Chapter 6: Separate Ways

As February turned to March, the snow in the Valley receded to the hills.  But for frequent spring squalls, warmer weather was fast approaching and the rising water in the streams told of the declining snow pack.  Even though the high passes into the Salt Lake Valley would not be open for travel until May, the Saints were restless.  Anticipation grew much like the green grass around their newly constructed homes.  What would the army do?  Would the Saints be asked to leave their newly established homes and flee to the desolation to the west or into uninviting sage brush valleys to the south?  Would Brigham Young really set fire to the city they had all worked so hard to build?  

While 1858 began with both uncertainty and optimism, by mid-summer a peace had been negotiated and Johnston’s Army had passed through the City on to their camp west of Utah Lake.   Life settled into the routine but important business of day to day living.

Peter Christensen and his new bride, began their new life together in East Mill Creek.  Within a year, the now 5 year old George Armstrong was blessed with a baby brother, Peter James Christensen, born 15 of November, 1858.(1)  We do not know where this young couple lived during their time at East Mill Creek.  They both had extended family living in the community and may have lived with or adjacent to the Chappells or the Christensens.  Jeppe, Peter’s father, widowed early on the trek across the plains (2) remarried Ellen Troff in 1856.  Unfortunately, she developed ill health and was unable to help much with Peter’s young siblings.   Anna Maria would have been a source of help to her extended family for a time, but her advancing pregnancy would have made helping more a challenge in the later months of 1858.  With Ellen’s health failing, Jeppe, took a second wife, 18 year old Elsie Sorenson, in late 1859. Shortly after, Ellen passed away. (3) 

At about this same time, Jeppe moved his family over 100 miles south to Moroni in Sanpete County.  While Nephi may have been his original destination, Moroni became his home. (4)  By 1859, San Pete County had become the gathering place for many of the Scandinavians saints.  Many struggled learning English, and as such, tended to congregate together.  (By 1870, Scandinavians compromised 80% of the county population) (5) The lure of settling among his fellow Danes was likely the motivation for him continuing on to San Pete County rather than his origin destination of Nephi.  Jeppe Christensen and new bride, Elsie Sorensen, had their first child together, Caroline Christensen, born 21 May, 1860, in Moroni, Utah. (6)   Once settled in Moroni,  Jeppe and Elsie remained the rest of their lives, Jeppe passing away in Moroni on December 30, 1889.(7)  The much younger Elsie, who remarried Francis William Scott in 1892,(8) remained in Moroni until she died in 1932.(9)

Sanpete, Utah

While Peter and Anna Maria remained in East Mill Creek the first year of their marriage  (their first child being born there in November of 1858) by 1860 they had joined Jeppe  and his family in Moroni .  Their second child, Euella Nellie Maria Christensen, was born in Moroni, San Pete County, Utah on December 15, 1860.(10)  Their small son, Peter, later in life would relate that the family moved to San Pete in December when there was a lot of snow.  (11) George Armstrong said goodbye to his grandparents and East Mill Creek relatives.  Bundled in blankets, tucked alongside his young mother, Danish step-father and little brother, the young boy headed south. 

While it must have been hard for Thomas and Sarah to say goodbye to Peter and Anna Marie and their grandchildren, they were not the first of the family to have left the Salt Lake Valley in search of a new life.

The California Connection

The choice to follow the council of Brigham Young and stay in Utah, or seek a better life in California was pivotal in the life of Edwin Chappell, Uncle to George Armstrong Chappell, Jr.  In the early months of 1848, gold was discovered near Sutter’s Fort along the American River in Northern California.  About 40 members of the Mormon Battalion (a company of Mormon soldiers recruited in Iowa who traveled to fight against Mexico in 1846, only to arrive in California after the war had already ended) were working for Sutter at the time and were present for this momentous event.  Traveling on to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, they brought with them not only news of the discovery, but also a sizable load of precious cargo.  This made no small stir among the struggling Saints.  The following is a summary of these events by Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his 1889 book “History of Utah, 1540-1886”:

Sutter's Mill 

  “ In September 1847 about forty of the battalion men arrived at Sutter's Fort in search of employment and were hired by Sutter to dig the races for a flour mill about six miles from the fort and for a saw-mill some forty-five miles distant. 42 The latter work being completed in January 1848, and the frame of the building erected, water was turned into the flume on the 24th, and the fall being considerable, washed out a hole near the base of the mill on reaching the tail-race, whereupon Marshall, Sutter's partner, and superintendent of the party, examined the spot, fearing that the water would undermine the foundations. While thus engaged, he observed there pieces of yellow glistening metal, and picking up a handful put them in his pocket, not knowing what they were, and supposing probably that he had found nothing more valuable than iron pyrites.”

   “ They were no iron pyrites, however, that Marshall had found, but, as it proved, nuggets of gold, the largest of them being worth about five dollars. The discovery was revealed in confidence to three of the saints, who unearthed a few more specimens, and soon afterward removed to a sand-bar in the Sacramento river, since known as Mormon Island. Here was gold in paying quantities, the average earnings of each man being twenty to thirty dollars per day. But though dust and nuggets were freely shown to the brethren, there were few who would believe their senses, and for weeks the matter caused no excitement. At length, however, the secret was disclosed, which soon transformed the peaceful valleys of California into busy mining camps, changing as if by magic the entire face of the country. How throughout the settlements on seaboard and on river the merchant abandoned his wares, the lawyer his clients, the parson his flock, the doctor his patients, the farmer his standing grain—all making one mad rush for the gold-fields, some on horseback, some with pack-mules, some with wheelbarrows, some with costly outfits, and some with no outfit save the clothes on their backs—is fully set forth in my History of California.”

    “When the disbanded soldiers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake and displayed their treasures, a cry was raised among the saints, "To California; to the land of Ophir that our brethren have discovered!" But from the twelve came a stern rebuke. "The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses, and making culinary dishes; and when the saints shall have preached the gospel, raised grain, and built up cities enough, the Lord will open the way for a supply of gold to the perfect satisfaction of his people. Until then, let them not be over-anxious, for the treasures of the earth are in the Lord's storehouse, and he will open the doors thereof when and where he pleases." 43

    “President John Smith wrote to the saints in California in March 1848, urging them to gather at the Great Salt Lake, "that they might share in the blessings to be conferred on the faithful; and warned them against settling down at ease in California with an eye and a half upon this world and its goods, and half an eye dimly set towards Zion on account of the high mountains and the privations to be endured by the saints."

    "If we were to go to San Francisco and dig up chunks of gold," said Brigham to the returned battalion on the 1st of October, 1848, "or find it in the valley, it would ruin us." In an address on the sabbath he said: "I hope the gold mines will be no nearer than eight hundred miles…There is more delusion and the people are more perfectly crazy on this continent than ever before…If you elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines, go and be damned. If you go, I would not give a picayune to keep you from damnation." 44 "I advise the corrupt, and all who want, to go to California and not come back, for I will not fellowship them…Prosperity and riches blunt the feelings of man. If the people were united, I would send men to get the gold who would care no more about it than the dust under their feet, and then we would gather millions into the church…] Some men don't want to go after gold, but they are the very men to go." (12)

California Gold

A few companies departed and were asked in all kindness never to return. "If they have a golden god in their hearts," said Brigham, "they had better stay where they are.”   But the majority of the settlers were well content to abide in the valley, building up towns, planting farms, and tending stock in their land of promise. (13)

Even though only a small number left Utah to go to California, the Saints in Utah, certainly, knew life was a lot easier there.  Nearly everyone was involved in some type of agriculture.  Farming and/or ranching was the primary occupation of most of the Saints, and for those who weren’t primarily farmers, the family garden or orchard was a big part of their lives. If gold weren’t enough, how can you compare the warm, pleasant climate of California with the high deserts of Utah?  Winters were long, growing seasons short, water limited and hardship the norm.  The following account is telling:

“A company was organized in March 1851, at the suggestion of Brigham, to go to California and form the nucleus of a settlement in the Cajon Pass, where they should cultivate the olive, grape, sugar-cane, and cotton, gather around them the saints, and select locations on the line of a proposed mail route.47 The original intention was to have twenty in this company, with Amasa M. Lyman and C. C. Rich in charge. The number, however, reached over five hundred, and Brigham's heart failed him as he met them at starting. "I was sick at the sight of so many of the saints running to California, chiefly after the god of this world, and was unable to address them"(14)

Edwin Chappell, age 16 and living with the family in East Mill Creek in the 1850 Utah Territory Census, is absent in 1860.  Certainly, a young man in his late teens or early twenties would have felt the pull of California more than most.  The thoughts of gold and the adventures of California must have played over and over in his mind as the many wagon trains came in and out of Salt Lake City on their way to California.  It would have been very easy to join one of these companies and seek a better life in the land of endless summer, oceans and gold.

