 |
| 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 6th 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 7th. 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.
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.
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