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.
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.
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