Oregontrailcenter.org

In the 1860 California Census, an Edwin Chappell, age 25, born in Connecticut, is found living northeast of the San Francisco Bay in Hot Springs, Napa, California - a day laborer – and is most surely the son of Thomas and Sarah Chappell of Utah.  It would appear the lure of California was a bit too much for this young man.  While details of Edwin’s life in California is sparse, in the 1870 California Census he is associated with the Stubblefield family, is a farm laborer, widower and father of 4 year old, Serena.  This Stubblefield family seems to have been an important part of his life in that the 1860 California Census also lists him alongside the Stubblefields.  He is living in Santa Barbara, California, between San Francisco and Las Angeles, both in both 1870 and 1880 California Census.  In 1880, Serena, now age 14 is living with her farmer father and, again, the two of them are still a part of the Stubblefield family. 

It is unknown if he maintained any contact with his family in Utah.   The descendants of George Armstrong Chappell, Jr., would relate in later years that part of the Chappell family had left Utah and moved to California, but it was not until recently that some understanding of Edwin’s fate came to light.

Serena Chappell, daughter of Edwin Chappell, married Charles J. Heacox.  The two resided in Santa Barbara and later Santa Clara, California, and never had any children.(California Census: 1900,1920, 1930)  It would appear the California line of Chappell relatives ended with the death of Serena Chappell Heacox on 5 Feb 1951. (15)

While Edwin’s decision to move to California essentially removed him from further interaction with his family in Utah and the LDS Church, of even greater impact on the family were the decisions of Thomas and Sarah in the early 1860’s.

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-Day Saints

As has already been mentioned, at the time of the death of Joseph Smith, most of the Latter-Day Saints followed Brigham Young to Utah.  Of those that remained in the Midwest, the majority initially followed James Strang.  However, many became unhappy with his leadership and had already broken with him before he died of an assassin’s wound in 1856.  Prior to his death, he did not name a successor and there was a movement for a “New Organization” of the church, led by Jason Briggs, Zenos Gurley and William Marks, in which many believed Joseph Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III, should be the leader. While he was initially resistant to the idea, in 1860 he reported that God had inspired him to accept the appointment of president and was officially sustained such on April 6, 1860 in Amboy, Illinois. (16)

Joseph Smith, III (resorationbookstore.org)

While maintaining a belief in the divine calling of Joseph Smith, Jr, the new church, The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) rejected Joseph’s 1843 revelation implementing polygamy as well other later doctrines taught by the Prophet.  Under Joseph Smith III’s direction, a missionary effort was initiated one of the early efforts of which was to Utah to preach among those who had followed Brigham Young.

In 1863, Edmund C. Briggs, brother to RLDS Apostle, Jason Briggs, along with fellow missionary Alexander McCord, traveled to Utah arriving in Salt Lake City on August 7, 1863.  Needless to say, Brigham Young was none to welcoming to the visiting missionaries and told them he would warn the people not to receive them or listen to their teachings. (17)

Undaunted, the two set out to reclaim the “Brighamites” from their folly and by mid-October of that year had baptized 20 and had many more believing in their words. (18)   On January 26, 1864 a branch was organized in Salt Lake City with 39 members. At the time the first conference of the RLDS Church was held in Salt Lake City on April 6, 1864, that number had grown to 100 in Salt Lake City, 52 in Provo, and 30 in Ogden. (19)  Among those listed in the Salt Lake City Branch were Thomas and Sarah Chappell, Mary E Phelps and all the children.  Also noted was Benjamin Gavitt, Sarah’s brother. (20)

While we do not know the exact date of their baptism, we do know that the family was one of the first to welcome Elders Briggs and McCord into their homes and that Sarah, if not all of the family, was baptized by Elder McCord. (21)  Also accepting the message of the missionaries was Thomas and Sarah’s daughter, Lucy Chappell Thomas.  She, along with her husband, Solomon Thomas and children, were baptized into the RLDS Church May 15, 1864. (22) 

Edmund C. Briggs

Alexander McCord (iagenweb.org)

Considering the RLDS stance against polygamy and its aggressive teaching against this practice, it seems a bit unusual that Thomas, a practicing polygamist, along with his wives and children would so readily part with Brigham Young and the Utah Church.  Perhaps embracing the RLDS provided a way out of a situation that had become intolerable for Sarah and Mary, two women separated not only by age (29 years) but also by cultural background -  Sarah from New England and Mary from Arkansas.  Regardless of the reasons, Thomas Chappell and his extended Utah family converted to the RLDS faith.  

While we have no bill of divorcement, the polygamous relationship between Thomas Chappell and his second wife Mary Elizabeth Wardrop, must surely have been terminated prior to joining the new religion.   Keeping the family together, Thomas’ brother-in-law, Benjamin Gavitt, took Mary Elizabeth to wife.  Marriage records indicate they were married in 1863 in Iowa. (23)  However, we know from RLDS records that the families were still in Utah in April 1864. (24)  Also, legal records indicate Thomas and Benjamin sold their property in Salt Lake City in March 1864.(25)  Considering their first child was born in November 1864,(26) we can assume Mary Elizabeth and Benjamin were married in Utah sometime before February of 1864.

Unlike those who joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints led by Brigham Young, the new converts of the RLDS Church were encouraged by their Prophet and President, Joseph Smith, III, to not gather in one place.  Having experienced the persecutions of the early days when the Saints gathered to one central location, he felt it best for the members to remain and build up the church where they lived. (27)  However, this was a hard sell in Utah.

Brigham Young (www.pbs.org)

The missionaries from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were not well received by Brigham Young and the majority of the Utah Saints. (28)  The same can be said of those who chose to join them.  Feeling unwelcome and unwanted, most new converts left Utah and returned to the East. (29).  In preparation for their move east, Thomas Chappell and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Gavitt, sold their property in Salt Lake City on March 14, 1864. (30)  Thomas and Sarah’s daughter, Lucy, and her husband, Solomon Thomas, joined the RLDS in Utah in May of 1864,(31) Assuming the families would have wanted to travel together, we can speculate that the families left for Iowa in May of 1864.  The mountains to the east would have been snow bound until May and would not have allowed earlier travel out of the Salt Lake Valley.

 After 15 years in Utah, the Chappell family was gone.  However, much like a stray seed that falls to the side when the bundle has been gathered and taken, the young George Armstrong Christensen Chappell, far away in San Pete, remained the sole descendent of Thomas and Sarah in Utah.  In the rough, rugged valleys to the south, from this seed would grow a major branch on the Thomas Chappell Family tree. 

