William Bradford

William Bradford--the governor of the Plymouth colony in New England at the time of the first Thanksgiving--is my 10 times great grandfather.  

 

He was born in 1590 in the small farming community of Austerfield, Yorkshire, England. His father William died when young Bradford was just one year old. He lived with his grandfather William, until his grandfather died when Bradford was six. His mother Alice then died when he was seven. Orphaned both from parents and grandparents, he and his older sister Alice were raised by their uncle.

William was a sickly boy, and by the age of 12 had taken to reading the Bible.  As he began to come of age he became acquainted with the ministry around which the Separatist churches of the region would eventually form. His family was not supportive of his moves, and by 1607 the Church of England were applying pressure to extinguish these religious sects. Bradford, at the age of 18, joined with the group of Separatists that fled from England in fear of persecution, arriving in Amsterdam in 1608. A year later he migrated with the rest of the church to the town of Leiden, Holland, where they remained for eleven years.

Bradford returned to Amsterdam temporarily in 1613 to marry his bride, Dorothy May. He then took up the trade of a silk weaver to make ends meet, and also was able to recover some of the estate in England that had been left by his father, to support himself and his new wife. They had a son, John, born about 1615-1617 in Leiden.

By 1620, when a segment of the church had decided to set off for America on the Mayflower, Bradford, now 30 years old, sold off his house in Leiden, and he and his wife Dorothy joined; however, they left their young son John behind, presumably so he would not have to endure the hardships of colony-building. While the Mayflower was anchored at the tip of Cape Cod, and while many of the Pilgrim men were out exploring and looking for a place to settle, Dorothy Bradford accidentally fell overboard and drowned.

In 1623, he was married to the widowed Alice Carpenter Southworth. With his second wife, he had three more children, all of whom survived to adulthood. 

Successful colonies required successful leadership. The man to step forward in the Plymouth colony was William Bradford. After the first elected governor perished from the harsh winter, Bradford was elected and was then reelected for the next thirty years.  Under Governor Bradford's guidance, relations with the local natives remained relatively smooth in Plymouth and the food supply grew with each passing year.
 
By autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. After the harvest, about ninety Indians joined the Pilgrims for a feast. The participants celebrated for several days, dining on venison, goose, duck, turkey, fish, and cornbread, the result of a bountiful harvest. This tradition was repeated at harvest time in the following years.

It was President Lincoln who declared Thanksgiving a national celebration in 1863. Governor Bradford and the Plymouth pilgrims were simply celebrating survival, as well as the hopes of good fortune in the years that lay ahead.

Beginning in 1630, Governor Bradford started writing a history of the Plymouth Colony, which is now published under the title Of Plymouth Plantation. He continued writing his history of Plymouth through about 1651. Bradford's writings are now one of the primary sources used by historians, and is the only thorough history of Plymouth Colony that was written by a Mayflower passenger.  It is required reading in a number of collegiate American History courses.  Many letters, poems and other writings of William Bradford, have also survived.

William Bradford was generally sick all through the winter of 1656-1657; on May 8, Bradford predicted to his friends and family that he would die, and he did the next day, May 9th, 1657, at the age of 68.

Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith...Kent Lewis Kindred...Chloris Hill...Jasper Franklin Hill...Heamon Alison Hill...Leonard Hill...Ruth Rumrill...Alice Parsons...Alice Olive Collins...Alice Adams...Alice Bradford...William Bradford...William Bradford

Sally Forbush Hill

Sally Forbush Hill was my great, great, great grandmother. Leonard and Sally Hill left Nauvoo in the spring of 1846 headed for Utah. When the members of the church were driven by mobs out of Nauvoo, the family headed west in a handcart company. After crossing the Des Moines River, the sanitary conditions were so bad that the family took sick. During this time, Leonard and his baby son, Jasper died. The family was so poor that they did not have enough money to bury them. A man seeing their plight took the family to his farm, gave them one room in his home to live in, put their cattle in his pasture and buried Leonard and baby Jasper in his family burying ground. The family stayed there a long time because Sally and her oldest son, Charles, were so ill. In early February 1847 the remaining family members reached the east side of the Missouri river. From lack of food and exposure to the cold, Sally again took sick and died on February 17, 1847 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her children pulled her body on a hand sled across the Missouri river to bury her on a hill on the west side of the river in the Winter Quarters Cemetery, grave #140. Then tragedy struck again when their oldest brother, Charles, died on May 6, 1847. He is also buried in the Winter Quarters Cemetery – grave #146.
Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith... Kent Lewis Kindred... Chloris Hill... Jasper Franklin Hill... Heaman Alison Hill... Sally Forbush

George Lee

George Lee was my great, great, great grandfather.

