Clara Mabel Packer

Notes:

Died of injuries sustained in a car accident.

Author unknown -- the Relief Society president referred to is Clara Mabel Packer, and the "Lee Crandall" mentioned is her son Lee Alonzo Crandall:

"Grandma Nichols was on the way to the temple for the wedding of her son Lee in the Mesa Temple, when the accident occurred at the corner of Main and Gilbert Road, which was way out in the desert. She was serving as a counselor in the ward Relief Society at the time and she and the Relief Society President were on the way to the temple for the wedding. The RS President was driving the car then they were hit and killed. The wedding had to be postponed until after the funeral. One of the older gentlemen in our ward who became a great friend of mine because he was always studying the gospel and knew the latest discoveries about the Book of Mormon, etc. His name was Lee Crandall, and he was always giving firesides etc. He was awesome. We shared books back and forth and one day we were talking family history and I related mine and he about fell out of his chair -- his mother was the Relief Society President that was driving the car when she and Grandma were hit and killed. Small world isn't it."

According to an account of the life of Clara Packer written by her daughter Zelma (b. 1904), in papers of Paul Leslie Crandall now held by P & T Nielsen Hayden, the accident happened on 10 Oct 1929, and while Viola Nichols died in the hospital three hours after the accident, Clara "was seriously injured and never fully recovered, but was able to come to [the Gilbert Relief Society] meeting on Nov. 5, and did not miss a meeting until the end of the year. She presided for the last time on December 17, 1929."

According to the same account, on 17 Jan 1928 Clara Packer succeeded Barbara Allen as president of the Gilbert Relief Society. Barbara Allen had herself been elected on 13 Jul 1927, but moved to Mesa in January 1928. We believe this Barbara Allen to be, in fact, Clara Packer's daughter-in-law, TNH's grandmother.

Clara married Myron Marcellus Crandall on 22 Dec 1896 in Safford, Graham, Arizona. Myron (son of Hyrum Oscar Crandall and Harriet Guymon) was born on 2 Oct 1875 in Springville, Utah, Utah; died on 11 May 1951 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona; was buried in Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Myron Hamilton Crandall was born on 28 Nov 1897 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; died on 22 Nov 1962 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.
2. Floyd Oscar Crandall was born on 18 Dec 1899 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; died on 4 Nov 1962 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.
3. Paul Leslie Crandall was born on 28 Nov 1901 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; died on 26 Aug 1987 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona; was buried in Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.
4. Zelma Crandall was born about 1904 in Arizona.
5. Loise Crandall was born about 1906 in Arizona.
6. Loree Mary Crandall was born on 6 Apr 1906 in Bisbee, Cochise, Arizona; died on 31 Dec 1978 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.
7. Louis Packer Crandall was born on 7 Nov 1909 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; died on 11 Oct 1974 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.
8. Genevieve Crandall was born on 13 Nov 1911 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; died on 15 Jul 1988 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.
9. Lee Alonzo Crandall was born about 1914 in Arizona.
10. James Clarence Crandall was born on 31 Aug 1922 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona; died on 22 Sep 2002 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona.

Notes:

Posted to findagrave.com by "Sunflower Lady", 7/11/2011:

"[The] Pioneer Band from Safford, Graham, Arizona played at many community events. It was organized in the early 1880's. Alonzo Packer, the bass drum player, who died Friday, March 23, 1917, was the first member of the band to die and his friend, James Fall Freestone, the second. Alonzo's daughter, Charlotte, married James's son, Leonard.

"Alonzo and James lived close to each other. As Alonzo's life drew to a close it was hard to make him stay in bed. When he was urged to lie down and rest he would say, 'No, if I go to bed, I will never get up. When I give up to the bed, that is the end for me'.

"Shortly before he died his old friend, James Freestone, came to see him. He had walked with the aid of his cane the distance of the 20 acre field that separated the two of them, to pay his respects to Alonzo. As he entered the room, he stood for a time looking down upon his friend in bed, then he said 'Well, Lonzo.' Alonzo replied, 'Well, James.' Two short words! That was the only exchange. That was all that needed to be said. A lifetime of meaning and emotion were packed within these few words. Ten days after Alonzo died James also died."