1.      LDS Church records as found on New.familysearch. org

2.      Christian J. Larsen in his journal entry of May 26,1854, writes that Jeppe Christensen”s wife died.   May 26. This morning at 8 o'clock I called the people together for the first time since we left Kansas City and we had prayer, singing and preaching, as we had been used to on board the ships. We had anothermeeting in the evening at 6 o'clock. The wife of Jeppe [or Jesse] died.  Marilyn Christensen, Christensen Family History

3.      Marilyn Christensen, Christensen Family History

4.      Marilyn Christensen, Christensen Family History

5.      Albert C.T. Antrie and Allen D. Roberts: A History of Sanpete County.  On line at: http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/USHSArchPub&CISOPTR=8167,

6.      Birth record (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

7.      (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

8.      (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

9.      (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

10.   Birth record (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

11.   Life History of Peter Christensen as quoted in book: Lyman Town Centenial, 1895-1995, p. 115

12.   Hubert Howe Bancroft, “History of Utah, 1540-1886”, 1889, The History Company, San Francisco, California, www.utlm.org/onlinebooks, pp. 301-303.

13.   Hubert Howe Bancroft, “History of Utah, 1540-1886”, 1889, The History Company, San Francisco, California, www.utlm.org/onlinebooks, pp. 301-303.

14.    Hubert Howe Bancroft, “History of Utah, 1540-1886” p.320.

15.   California Death Records, Serena Heacox, as found on www.ancestry.com.

16.   http://www.watchman.org/profile/rldspro.htm

17.   Smith, Joseph and Smith, Heman. History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1896, Vol. 3, 1844-1872  pp. 329-330 as found at: http://www.centerplace.org/history/ch/vol3.htm

18.   History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1896,Vol. 3, p 333

19.   History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Vol. 3, pp. 372-373

20.   Church list in Salt Lake City, 1864, RLDS Library –Archives, PO Box 1059, Independence MO, 64051

21.   Obituary of Sarah Chappell, True L. D. Saints’ Herold, 1873, Vol 21: 29, RLDS Library -  Archives, PO Box 1059, Independence, MO, 64051

22.   Branch membership records, Hillsdale Branch, Mills County, Iowa; , RLDS Library –Archives, PO Box 1059, Independence MO, 64051

23.   Marriage Record, (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

24.   Church list in Salt Lake City, 1864, RLDS Library –Archives, PO Box 1059, Independence MO, 64051

25.   Bill of Sale of property, Salt Lake City, 1864

26.   Birth record (? Ref) (new.familiysearch.org)

27.   Howard, Richard, Encyclopedia on Mormonism, p. 1213, MacMillan, 1992

28.   RLDS History, Vol. 3, pp. 329-330

29.   RLDS History, Vol. 3, pp. 376-77)

30.   Bill of Sale of property, Salt Lake City, 1864

31.   Branch membership records, Hillsdale Branch, Mills County, Iowa; , RLDS Library –Archives, PO Box 1059, Independence MO, 6405

Dean Chappell, great grandson of George and Aurilla Chappell, at the grave of Sarah Gavitt Chappell, Hillsdale Cemetery, Iowa. Also buried in the Hillsdale Cemetery are Lucy and Solomon Thomas and some of their children and grandchildren. We don't know where or when Thomas Chappell died.

Chapter 5: New Lives

Early photo of Salt Lake City looking east toward the Wasatch

The year 1854 was a year of great changes for the Chappell family.  George Armstrong Chappell, eldest son and companion to his father in so many difficult times –embracing a new and controversial religion, leaving friends and family in the East, crossing a continent in a covered wagon, building a home, clearing and cultivating a farm, carving out a place in a wild land - passed away on February 6, 1854 at the age of 32 (1).  The cause of death is unknown, but given the time of year, a respiratory infection such as influenza complicated by pneumonia would be the most likely.  Also, cholera, which had so decimated the Dunsdon famiy, may have afflicted Anna Maria again in taking her husband.   Other illnesses known to take the otherwise young and healthy included appendicitis, or cellulitis from a cut or scratch.  Regardless of the cause, one can only imagine the heart ache the family must have felt.  His young wife, six months pregnant with their first child, must have felt particularly alone and vulnerable.  Thomas and Sarah would have been a source of comfort to Maria, but they too, would have been dealing with great grief.  Surely this was a difficult time as in the grips of winter, this young woman, still just a child, buried her husband and prepared to give birth.

George Armstrong Chappell, Jr. was born April 29, 1854, in East Mill Creek, Utah Territory.  The aching hearts of those still mourning the loss of his father must have surely been comforted by the birth of this baby boy.  Named after his father, this newest member of the family would have brought a beam of light into the Chappell home, much like the spring April sun chasing away the cold, dark days of winter.  Anna Maria and the baby continued to live with Thomas and Sarah Marie, however, the birth of a new grandchild was not to be the only addition to their family that year. 

Each year many wagon companies carrying thousands of new immigrants would come into Salt Lake City. These were people from all walks of life and from many different countries. Most were fellow members of the Church, but with the discovery of gold in California in 1849, thousands of “gentiles” passed through on their way west. While immigrants, like the Weech family, were certainly an ongoing part of the Chappell’s lives, a non-Mormon company from Arkansas passing through Salt Lake that summer of 1854 on their way to California changed the Chappell family forever.

Mary Elizabeth Wardrop was born in Tennessee in roughly 1832.  At a young age she married Jeremiah Phelps in Sebastian County, Arkansas, and with him had two children, Sarah Ann Phelps, born in 1851, and George Washington Phelps, born in 1852, both in Arkansas.  In 1853, the family left Arkansas for California.  Their route of travel took them through Salt Lake City arriving on July 4th of that year. While in Salt Lake City, she and the children left Jeremiah and sought refuge among the Mormons citing that he had “neglected to provide for her and her two children those things that were necessary to make them comfortable insomuch that she has been forced to leave him and seek a home among strangers with her children”. (2)

Mary Elizabeth Wardrop Phelps and her children became acquainted with the Chappell family during their time in Salt Lake City with Thomas assisting her with her divorce the following year. (Thomas Chappell signed the court summons for Jeremiah Phelps to appear in court in the matter of the divorce, Salt Lake County, June 15, 1854).  Polygamy was being openly practiced among the Latter-Day Saints at that time and sometime thereafter, Mary Elizabeth became Thomas’ second wife.  With this union, the Thomas Chappell family added three new members and   over the next several years added three more as  Mary and Thomas would have three children together.   (In the 1860 Utah Territory Census, Mary Elizabeth along with her two children from her first marriage, Sarah Ann and George Washington, was living with the Chappell family in East Mill Creek.  New to the family was Susan, age 4, Henry T., age 2 and infant James E., three new children born  to Thomas Chappell and Mary Elizabeth Wardrop Phelps Chappell - 1860 US Census, as found on www.ancestry.com).