He was born September 27, 1824 in Kegby, Nottinghamshire, England, son of John Shallcross Lee and Mary Olivant Lee. 

As a young man, George moved from Nottingham to Sheffield, Yorkshire, and worked as an apprentice as a table knife grinder. He married Sarah Peaker in Sheffield on August 10, 1845. While in Sheffield, they accepted the gospel and immigrated with their three children to America with the Saints in 1853. Their oldest daughter, Mary Ann, was my great, great grandmother. They moved to Hanover, Connecticut in 1853 where he worked at his trade as knife grinder. Eventually, they joined the Saints in 1859 in Florence, Nebraska (now Omaha) and immigrated to Utah as part of Captain Edward Stevenson’s wagon company, leaving on June 26 and arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in September of 1859. One child was born to them while crossing the plains. Captain Stevenson asked permission to name this little one and he called the child Moroni. The baby died two days later and was buried on the plains, at a designated place on Elm Creek. George covered the grave with large rocks for protection from the elements and wolves. 

After arriving in Utah September 16, 1859, they went to live near Neff Mill on Mill Creek. They also lived in Little Cottonwood where he worked as a farm laborer and gardener. While there he had a plow made from wagon tires of Johnson’s army wagons. The plow has been kept over the years in the Pioneer Relic Hall in Franklin, Idaho. 

They moved to Farmington in the fall of 1860, living there and farming for two years. Then in 1862 the family moved to Franklin, which was considered part of Utah at the time, where they lived in the Old Fort. George Lee lived on the south side of the fort. It was a rectangular shape with 92 houses covering about 17 acres with public corrals and a log school house inside the Fort. This school house was the first in Idaho.

In December of 1863 a baby girl, Fanny Emma, was born to them while living at the Fort. George Lee and his wife, Sarah, had 12 children; however, only 5 daughters lived to adulthood. 

Goerge was a member of the choir in Franklin, Idaho. His occupation was identified as Indian fighter. Those days were treacherous times for the settlers as they were the most northern settlers at that time. The settlers were always alert to Indian difficulties. Their stock was guarded constantly, but they lost many horses and cattle. To avert trouble many times they gave the Indians some of their food supply, flour and even cattle. There were no open hostilities until January 1863 when the battle known to historians as the Battle Creek Massacre was fought at the junction of Battle Creek and Bear River, which is about 12 miles north of Franklin. Over 300 Indian men, women, and children were killed. After the fighting was over, the men of Franklin took teams and sleighs and helped remove the wounded soldiers and Indians and also the Indian women and children. Because of the snow and cold, many had frozen feet. They were all brought to Franklin and cared for until they could be taken elsewhere. The settlers felt sorrow to think that peace had to come in such a tragic way, for many peaceful Indians including women and children had been killed in the bloody battle. It did, however, make it possible for the pioneers to move and begin to take up locations that had been unsafe until now. 

The last major Indian trouble occurred on Sept. 1, 1864. Hundreds of Indians were camped north of town and some obtained liquor from two settlers. A drunken Indian tried to ride his horse over a white woman and one of the settlers shot him to save her life. Then, fearful of the consequences, the man escaped by horse. The Indians took another man captive, threatening to kill him if the offending white man was not delivered to them. Throughout the night, Bishop Hatch pleaded with the Indians, and messengers rode to other towns for help. The next morning 300 Minute Men arrived from Logan who held a conference with Chief Washakie. The settlers gave two yoke of oxen as peace offerings, and the Indians began to disperse. The Indians were stubborn about giving up their extensive lands, and so remained rather troublesome for many years. But their strength was primarily crushed with these two incidents. 