Alonzo married Lydia Ann Parker on 6 Jul 1869 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Lydia (daughter of Solomon Parker and Nancy Jane Welch) was born on 19 Nov 1847 in Ekfrid, Middlesex, Ontario; died on 8 Oct 1918 in Safford, Graham, Arizona; was buried on 10 Oct 1918 in Safford Cemetery, Graham, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Arrived in Salt Lake City on 20 Sep 1856. "Her family had traveled from Canada by oxen and wagon with a group of emigrants who were new members of the Church" [John A. Freestone, The Life and Times of Alonzo Hamilton Packer] -- a phrasing that does not settle the question of whether Lydia Ann Parker's father ever actually joined the Latter-day Saints. The same source does say that Lydia herself "became a member of the Church while living in Canada."

First married, abt 1863, to Henry Levins Powell of Ekfrid, Ontario; by him, one son who died at six months and one daughter, Nancy Jane, b. 8 Apr 1866 in Deweyville, Box Elder, Utah. Henry Powell abandoned her. She was hired by Angelina (Chapman) Packer to work in the boarding house that Angelina and her husband Jonathan Taylor Packer ran in Brigham City; this led to her making the acquaintance of their son Alonzo, and ultimately marrying him. Alonzo adopted Nancy Jane as his own and she took the surname Packer.

Notes:

Joined the LDS in 1836. [On Footings From the Past, citation details below.]

TNH's common ancestor with Boyd K. Packer:

Jonathan Taylor Packer (1817-1889) = Christina Petrina Sundby (1825-1892)
Joseph Alma Packer (1859-1941) = Sarah Adeline Wight (1861-1934)
Ira Wight Packer (1885-1958) = Emma Jensen (1888-1965)
Boyd K. Packer (1924-2015)

Jonathan married Angelina Avilda Champlin on 4 Jan 1840 in Adams County, Illinois. Angelina (daughter of William Sisson Champlin and Mary Ring) was born on 8 Jan 1820 in Hartland, Windsor, Vermont; died on 7 Jan 1893 in Colonia Juárez, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico; was buried in New Colonia Juarez Cemetery, Colonia Juarez, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1818, Vermont

Notes:

He was a sawmill operator. The 1880 census shows him in Deer Lodge, Montana.

Notes provided by John Ira Parker of Elko, Nevada to Laura Greene, 1999, from his family records:

Solomon Parker was born August 25, 1804 in Edwardsburg, Johnston, Ontario, Canada. He was the eighth child of Robert James Parker and Providence Miller. He married first Ann Custin of Preston, second Nancy Welch, and third Mary Catherine Green. Solomon Parker immigrated from Canada to Utah in 1856 and recorded in Journal Histories October 15, 1856 and September 20, 1856 (pages 1-8), "Solomon Parker and family came from Canada as passengers on Capt. Knud Peterson's ox train, which arrived in Great Salt Lake on September 1856. (250 Scandinavians), 14 wagon English emigrants. Left Florence, Nebraska about June 10, 1856. Joseph Parker was also a passenger. While in Canada, Solomon Parker bought on March 5, 1851 100 acres of land from George T. Goodhue in Middlesex. Paid 7 pounds (N 1/2 lot N. Con) Solomon sold on April 28, 1856 100 acres of land to Thomas Cook for 312 pounds 10 shillings. The sale of the land was immediately before his departure for Utah. Solomon Parker spent the last years of his life with a couple of his sons from his marriage to Nancy Welch in Deer Lodge, Montana, and died there May 8, 1884.

[Found on rootsweb] This note written by Lillian Millett on the back of an old family group sheet. This was written to Alfred and Orva Freestone when they were on a mission in Canada where this family originally came from:

"When Solomon Parker died he was in Montana, with a daughter who was not a member of the church. He left his genealogy on these names under his pillow and asked that they be given to Grandma (Lydia Ann Parker his daughter). He said 'Annie will know what to do with these names'. So when Grandma Packer (Lydia Ann) died they were all assembled in the front room at Grandma's house and there some miraculous way, the names fell into Aunt Clara's lap. When they examined them, they were these same names, which she and Aunt Janie then went to Salt Lake temple and did the work. I have had a hard time trying to connect them, as very little explanation was given, but we know they are close relatives, because of what Grandpa Solomon Parker said about them. You can understand my feeling about location and mission in that area.