Mary Elizabeth Wardrop Phelps, Second wife of Thomas Chappell

 

Arriving later that year, in the fall 1854, a Danish immigrant family moved into the community.  Jeppe Christensen, a widower having lost his wife on the trek, along with his 7 children settled in Mill Creek. They were all part of the Hans Peter Olsen Company of 1854 that arrived in the Valley on October 5th. (3) Their eldest son, 18, was Peter Christensen, future second husband of Anna Maria Dunsdon Chappell. (4)

Like the Chappell’s, Sperry’s, Sidwell’s and Dunsdon’s, the Christensen’s had also made great sacrifices to come to Zion.  Joining the Church in their native Denmark, they were among the first large group of Scandinavian Saints to immigrate to Utah leaving Denmark in late December 1853 or early January 1854.  Persecutions were intense and the urge to gather with the Saints in America was great.  While the financial status of the Jeppe Christensen family is unknown, apparently, many of these early Danish immigrants were people of means.  In an act of true Christian charity, many of the well-to-do helped those less fortunate members pay for the journey to Zion.  Traveling by ship to Hull, Great Britain, they took a train on to Liverpool where they were part of the 454 LDS passengers on board the Jesse Munn when it set sail from Liverpool on January 5, 1954. (5) After a uncomplicated voyage, they arrived in New Orleans February 20, proceeded up the Mississippi River and eventually on to Kansas City, the designated outfitting place for the Saints that year.  (Please see the full summary of this voyage indexed at the end of this chapter.) (6)

While illness and death was not as prevalent among the Christensen’s and those with whom they traveled, cholera was still stalking the travelers and taking many.  Sadness, loss and sorrow would also be there’s to bare. On May 26, 1854, Christian J. Larsen in his journal records, “This morning at 8 o’clock I called the people together for the first time since we left Kansas City and we had prayer, singing and preaching, as we had been used to on board the ships.  We had another meeting in the evening at 6 o’clock.  The wife of Jeppe (or Jesse) Christensen died. “(7)  Karen Christensen, wife and mother, was gone at the young age of 46.

Like most of the European Saints, these Danish members were not used to travel.  For many, a trip to the market in the next town had been their longest journey prior to setting out for the western United States.(8)  How strange this land of America must have appeared; and how “big” it must have been.  Surely they were amazed as they traveled day and after day up the mighty Mississippi River, on to the Missouri River, and finally to Kansas City.  Having come from the wooded mountains of Denmark, the rolling prairie of western Missouri must have seems almost overwhelming as they contemplated the task of heading out into this wild wide open land.  Many traveling with the Hans Peter Olsen Company mentioned in their journals the buffalo that would at times come near their camp. Many also mentioned the Indian troubles they encountered near Fort Laramie.  While concerns were high, other than losing a few cattle, the company came through without suffering any serious Indian attacks. (9)

Mountains must have been a welcome sight for many, or at least not something worthy of concern.  Very few of the travelers mentioned the mountainous terrain they would have encountered through Wyoming and on to Utah.  Travel through the rugged Wasatch is also not mentioned in the trail excerpts of those who were to pen their experiences of the trek.  Perhaps, by this point in the journey, the anticipation of finally arriving in their new home was such that little else impressed upon their minds.  Many do, however, mention the wagons sent from the valley with provisions that began arriving in mid-September while they were still a good three weeks away from the Valley.  The hungry travelers received this food with great appreciation. (10) 

On October 5, 1854, the weary travelers rolled into the Salt Lake Valley.  In anticipation of the arriving Saints, arrangements were already being made to provide employment for the new arrivals and shelter for the fast approaching winter. (11)  The Christensen family found employment and shelter for the coming winter in Mill Creek.

While we have no written record of the interactions that may have occurred between the two families, we can assume the Chappell and Christensen families were familiar with each other.  Surely Peter quickly became aware of and had early interactions with the young widowed Anna Maria and her small, growing baby boy.  Over three years would pass between Peter’s arrival in Mill Creek and their eventual marriage on January 3, 1858. (12)

During that time, Peter was a busy young man. This young Dane must have made an impression on Brigham Young and other church leaders in that family records indicate he worked for Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff and other Church leaders.  He also made two trips to the Missouri River to help immigrants travel to Utah.(13)

In the summer of 1857, word came to Utah that an army was being sent by the United States government to destroy the Mormons.  This army of some 2500 soldiers under the command of General Albert S. Johnston was coming to Utah by order of President James Buchanan. Unfortunately, due to the poor communications of the day, the authorities in the East thought the Mormons were in open “rebellion” against the United States and that it would take armed confrontation in order to replace Governor Brigham Young with a new, government assigned governor.  This same lack of communication lead the Mormons to believe the army was coming to destroy them and their settlements. Uncertainty and fear gripped the colonies throughout Utah.  The Mormons were in Utah as a result of having been forced to leave their homes first in Ohio, then Missouri, and finally, Illinois.  Having enjoyed 10 years of relative freedom from persecution, they once again prepared for conflict.  

The resulting confrontation, known as the “Utah War”, lasted roughly a year from the summer of 1857 to the summer of 1858.  Never intending to force an armed showdown with the US troops, Brigham Young and the Mormons mobilized local militia to meet and delay the army far to the east while further preparations were being made in Utah.  These preparations included defenses in the local mountain passes and contingency plans to move the whole population of Salt Lake City to more rural parts of the territory. (14)

Peter was part of a militia assigned to prepare and defend Echo Canyon, the main route coming into Utah from southwestern Wyoming. Years later, John Broom, brother-in-law to Peter Christensen (he was husband of Hester Dunsdson, Anna Maria’s sister) would describe his efforts as follows:

“We organized ourselves into military companies, and went out one hundred and fifty miles to meet them before they could reach the Valley.  Now the advantage we had of them was not in numbers, but it was in the knowledge we possessed of the canyons, and passes in the mountains through which they would need to pass…. In these canyons and passes we fortified ourselves in some places in the canyons.  The passage was so narrow between the precipitous sides of the mountains, that there was barely room for a wagon to pass through.  We dug out trenches in this canyon in which we could conceal ourselves from the enemy and high up on each side of the walls.  In places where there was room to stand and work, we piled up rocks to hurl down on the heads of the army, had it undertaken to pass through the narrow defile..” (15)

The delay tactics were sufficient in slowing Johnston’s Army such that they had to set up winter quarters near Fort Bridger some 40 miles east of the present day Utah border and the top of Echo Canyon.  As winter set in, the Saints in the Valley also settled in for the winter knowing there would be no confrontation with this “invading army” at least until late the following spring when the mountain passes would again be open.

Johnston's Army

Satisfied the threat was not imminent, Peter Christensen along with the other militia guarding the canyons returned to their homes.  Now back in East Mill Creek, Peter had the opportunity to pursue his relationship with the lovely Anna Maria Dunston Chappell. The young English widow and handsome Dane married January 3, 1858. Establishing a new home together in East Mill Creek, the newlyweds and 4 year old George Armstrong faced an uncertain New Year.  Would they be driven from their homes like so many of the early Saints before them?  Where would 1859 find them?  Surely, Anna Maria, so familiar with heart ache, approached her new life with concern.  Or, perhaps, in her heart she sensed what only God knew – their future together would be long and full. While not without challenges, the dark days of her youth would not be again. 

1.       Family Genealogy Records

2.      Mary Elizabeth Phelps vs. Jeremiah Phelps, Bill for Divorce,  12 of June 1854, Utah Territory

3.      Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 , Hans Peter Olsen Company of 1854, http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources

4.      Death Certificate, Perry Christensen, 1905, Juab County, Utah

5.      Passenger list and history of the Jess Munn as found on http://www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration

6.      Jesse Munn, A Compilation of General Voyage Notes as found on: http://www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration.   "SIXTY-NINTH COMPANY. -- Jesse Munn, 333 Souls. This company of Saint were all from the Scandinavian Mission. Quite a number of the recently made converts to 'Mormonism' in Denmark possessed considerable means, and as the spirit of emigrating to America was universal in all the branches in Scandinavia from the beginning, the well-to-do Saints made almost immediate preparations to sell their property and wend their way Zionward. The incessant persecutions, which prevailed against the members of the true church in nearly all parts of the country, also increased the desire to emigrate; and rather than tarry, a number preferred to sell their homes at half price, if by so doing they could only obtain sufficient means to defray the expenses of the journey. Under these circumstances the spirit of brotherly love also manifested itself in its noblest form, and under its divine influence the rich Saints remembered their poor fellow religionists, and extended to them that material help and succor, which has always characterized the Saints of the Most High. Thus, hundreds of the poor, whose chances to emigrate with their own means, were almost beyond reasonable expectation , were assisted by their wealthier brethren to go to Zion. Through the column of 'Scandinavians Stjerne,' the Church organ in Scandinavia, plain and minute instructions were given to the emigrants, who nearly all were unacquainted with the incidents of travel. In fact, there were many among them, who during all their previous experience in life, had never had occasion to go farther from their homes than to the nearest market town. Thus, as a matter of course, it was no easy task for the elders who presided over the different branches and conferences of the mission to plan and arrange everything for the emigrants, and especially was the burden heavy which rested upon the presiding brethren in Copenhagen where the headquarters of the mission were located. In the latter part of December, 1852, however, President John Van Cott succeeded in making the necessary contracts for transportation, etc., and in the afternoon of December 22, 1853, the first emigrant company of the season, and the third shipload of Saints from Scandinavia, three hundred strong, set sail from Copenhagen on board the steamship 'Slevig' under the presidency of a young elder by the name of Christian Larsen, who now acts as bishop of one of the wards in Logan, Cache County. A large concourse of people had assembled on the wharf to witness the departure of the 'Mormons,' and a great deal of bitterness and hard feelings were manifested. When Elder P. O. Hansen, after the vessel had left the harbor, was walking back to the mission office, he was followed by a mob who knocked him down and pounded him considerably about the head. He lost a quantity of blood, but received no dangerous injuries. By way of Kiel, Gluckstadt and Hull the emigrants reached Liverpool England, in safety, on the twenty-eighth of December, and on the first of January, 1854, they went on board the ship Jesse Munn, which had been chartered by the presidency in Liverpool, for the transportation of the Scandinavian Saints, in connection with a few German Saints, which swelled the total number of souls to three hundred and thirty-three. The company sailed from Liverpool on the third, and after a prosperous voyage arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River on the sixteenth of February. During the voyage twelve of the emigrants died, namely: two adults and ten children; three couples were married. On Monday February 20th, 1854, the Jesse Munn arrived at New Orleans, where Christian and Sven Larsen made a contract for the further transportation of the company to St. Louis; and on Saturday the twenty-fifth, the river journey to that city was commenced. Owing to unusual low water in the river, the passage was slow, and tedious, which in connection with the change of climate and difference in the mode of living, caused cholera of a very malignant type to break out among the emigrants, resulting in an unusual number of deaths. After the arrival in St. Louis on the eleventh of March, houses were rented for the temporary occupation of the emigrants, who tarried there about a month, until the next company of Scandinavian emigrants arrived, under the direction of Elder Hans Peter Olsen. During the stay in St. Louis, sickness continued amongst the Saints, and many more died of the cholera. (Millennial Star, Vol. XVI, pp.41, 447; Morgenstjernen, Vol. II, page 52.)" "Tues. 3. [Jan 1854] -- The ship Jesse Munn sailed from Liverpool, England, with 300 Scandinavian and 33 German Saints, under the direction of Christian Larsen. It arrived at New Orleans Feb. 10th, and the emigrants continued up the rivers to Kansas City, Missouri, which this year was selected as the outfitting place for the Saints crossing the plains."

7.      Personal Family History (Marilyn ____)

8.      Jesse Munn, A Compilation of General Voyage Notes as found on: http://www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration. 

9.      Trail Excerpts, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 , Hans Peter Olsen Company of 1854. http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources

10.   Trail Excerpts, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 , Hans Peter Olsen Company of 1854. http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources

11, Trail Excerpts, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 , Hans Peter Olsen Company of 1854. http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources.  Trail Excerpt: "Our Immigration," Deseret News [Weekly], 28 Sep. 1854, 3.  “Began to arrive on the 19th, and since then have continued to come in almost daily. The timely assistance furnished from the settlements, and the favorable weather will 

Chapter 4: Anna Marie Dunsdon

Ann Maria Dunston

November 28, 1919, George Armstrong Chappell, Jr. was working in the fields with his son, Lee, on the family farm near Lyman, Utah.  A rider came up to them, spoke briefly with George and then road away.  George, now age 65, quite what he was doing, gathered himself and headed back to his home.  He would have to move quickly now if he was to arrive in Nephi , Utah, some 120 miles and 3 days travel, in time for the funeral.  His mother, Anna Marie Dunsdon Chappell Christensen had passed away from pneumonia at the age of 81 in Salt Lake City. (1) 

Anna Marie Dunsdon was almost sixteen years old, widowed and expecting a child as spring approached the Wasatch in 1854.  That her life was getting off to a difficult start would seem an understatement.   But tragedy was not new to this child.  Born in Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, England to James Dunsdon and Mary Ann Rose, she was the 6^th of seven living children recorded in the family in the 1841 England Census.   Absent in the census was her mother who had passed away the year before when Anna Marie was only 3.(2)  Her death occurred in the same year that her youngest child, Thomas, was born and most likely resulted from a complication of the same.   Surely this was a time of great difficulty for the family, but happily, Anna Marie was blessed with older siblings who stepped in to care for her and the other small children.  At the time of their mother’s death, Jane, age 14 and Hester, age 10, would have shouldered the responsibility to care for the younger children, Mary, age 7, Sarah, 4, Anna Marie, 3, and the new born, Thomas.   Their father, James and brother, John, age 14 and a twin to Jane, would have been busy providing for the family.  These older sisters took on a motherly role that would be required of them for many years to come.

The Dunsdon family had lived in Steeple Ashton for generations (3).  James, Anna Marie’s father, was listed as a farmer on the 1841 Census and likely had property and other possessions.  Despite these deep English roots,  in February of 1849, the whole family was on the ship, Ashland, sailing from Liverpool to New Orleans  with final destination, St. Loius (4) and then on to the Great Salt Lake Valley in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.  Sometime in the years prior to their departure, they had heard and accepted the message brought by Mormon missionaries and headed the call to come to America in the great latter-day effort of building a new “Zion” to welcome in the second coming of the Lord. 

Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, England

The words of George Wood, a fellow passenger on the Ashland, summarize what must have been the feelings of this family as they embarked on a new life in a faraway land:

“We had embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. We had received the ordinance of baptism, accompanied by the exalted satisfied feeling of having done right in the sight of our Maker. The heart-rending goodbye to home-folk, country, friends and associates had been said. It had been hard to say "goodbye" to the graves three children, of our father, and the dear little 10 year old brother John, who had been killed as we worked side by side, and to our mother and brothers, and sisters who could not understand why we should leave the good old primitive Methodist Church of our people and join with the unpopular Mormons. Nor did we need to emigrate to a new land for lack of opportunity or means; for we had means and good businesses in our home land, -- Gretts Green, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England. But the light of the Gospel and the spirit of gathering led us onward.”(5)

From the start, the journey would have been arduous.  It would have been a difficult task just to get the family from Steeple Ashton in southern England to Liverpool some 150 miles to the north.  With the ship leaving Liverpool on February 6, 1849, they would have been traveling overland through the English country side in the winter.  Their financial situation is unknown but this adventure surely would have put a strain on this family.  The autobiography of John Martin, a fellow traveler on the Ashland, provides some insight into their circumstances:

“This year the Lord blessed that I got "Remunerative Employment" and earned almost enough money to take me to New Orleans. The president of this branch of the church had me send one pound to Liverpool as deposit money to go with the ship, "Ashland," which was to start in January, but it did not go until the 6th of February 1849. The fare from Liverpool to New Orleans was three pounds and ten shillings. ($17.50)

I had enough for the sea voyage but not enough to take me to Liverpool, so as is always the custom among our dear people, some of the Saints contributed enough to take me there. “ (6)

