 6 Jul 1756, Cow's Neck, Hempstead, Nassau, Long Island, New York

Notes:

"According to the Curtiss genealogy, Asahel and Elizabeth Armstrong lived at Poughkeepsie, and Newburg, New York, followed by the City of New York." [Port Byron History]

Asahel married Elizabeth Nelson in 1765. Elizabeth (daughter of John Nelson and Elizabeth Davenport) was born in Jan 1747 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York; died on 2 Oct 1787. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Oblong, Dutchess, New York

John married Tabitha. Tabitha was born on 20 Jul 1745; died on 1 Jul 1828. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1742

Notes:

According to Frank J. Doherty (citation details below), she may have been Tabitha Hoxie, daughter of Zebulon Hoxie and Sarah Irish of Beekman.

Abraham married Sarah Travis in 1779 in Westchester County, New York. Sarah (daughter of Thomas Travis) was born about 1758 in Tarrytown, Westchester, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1762

Notes:

Earliest known direct maternal ancestor of TNH.

Her origins are a source of confusion. Many sources give her as a daughter of George Travis (also spelled Joryer Trabus, Trefus, etc.) and Janneke Duyster, the latter a daughter of the eminent deacon Barent de Duyster by his second wife Dirkje Smit. But we find no actual documentation for this, and we note that were it true, Sarah Travis would have been born to a 53-year-old father and a 39-year old mother — not impossible, but questionable.

The generally reliable Settlers of the Beekman Patent asserts (without citing a source) that she was a daughter of "Thomas Travis, Jr.", so we have given her father and grandfather as Thomas Travises.