"I have a record of a land grant to William and Margaret Welch for 400 acres of land. It was petitioned for in New Johnstown (now Cornwall) in 15 May 1797. It was granted on 17 May 1802 in Mountain Dundas. (Lots 24 and 22). This Margaret was the daughter of John Rudeback (a Loyalist). I think we have two Margarets who married Williams but it is not proven. I wonder if it ever will be?"

Solomon married Nancy Jane Welch in Dec 1826. Nancy was born on 7 Jan 1811 in Mountain, Dundas, Ontario; died on 16 Dec 1850 in Ekfrid, Middlesex, Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Given on many unsourced online trees as a daughter of William Welch and Margaret Rudeback (or Rudebach), herself a daughter of John and Catarina Rudeback.

We know her maiden name was Welch from documents such as the death records of her children.

Notes:

Both John A. Freestone and Donna Smith Packer give Moses Packer's mother as Ann Phipps, but Packer researcher Warren Packer says: "In a paper left by Jonathan Taylor Packer, the name of the mother of Moses Packer is given as Margaret. Descendants of Jesse Packer, a brother of Moses, say that the mother of Jesse was Mary Ann Phipps. Records show that Aaron Packer, father of Moses, married Ann Phipps; but we have not been able to find out with certainty the name of Moses' mother."

*****

There's a photograph of a man in a large top hat that is in wide circulation on the internet as an image of Moses Packer. Dozens of copies of it can be found attached to Moses Packer on ancestry.com, geni.com, etc. It also appears in at least one Packer family history volume published by a relative of TNH. Do a Google image search on "Moses Packer" and you'll find it immediately.

Those who believe that this man is Moses Packer should contemplate the fact that the first photographic portraits of human beings were made in 1839. Moses Packer died in 1830.

*****

Common ancestor of TNH and Jeff Flake, former senator from Arizona and Ambassador-to-Turkey-designate, making then fifth cousins:

Moses Packer (1764-1830) = Eve Williams (d. ~1837)
William Hamilton Packer (1815-1875) = Sarah Briggs Allen (1835-1920)
William Ezra Packer (1868-1932) = Emma Elizabeth Foutz (1869-1947)
Joseph Alma Packer (1890-1954) = Blanche Standing (1892-1954)
Wilma Packer (1915-1974) = Leon Almond Hock (1913-1973)
Nerita Hock (b. 1937) = Dean Maeser Flake (b. 1931)
Jeffry Lane Flake (b. 1962)

Moses married Eve Williams about 1791 in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Eve (daughter of Abraham Williams and Sarah) died after 9 Jul 1837. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to a spirit-duplicated document in the papers of Paul Leslie Crandall (d. 1987), probably written by Warren Packer, Eve Williams was "said to have lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania at the time of her marriage to Moses Packer."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 16 Apr 1794, West Green River, Vermont
• Alternate birth: 16 Apr 1794, Shelburne, Chittenden, Vermont

Notes:

Note that no town called "West Green River" or "Green River" exists in New Hampshire. There is a river called the Green River in Vermont.

Wikipedia page about the Haun's Mill massacre here.

Posted to ancestry.com by "genealogy_man":

1836. William Sisson CHAMPLIN (Mercy SISSON, William, William, Thomas, George, Richard) was born 16 Apr 1794 in Shelburne, Vermont. He died 29 Jan 1861 in Lehi, Utah, Utah.

From Cheri Hardisty:

William Sisson Champlin and his family joined the Mormon Church in the 1830's and migrated to Missouri. He was the son of Joseph Champlin of Westerly, Rhode Island, and Mercy Sisson of Stonington, CT.

The Sissons settled in Independence, Missouri, and were driven out of that area along with the other Mormons. They subsequently located themselves in Clay County Missouri until the Mormons were driven out of there, and then located in Caldwell County, Missouri. Caldwell County was set up at that time by the government, as a county specifically for the Mormons to live in, in order to avoid further conflicts. However, there were some of the old settlers who remained in the county, and they were not happy to have the Mormons as neighbors. You see, Missouri was a slave state, and the Mormons were opposed to slavery. So the aim of the old settlers was to expel the Mormons from the state to ensure the state remained pro-slavery.