And from George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch:

“On the 22 January, 1849, I started with my wife, my son Joseph, daughters Ann and Mary, . . . On the 23 January we started, all in good health from my brother Samuel's in company with many other Saints from the different branches, on the route to Liverpool, where we arrived the same evening, and put up at Mr. Powell's, Key Street. The next day we moved our freight from the station to the dock yards, and went on board, and stayed until the 1st [of] February when the dock gates were open, and the steam tug towed us out to the mouth of the Irish Sea, where our captain and his wife took sick and kept us there 12 days. He left the ship and returned to Liverpool. On the morning the captain arrived with a fresh supply of water and coal, hoisted sail and put off through the Irish Sea.”(7)

The Dunsdon family, made up of James, age 46, John, 23, Jane, 23, Hester, 20, Sarah, 13, (Anna)Marie, 11, and Thomas, 8 were part of the 183 LDS passengers on the Ashland.   Also, with James Dunsdon, was Ellen Dunsdon, age 26 – thought to be John’s wife – and other relatives, Thomas Dunsdon, age 44, Maria Dunsdon, 48, and James, age 10.  Absent is James’ daughter, Mary, who listed on the 1841 England Census, would have been 15 years old at the time of voyage.   It is assumed she must have died sometime between 1841 and 1849.  (8)

The Ashland was one of 3 ships that left Liverpool that winter of 1849 with LDS passengers bound for America.  We have the following information on the Ashland:  “The U.S. ship ASHLAND, 631 tons, was built at Swansea, Massachusetts, in 1846, and registered at New York on 10 November 1846… the ASHLAND was a regular participant in the "cotton triangle trade", carrying passengers from Europe (at first from Liverpool, later from Continental ports) to either New York or (later) New Orleans, then proceeding to a Southern port to take on a cargo of cotton, to be delivered to a European port”(9)

Mormon Migration, BYU Collection

 The other two ships traveling with the Ashland were the  Zetland, carrying 358 Latter-Day Saints, that  left January 29, 1849 and the Henry Ware, carrying 220 souls, that departed one day after the Ashland on February 7^th.  While the voyage across the Atlantic was generally without any major complications, it was not without hardship.

“During the voyage we ran short of fuel and had to burn water casks, share wood or anything we could afford to let go. We also ran short of provisions before reaching land”.(10)

“We had no deaths or births until we arrived to the mouth of the Mississippi. We were 11 weeks and three days out to sea on 10 weeks provisions, and had it not been that some passengers had brought extra provisions, some of our party must have perished. We arrived at the Balize April 18, 1849. . . .” (11)

Even though there was no loss of life on the trip across the Atlantic, death was to be a frequent visitor to these travels once they arrived in America.  They had the misfortune of arriving in New Orleans in the mists of a cholera epidemic that was raging up and down the Mississippi River that spring of 1849.

Cholera, a terrible infection of the intestines, causes profuse diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps and rapid dehydration that can lead to death within just a few hours. It’s caused by a bacterium, vibrio cholera, that is spread by ingesting contaminated water or food.  This bacterium produces a toxin that affects the small intestines causing large amounts of vital fluids and electrolytes to be pumped out of the blood into the intestine. The result is the sudden onset of massive diarrhea.  Vomiting is also a common symptom and the infected individual rapidly develops profound dehydration.   In its extreme form, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known.  An otherwise healthy individual may become dehydrated and severely ill within an hour of symptom onset and may die within 2-3 hours.  More commonly, the onset is less dramatic but still severe with dehydration and shock developing within 4 to 12 hours, followed by death in 18 hours to several days. (12)

In 1849, little was known about the illness – its causes, prevention or correct treatment.  In England that same year, a scientist, John Snow, first identified the importance of contaminated water in its spread, and prevention efforts were beginning, but that important information was thousands of miles and years away from the American frontier. (13) The disease, first introduced into the United States in 1832, had been seen along the Mississippi in years past, but when the infection returned in December of 1848, it soon spread up and down the River and was a full-fledged pandemic when the unsuspecting Saints arrived in April.  

Upon arriving in New Orleans, the immigrants would have disembarked from the Ashland and transferred to a river boat for the trip to St. Louis or Iowa City.  Cholera had been reported in New Orleans since December of 1848 and had by April already spread up and down the Mississippi Valley.(15) Many of them would have been exposed almost immediately upon disembarking.   Many were ill with the disease even before they began their trip up the River.   While we do not know the exact river boat they took up the river, it’s likely they were with fellow passenger and biographer, George Wood:

“Hundreds of the Latter day-Saint emigrants had been stricken with cholera at New Orleans and through out the journey up the Mississippi River states, as well as through Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. …..We had taken passage on a Missouri River steamer and began the journey upstream. This boat was of the usual river type, little or no conveniences. The captain was a brutal, unaccommodating, and a very extremely harsh man.”(16)

The unsanitary conditions of the day made spread of this illness easy and widespread.  Quarters were tight and personal comforts short on the river boats going up and down the Mississippi. The River was used as a latrine as well as a culinary water source.   Enormous amounts of bacteria are shed in the stool of an infected individual.  One can only imagine the difficulty of dealing with massive diarrhea on an already crowded river boat, not to mention the hygiene nightmare of trying to avoid contaminating the surrounding food and water.  As the travelers struggled with the dilemma of personal waste, little did they know the foul consequence of the illness was also its source.

The deaths soon came fast and frequent. 

 Again from George Wood:

“The usual method of disposing of the dead was to weight the bodies and dump them overboard, and when I and others asked the privilege of removing our dead and burying them on the land, the captain was hateful and mean about it. Several of my dear ones I had to perform this last earthly service for. Others of the party had sustained like losses, and were as anxious as I to bury them as decently as possible. The captain at last agreed to wait, however, and we hired a negro to help dig a trench big enough to put them all in together. We removed the dead from the boat and began our heart-breaking task, but had it only partly done when the whistle blew, for us to come aboard, and the boat began to get underway. All ran hastily except the negro, one woman and myself. I and she stood at the grave side of our dead and watched them go. What bitterness of spirit I experienced only God knows. Was this what I had come to America the home of the brave for? Here was I with two strangers standing beside the open grave. United only in the characteristics which, make earthly bodies. Our common interests, were all lying before us, or fast receding from sight, subject to the whim of a heartless thing in human form. 

Surges of emotion swept over me, sorrow, anger, love, fear, and despair, but my nearest duty was to protect these rapidly decomposing dear forms of mine from the ravages of wild beasts, heat, and other elements. Perhaps I had been blessed and spared to perform this last service. If I were dead with them our bodies would all rot together. I shuddered to think I had been raised in England, and had come to this. And so I urged on my companions the need for work. I felt responsible for seeing the thing through - - The negro, while of a seemingly stronger character than most of them, needed urging. The woman, sick with sorrow and fear would do her utmost - as I, - to protect her dead. So, as we gathered our forces to recommence our task, Lo, - here came the boat back, easing into the shore and still. A shout went [-], willing hands scrambled over the side and ran to where we stood wondering and astonished at so unbelievable a thing. What had happened? Did the captain have a change of heart? Are you sure he will wait? "Don't worry, he'll wait," one spoke up, and "There are others, and stronger on the boat." "But it takes time to find them out." So we fell to work, and ere long it was finished. We rounded the mound, gathered some loose rock, paused a moment, in silent tribute, and turned and walked quietly back. As the others made their way into the boat I turned, removed my hat, (presumably to wipe the sweat) and silently consigned my loved ones and the spot upon where they lay into the keeping of Him who knowest best. Perhaps each honest soul of all that company did likewise. But the bitter enmity of our enemies toward any they knew were Mormons prevented any demonstration on our part. And so we watched the gravesite until a bend hid it from our gaze.