Now that the Indian trouble had diminished to the point that they felt they were safe, the residents began moving to their newly surveyed lots. So the spring and summer of 1864 were spent building homes—this time on their community lots. As soon as they could, they moved from the fort to their homes. Thus began a new life for these people…out of the protections of the fort. 

George Lee died October 29, 1868 in Franklin, 
Utah, where he was buried. Under the Territorial Act of Utah in 1869, Franklin became incorporated and considered itself part of Utah until 1872 when it was determined that it was in Idaho, thus it turned out to be the oldest town in the State of Idaho. 

 

Ancestral Line: Janeal Kindred Smith... Janice Gregory... Otto James Gregory... Lillie May Albiston... Mary Ann Lee... George Lee

Abigail Mindwell Jackson Lamb

Abigail Mindwell Jackson Lamb was my great, great, great grandmother. 

She was born July 26, 1808 in Seneca, New York to James Jackson and Deborah Hendricks. Abigail’s paternal and maternal forbears arrived in America from England in the middle of the 17th century searching for religious freedom. She was described by her children as a large, strong woman and was a good Latter-day Saint and taught her children to be righteous and honest and to obey the principles of the gospel.

She married Erastus Lamb in about 1829. He was the son of Daniel Lamb and Prudence Fox born in Connecticut, but grew up in New York. After their marriage they made their home in Huron, New York. She had five children: Harriet Laura, Suel, James, infant son, and then a daughter Polly Emaline. 

They accepted the gospel in New York and were baptized in 1841. She was the only one of her family that joined the church. She and Erastus and their young family gathered with the Saints in Nauvoo soon after. They lived in the north part of Nauvoo, close to the banks of the Mississippi River and shared in the trials and persecutions through which the early members of the church passed. Her husband worked on the Nauvoo Temple and her son, Suel worked there also as a water boy. 

Abigail was a hardworking woman and did many things to make life pleasant for her young family. She saw a great deal of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and always retained a vivid recollection of the stirring events that were experienced by the church members and leaders in that city. She remembered the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum Smith, and of the claim of Sidney Rigdon to the Presidency of the church and the wonderful manifestation that was given to prove that Brigham Young was the man to lead the church. 

Through faith and courage, Abigail saved the life of her son, Suel, when he was bitten by a rattlesnake. It was the fall of the year when snakes are the most poisonous. The bite was between the thumb and forefinger. Suel ran all the way home which was more than a mile. His blood was heated up and the poison went all through him and it looked as if he would surely die. Through the prayers of his mother, Abigail, and her work with him, his life was saved. She cut open live chickens and laid his hand right on the inside of them. The whole chicken soon became green with the poison. As the poison was drawn from him, he started to get better.  Suel always had the testimony that his life was saved through the faith of his mother.

They were acquainted with the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo. Following the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846 the family settled for a time at Garden Grove, Iowa. While there she saw her oldest daughter, Harriet, married to John Zimmerman. The Zimmerman family were also on their way west. On June 1, 1852 they were finally prepared to make the trek to join the Saints in the Valley. They were assigned to go in the James Snow wagon train of 250 people. Their wagon consisted of Erastus age 48 and Abigail age 43, two sons Suel--19, and James--17, and daughter Polly--age 10. 

The plains in Iowa were very hot in July and water was scarce. One day when they finally reached a stream which provided them with much needed water, they all drank their fill. However Erastus drank too much of the cold water, and suffered severe cramps. Abigail did all that she could to relieve his pain, but it was not to be. He died during the night. With sobs she awoke her family to tell them. The people in the wagon train were afraid that he had died of cholera and moved on leaving his family behind to bury their husband and father. He was buried somewhere on the plains of Iowa. The family were forced to follow behind the wagon train and were not allowed to mingle with the people until they were certain that whatever had killed Erastus was not contagious. Abigail bravely gathered up her little family and fought the trail, sand, and hardship as they journeyed to Utah. They reached Salt Lake City on October 9, 1852, and went first to Pleasant Grove and then to Lehi, Utah where they settled with the first settlers, and made it their permanent home. 