William Sisson and his family lived at a place called Haun's Mill. It was a Mormon settlement, but not a very large one. The largest Mormon settlement in Caldwell County was Far West which had about 5,000 residents. The Mormons were aware of the rising hostilities against them, and as a result, the Prophet Joseph Smith counseled those at Haun's Mill to come to Far West for safety. It was October 30th, 1838. William and his family were concerned about having food to last them through the winter at Far West, and so in preparation to go there, they were digging up carrots that day. As they did so, the mob rode in on horseback, and a massacre ensued. A couple of days after the massacre, the Governor of Missouri, Governor Boggs, issued his famous "extermination order" which resulted in the Mormons fleeing to Illinois for safety. The extermination order called for the Mormons to be driven from the state, or exterminated if necessary. (After Joseph Smith was murdered in Illinois, Brigham Young took the reins of leadership of the church, and in 1847, the Mormons began their famous pioneer trek to Salt Lake City, an area which was not desirable to others, in hopes that at last they would be able to live in peace.)

When the mob arrived at Haun's Mill, the women and children fled into the woods for safety, and the men ran into the blacksmith shop, and attempted to defend the settlement from that position. The blacksmith shop, however, was made of hewn logs, and there were cracks (the crack width being about 2") between the logs. The Mob came right up to the blacksmith shop and poked the barrels of their rifles through those cracks and opened fire on those inside. William Sisson Champlin was inside. And when the massacre was over, there were only two survivors from inside the blacksmith shop.

William was a smart man. When he saw what was happening, he laid down on the floor, and as his comrades fell to the ground, dead, he pulled their bodies over the top of his own, and pretended he was dead. When the mob rushed into the blacksmith shop after opening fire, they saw that William had new boots on his feet, and they wanted those boots. He allowed them to take the boots, all the while pretending he was dead, and as a result, he lived, and for the rest of his days, he was known as "Old Possum". His wife and children who had fled into the woods also survived.

William married Mary RING "Polly", daughter of Reuben RING and Anna, on 28 Mar 1816 in Hartland, Windsor, Vermont. They had the following children:

3724 F i
Sarah CHAMPLIN.
3725 M ii
William Jefferson CHAMPLIN was born 1820.
3726 M iii
Joseph Albert CHAMPLIN was born 1825.
3727 M iv
Alonzo CHAMPLIN was born 1827.
3728 F v
Angelina Avilda CHAMPLIN was born 8 Jan 1828 in Hartland, Vinson, Vermont.
+ 3729 F vi
Mary Jane CHAMPLIN was born 20 May 1830 and died 1 Nov 1906.
3730 F vii
Margaret Emma CHAMPLIN was born about 1833.

William married Mary Ring on 28 Mar 1816 in Hartland, Windsor, Vermont. Mary (daughter of Reuben French Ring and Nancy Reed) was born in 1794 in Old Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 3 Apr 1871 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Apr 1871, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Notes:

Sometimes recorded as Mary Polly Ring, or Mary "Polly" Ring.

Deseret News, 12 April 1871:

DIED. — At Brigham City, at the residence of Bro. J. T. Packer, from the effects of canker, Mary Champlin, aged 77 years, on the 3rd instant.

Deceased was born at Old Salisbury, Essex county, Mass.; embraced the gospel with her husband at Brooklin, Susquehanna County, Penn., in 1832, while Martin Harris and his brother were preaching there. On their journey to the Far West they were stopped by a mob and survived the memorable scenes at "Haun's Mill." Of those who remained at the blacksmith shop, Bro. Champlin was the only one who escaped death, and was saved by the brethren falling on him. One of the mob, however, discovered him, and said "by h__l there is yet one man who is not killed, let us finish him;" while another said, "It is time we were off," which created a panic, and all fled. He guarded off the guns of the mob which, through the shop walls, were aimed at the little boy of Bro. Warren Smith, who was at last so brutally murdered by them. He subsequently lived in Nauvoo, Ill., was with the Saints in the general exodus from there and, with his family, reached Salt Lake Valley in 1849, and died ten years ago. Sister Champlin, the deceased, was without the sight of her eyes for the last five years of her life. The interment has just taken place to-day, at 3 p.m., and has been largely attended.

Notes:

Arrived in Canada, 1796, where he took the Loyalist oath of allegiance. [Ontario People: 1796-1803 by E. Keith Fitzgerald. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993.]

Robert married Providence Miller. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]