I was anxious to know what had happened and my friends were anxious to tell me, so as not to attract too much attention from captain and crew, I signed for a couple of the men to follow me and led the way to the quietest spot I could see.

I was told there was immediate dissatisfaction on the part of nearly all of his passengers. There was a whispering and counseling together in groups. Some of the braver ones spoke to the captain kindly, and remonstrated with him over such treatment of fellow passengers. He had already received their fare. Instead of relenting he became sullen and ugly, still traveling upstream with all the speed he could command. At last, failing with kindness, Joseph Walker took it upon himself to try another method. He was a big slow, gentle speaking man ordinarily. Perhaps he was aroused to an unusual degree, but he secured a rope and walked up to the captain. "Now" he said, "we've tried persuasion to see if there is any humanity in your wretched carcass. See this rope? If you don't go back and get those people, I'll hang you from your own crossbeam, and I'll have plenty of help to do so." Such was the power of Brother Joseph Walker, and from there on, he behaved as decently as was in his nature to do. With the result I have already mentioned, a safe landing at Iowa City . .”

The effects of cholera on the immigrant companies were devastating.  The Dunsdon family, who had held together through the trials of losing a mother, joining a new religion and leaving their ancestral home, was shattered.   James, the family patriarch, died May 15, 1849 (18) – likely while traveling up the Mississippi  River.  Also succumbing was his brother Thomas,(19) and James’ eldest son John, as well as John’s wife, Ellen (20).  Half a continent from their final destination, the surviving members of the family arrived in eastern Iowa devoid of male leadership on the American Frontier.  The family split up.

Thomas, the youngest child at age 8, remained under the care of his oldest sister, Jane, age 23. Anna Marie, age 11, stayed with the next oldest sibling, Hester, age 20. (21)  Sarah Anna, age 12, was on her way to Utah in the spring of 1850, a member of the Mila Andurs Company that left Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs) June 3, 1850.  It is likely she was under the care of the Charles Bird family.  The Bird family was part of this company and she married Charles Bird just 3 years later in February of 1853. (22) James, age 10, listed on the Ashland ship log, is not found in the Iowa 1850 US Census and his fate is unknown.  It is not clear from the records if he was a sibling or cousin to Anna Marie Dunsdon (he is not listed with the family in the 1841 English Census).  It is also unclear the fate of Maria Dunsdon, wife of Thomas Dunsdon.   A Marie Dunsdon, age 50 is listed as living in Pottawattamie County, Iowa in the 1850 Census and is likely the Maria Dunsdon of interest, however, her whereabouts thereafter is unknown.  Now separated, it would be years before the Dunsdon children would be together again – this time in their Zion in the West. 

Jane, the oldest sister, married widower William Bradbury, October 3, 1849, in Hyde Park, Iowa (23).  William Bradbury had traveled to America on the ship, Henry Ware, part of the three ship expedition of Mormon immigrants leaving Liverpool that early winter of 1849.  On board with William, age 27, was his wife, Margaret, age 30, and their two children Margaret, age 4, and William, infant son.  Also with the family was William’s mother, Maria Bradbury, age 51. (24)  William’s wife, Margaret, died while traveling up the Mississippi River just days after arriving in New Orleans (25).  Jane appears to have had care of her youngest brother, Thomas Dunsdon, as he appears with Jane and her new family living in Pottawattamie, Iowa in the 1850 US Census.  After two years in Iowa, the family traveled to Utah as part of the Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company of 1852, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in mid-September.  (26)  At this time, Thomas Dunsdon, Jane’s youngest brother, was not longer with the Bradbury family.

Hester Dunsdon, the sibling just younger than Jane, also married a newly widowed father of young children.   John Broome, age 26, and his wife Elizabeth, age 23, were fellow travelers with the Dunsdons on the ship, Ashland.  (27) They, along with their two children, Anne, age 3 and Eliza, infant, had become acquainted with the Dunsdons as the 183 LDS immigrants on board spent the 11 week voyage together.   Elizabeth died in May of 1849 in St. Louis, (28) from cholera, leaving John to care for his two small children .

Forty years later, John Broom, in a letter to the brother of his deceased wife, described the awful circumstances of those dark days,(28):

            “After staying a few days in this place, (New Orleans) we were transferred to a steamboat, bound to St. Louis.  In this steamboat troubles commenced.  We were taken down with that terrible disease – the Cholera – which caused the death of a great many in our company, one of the unfortunate deaths being that of you dear sister, who died at three o’clock in the morning, just as we entered the harbor of St. Louis.  In this city your dear sister was buried also a little boy who died at the same time that she did.  These two were the only ones that had a burial in a graveyard, all others who died buried on the shores of the mighty Missouri river and the Mississippi river.”

            “The Cholera was raging at the time in the city, here we were transferred to another steamboat on which we rode up the Missouri River and it was a terrible voyage owing to the Cholera which caused many deaths on board, among the deaths being many members of the Woods family.  My dear brother you can hardly imagine what my feelings were on board that boat.  I was in strange country bereaved of my dear wife, left with two helpless children, surrounded with sick and dying in a steamboat on a river in the wilderness.”

           “ Everybody on board had all they could do to take care of the sick and the dead on board.  Now dear brother you will see that I had to be Father and Mother to those two dear children”.

            “When the sick died we took them on shore and buried them on the river’s bank, and in this way we buried the dead as we sailed up the river.  One night we interred their bodies in one grave, so you may think what a sorrowful time we had.  The settlers who lived along the river would not allow us to go ashore on account of the Cholera, which we had on board, so we were obliged to bury our dead at night in order to avoid these settlers.”

 “Quite a number of those buried by us were afterwards washed away by the high waters, which the river is subject to in the springtime.  So that the spots marked as the last resting place of those unfortunates can never be found.”

“There were four hundred and fifty souls in our company, and there is but a very few of them living today.  Now my dear brother I have given you a little of my experience across the ocean and up the rivers to Council Bluffs.  When I left the wretched boat all that I had in the world was the two dear children and the clothing upon us.  No Money, no home and a thousand miles from Salt Lake Valley, Utah.”

Later that year or early the next, John and Hester were married and are found living in in Pottawattamie, Iowa in the 1850 US Census.  With John and Hester were John’s children Annie, age 4 and Eliza, age 2.  Again from John Broom’s letter:

           “ Now those of the company that had the means bought teams and traveled on, but those who did not have the means had to stay behind.  The place where we landed was called Winter Quarters then, it was located by the Church leaders for those who did not have the means to cross the plains.”

           “ I remained in this place for two years an in that time I managed to accumulate sufficient means to cross the plains with.”

           “At this place I married my present wife.  When I married her she was like myself, she had no means, but she had determination and hands that were willing to work.  She was a young woman when I married her, she was acquainted with your dear sister before she died, this young woman, who became my wife traveled with us across the sea and up the rivers so you will see that she was well acquainted with all the troubles and afflictions we passed through.  The Cholera made sad havoc among those near and dear to her.  Her Father and four others of her family and relatives gave way to the terrible scourge.  Her mother was already dead in her early childhood.  She had four sisters and a little brother with her.  Now all were orphans, in a strange land surrounded by suffering and death, so you will see she had a world full of troubles like myself.”

Also living with the Broom family was Anna Marie Dunsdon, now age 14.  Continuing with the Broom family, Anna Marie remained with them as the following year they traveled to Utah as part of the James W. Cummings Company arriving in Great Salt Lake City the first week of October 1851. (29)

Arriving in Utah in different years, Sarah Ann in 1850, Hester and Anna Marie in 1851, and Jane in 1852, the sisters were unsure of each other’s whereabouts.  Years before, while in England, their mother had made matching shawls for her daughters.  While part of a congregation at the old Bowery in Salt Lake City, these separated sisters found each other by moving through the crowd and looking for the familiar shawls. (30) What a joyous reunion this must have been!  One can only imagine the tears of joy these courageous young women would have shed as they embraced each other once again.  