They lived in log houses with dirt floors and mud roofs. They gathered pig weeds for greens to cook for their families. Their vegetables were grown in the fields where they had to go to pick them because their city lots were not fenced and they could not keep the pigs, sheep and cattle out of their lots. They made molasses out of red beets by boiling the juice down. They gathered grease wood and burned it and put the ashes in a large barrel and stirred it well and when it settled they used it for lye to soften water and to make soap. Abigail made her own candles from tallow, sometimes dipping them and sometimes using a mold. She washed wool from the sheep and spun it into yarn and had it made into cloth for clothes for her family. 

She lived to see her children all married and having good families. Abigail was a stalwart member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She received her endowment in the Endowment House in 1856, and was sealed to her husband in 1868. 

She was compassionate and loving and always willing to help others in need. After being a widow for 30 years, she died at the age of 75 on January 2, 1882 in Lehi, Utah. There is a lovely headstone erected by her descendants in the Lehi Cemetery in remembrance of her. 

The following item appeared in the Deseret News on January 6,1882: “At Lehi,Utah, January 2nd, 1882 ABIGAIL MINDWELL LAMB wife of Erastus Lamb and daughter of James Jackson and Deborah Hendrix. Deceased was born at Obed, Seneca County, New York. Sister Lamb obeyed the gospel at an early day. She lost her husband in crossing the plains in 1852 while on their way to Utah. She came with her family to this place and settled with the first settlers. She lived the life of a true Latter-Day Saint, and was much beloved by all who knew her. She passed away in the full hope of a glorious resurrection."
Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith... Janice Gregory... Elizabeth Sharp... Margaret Elsie Lamb... Suel Lamb... Abigail Mindwell Jackson

George Gottlob Zimmerman

George Gottlob Zimmerman was my great-great-great grandfather.  The son of Johann Georg Zimmerman and Rosine Margarete Pregizer, he was born in Ludwigsburg,  Germany on July 23rd, 1781.

George was educated in the Universities of Germany. He spoke German, English and French so perfectly that he could pass as a native in all three. He was also a master of the Latin language. During the Napoleonic wars he was drafted into the services, and was soon taken prisoner to Paris. Here he was treated so kindly that he resolved not to re-enter the army against the French. When the two countries exchanged prisoners, instead of returning home he managed to escape on a vessel bound for America. Having no money to pay his passage, he was sold as an indentured servant for one year to a tanner in Philadelphia. After serving his time he remained several years with this tanner and then drifted into a little Dutch settlement near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Here he took up his profession of school teacher, his life’s work. While there he met Juliana Hoke. She was then 17 ½ years old, he was approaching thirty five. 

George and Juliana married on April 4, 1816. They made their home in Franklin County, Pennsylvania for 27 years. They became the parents of 12 children, and raised seven of them to maturity. The family, with the exception of their son, John, joined the church when persecution was running high. Juliana, who belonged to the United Bretheren Church, was baptized first in January 1843.  George, who was a Lutheran, was baptized two years later.  The next year they went to Illinois.  They then gathered with the Mormon fugitives in Garden Grove, Iowa in 1846.  They remained there a few years in order to prepare to come to Utah. 

On May 17, 1851 they left with the saints to cross the plains to Utah in Harry Walton’s company which consisted of 67 wagons and about fifty families. George Gottlob Zimmerman was 70 years old his wife Juliana Hoke was 53.  They were accompanied by their widowed daughter Christina, age 33 and her daughter Sarah Julia Stevens, age 2, Julia Ann, 22, Elizabeth 19, Margaret 15, Susan 12, and Rosannah 10. They had one wagon, one yoke of oxen, one yoke of cows, and a horse, so they had to walk most of the way to lighten the load.  Because of George's age and never having been around cattle it was impractical for him to drive his wagon to Utah. Their supplies consisted of flour, meal, beans, dried bread, crackers, dried apples, sugar and milk with some butter and bacon and a few dried parsnips.  From time to time they had bison meat which they enjoyed very much. All of their experiences with the bison were not as enjoyable however. Oft times they could hear their roaring noise for miles away and could hear them as they would pass the camps on the way to the watering holes at night. More than once the wagon train was cut in two so that herds of bison up to 5000 or more could go rushing through. Stampedes among the cattle and oxen were common things. 