Now gathered in Zion, life would take these family members in many different directions.  Jane, the oldest sister, lived with her husband, William Bradbury, for a time in Box Elder, Utah (31) and later in Melad Valley, Idaho.  William was a farmer, and together, they had a large family.  In addition to Margaret, William’s daughter from his first marriage, William and Jane had another 10 children and lived out the remainder of their lives in southern Idaho. (32)

Hester and her husband, John Broom, settled in Ogden, Utah. (33) Like William Bradbury, Jane’s husband, John, had left England for America with a wife and small children, only to lose both spouse and a child to cholera.  Also, like the Bradbury family, the Brooms were married in Iowa and journeyed to Utah as a newlywed couple.   Unlike the Bradbury’s, however, John and Hester only had one child; Sarah.(34) Along with Eliza, John’s daughter from his first marriage, the Broom family lived, worked and prospered in Weber County in northern Utah.  Through hard work, opportunity and good fortune, Hester and John eventually constructed the Broom Hotel in down town Ogden.   Built in 1882, the hotel was considered in its time the finest establishment between Omaha and San Francisco.  (35)(36) Both Hester and John are buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. (37)

Broom Hotel, Ogden Utah (weber.edu)

Sarah Ann, who would become second wife of Charles Bird, had likely remained with the Bird family after arriving in Utah and initially settled in Springville just south of Provo.  (38) Marrying Charles in February of 1853, they later lived in Cottonwood and eventually were called to help settle Cache Valley in northern Utah.  Living out her years in Mendon, Utah, she had 11 children.

Sarah Ann Dunston

The youngest surviving Dunsdon child, Thomas, also arrived safely in Utah.  Even though he was living with his sister, Jane, while in Iowa, he is not listed as part of the Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company of 1852 in which Jane and William Bradbury were travelers.  At present, it is unknown with whom and when he arrived.  In 1860, he is living with his sister, Hester, and her family in Ogden. (39)  Stories passed down in the family of his sister, Sarah Ann Dunsdon Bird, suggest that he lived in Nevada and took up the last name of his “adopted” family.(40)  There is a Thomas Dunsdon living in Lander County, Nevada, a farmer, who was born in England 1840 – consistent with the birth of the Thomas Dunsdon of interest.  He and his wife, Emily, were the parents of at least 5 children and he appears to have lived out his life in Silver Creek, Lander County, Nevada. However, the 1900 US Census states that he and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1856.   Our ancestor would have arrived in 1849. 

It is unclear how much contact the Dunston siblings maintained over the years.  As far as I know, the ancestors of Anna Maria were not aware of their Dunsdon relatives and did not maintain any ongoing contact with them.

Meanwhile, Anna Marie remained in Salt Lake City where she met George Armstrong Chappell of Mill Creek. 

References:

1.       Event  told by Lee Ron Chappell, son of George Armstrong Chappell, Jr. as related by Lee’s eldest son, Jack Chappell

2.      Family history as reported in LDS Church web site, new. Familysearch .org. (no primary references available)

3.      Family Records, will of John Dunsdon, 1718, Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, England – indicates the family had been in Steeple Ashton at lease since the early 1700’s.

4.      Mormon Migration Index, www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration, Ashland passenger list and voyage information.

5.      George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch, as found on Mormon Migration Index, www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration, Ashland passenger list and voyage information.

6.      Autobiography of John Martin, as found on Mormon Migration Index, www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration, Ashland passenger list and voyage information.

7.      George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch.

8.      Mormon Migration Index, Ashland.

9.      Ashland, Palmer List of Merchant Vessels, as found on www.oocities.com

10.   Autobiography of John Martin, as found on Mormon Migration Index.

11.   George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch, as found on Mormon Migration Index

12.   Kenneth Todar, PhD, “Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology”, (as found on www.textbookofbacteriology.net)

13.   Kenneth Todar, PhD, “Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology”

14.   George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch, as found on Mormon Migration Index

15.   R. Moore, “Notes Upon the History of Cholera in St. Louis, Pubic Health, Pap., Rep. 1884. (as found on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

16.   George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch, as found on Mormon Migration Index

17.   George Wood's Autobiographical Sketch, as found on Mormon Migration Index

18.   Family history as reported on LDS Church web site, new. Familysearch .org. (no primary references available)

19.   Iowa Death Record, Pottawattamie County, January, 1850, (as found on Ancestry.com)

20.   Family history as reported on LDS Church web site, new. Familysearch .org. (no primary references available)

21.   Iowa, 1850, US Census

22.   Personal Family History (Marilyn ____)

23.   Family history as reported on LDS Church web site, new. Familysearch .org. (no primary references available)

24.   Mormon Migration Index, Henry Ware.

25.   Family History found on Ancestry.com (no primary sources provided)

26.    Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868, lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearch

27.   Mormon Migration Index, Ashland.

28.    Copy of a letter written by John Broom to his deceased wife Elizabeth’s brother. Broom Hotel, John Broom, Proprietor, Ogden, Utah, March, 1890. As found on Ancestry.com                                                                                                                                                                       

29.   Family History found on Ancestry.com (no primary sources provided)

30.   Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868, lds.org

31.   Personal Family History (Marilyn ____) Account given by descendants of Sarah Ann Dunsdon Bird.

32.   1860 US Census

33.   1870 and 1880 US Census

34.   1860 US Census

35.   1860 and 1870 US Census, AND, Odgen Standard Examiner, July 16, 1993 as found on line at Ancestry.com

36.   Utah State History web site: http://history.utah.gov/ “Broom Hotel, 1890. 25th & Washington, (West's Most Famous Corner) Ogden, Utah Known throughout the west, and was the pride and glory of Ogden City. It was featured as the most luxurious hotel between the Mississippi River and the West Coast”

Also from ancestry.com, personal histories: The BROOM HOTEL, 376 25th St., constructed in 1882, was at the time considered the finest establishment between Omaha and San Francisco. The ground floor was modernized early in 1940 for commercial uses. John Broom, a Mormon convert from England, was an early pioneer who settled on a bit of high land near Marriott, known as Broom's Bench. He began to make money, at first by salvaging iron from abandoned wagons along the emigrant trails. In 1857 the Mormon militia, while resisting the entrance of Colonel Johnston's troops into Utah, burned a number of supply trains of the U. S. Army in Wyoming. Iron was then very scarce in Utah and Broom gathered many tons, brought it to Ogden, and sold it for 50¢ a pound. Wagon tires were cut into hand-wrought square nails, which brought a premium in the growing community. Properly tempered, crowbars could be bored for musket barrels, and band iron, while not as good as Damascus steel, served to make sabers for the Mormon militia. Broom also put up large quantities of hay, and when the transcontinental railroad came through Ogden he found a ready sale for hay and farm produce at high prices. In 1869 he invested heavily in profitable real estate. After spending several years in San Francisco, Broom returned to Ogden and built this three-story brick hotel, distinguished by its eighteen bulging windows. Tradition has it that on completion of the hotel, Mrs. Broom, while inspecting the new establishment, discovered that no kitchen had been provided; immediately a lean-to on stilts, level with the second-floor banquet hall, was added.

37.   Picture of Headstone of John and Hester Broom as found on Ancestry.com
38. Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers, Vols. 1-2Name: Charles Bird
 39. 1860 US Census
 40.Personal Family History (Marilyn ____) Account given by descendants of Sarah Ann Dunsdon Bird.