The family had good health throughout their journey and also had their share of narrow escapes. A number of deaths occurred on route as well as a few births. While traveling they came across many graves left there by the companies that had preceded them. 

They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 25th, 1851. They were a family group of nine who had all their earthly belongings in one wagon. They ranged in age from a mere child of two to a courageous man of seventy. Through swollen rivers of late spring and dusty insect infested plains of summer, up the eastern slopes of the Rockies, down the precipitous ravines of the Wasatch they persevered. Oft times they had only the water of stagnant pools to quench their thirst. They boiled the water and then tried to cool it enough to satisfy their parched throats. 

After staying in Salt Lake City a short time they then went on to Lehi. Lehi was settled about a year before and contained about 15 families in the town at that time.  They lived in a rented room the first winter. George made and mended all their shoes and the girls did washing and milking. Juliana did lots of knitting. George got plenty of shoemaking to do. He learned the trade from his father who was a master shoe maker and had a number of men working for him back in Germany. There were good crops raised that summer.  In the spring George obtained a lot and put a log house on it. Some of the children slept in a covered wagon for two winters. 

George was an Elder in the church when he came to Utah, having been ordained December 19, 1847. He was ordained a High Priest in Lehi. George and Juliana went through the Endowment House March 31, 1852. Because of his advanced age, George gave up his profession as a school teacher and settled down in a little adobe house where he cobbled shoes for a livelihood. 

In January of 1853 a toll bridge was built over the Jordan River in Lehi. It is now referred to as the "Old Iron Bridge" near 3150 West and 1500 North. George Zimmerman was the first toll collector of that now famous, historic bridge.

During his declining years George was cared for by his daughter Susan. He died in 1866 at the age of eighty five and was buried in Lehi near his wife, who although younger in years, had preceded him to the other side by some two years earlier, at the age of sixty-six. 

Of their 12 children, five of them died under six years of age. Of the seven who lived to adulthood only one, Christina preceded them in death. The six other children all lived to see a new century come in. 
Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith... Janice Gregory... Elizabeth Sharp... Margaret Elsie Lamb... Elizabeth Zimmerman... George Gottlob Zimmerman

Leonard Hill

Leonard Hill was my great-great-great grandfather.  He was born May 2, 1800 at Dublin, Cheshire, New Hampshire, the oldest of six children. 

When Leonard was 26 years old he married Sally Forbush. They became the parents of 10 children.  They began their married life in Peterborough, building a home there.  Leonard was a carpenter by trade, and their home was very comfortable and convenient for that period.  In 1841, they were contacted by Mormon missionaries and converted to the Gospel. They were the only ones of their families to join the church and were ostracized from both their families and their friends. 

In 1843 they decided to leave their comfortable home and move to Nauvoo to be with the main body of the church. Their families simply regarded them as lost. Adding to their sadness of being rejected by their families, in September of 1843, their youngest child at that time, Justus Franklin, age 5, died in Nauvoo.

After their arrival in Nauvoo, Leonard helped build many homes in that area. He built a new home for his family near the edge of town.  It was never completely finished before they were forced to leave. 

The Hill family rejoiced in being with the Saints. They were grateful for their association with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and were diligent in accepting and following his leadership and counsel.  They were firm and true to their faith. As with the other faithful Saints, their grief was heavy when the Prophet and his brother Hyrum were martyred.  In connection with this event, their daughter, Maria, related the following, "One day I was sitting on the doorstep of our home when the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum stopped at our home and came to the well to get a drink. The cup they used was kept in the family for a long time."

The family was driven from Nauvoo in May of 1846.  Dreadful indeed were the sufferings of these forsaken beings on this trek west.  Leonard Hill became very ill.  Being a Priesthood father, undoubtedly he did without, that members of his family might have his meager share. He had endured strenuous labors and persecutions, but endurance has its limits. He passed away September 10, 1846, the exact location unknown. Records show that the baby, Emerald Jasper, passed away 20 days later. Daughter Maria stated, "The Lord blessed us, for a man came to us and seeing our plight, took us to his farm.  He gave us one room in his home, put our cattle in his pasture, and buried our father and baby brother on his private burial ground.  We stayed there a long time because our mother and older brother Charles were very sick."

Later that year, the Hill family moved on with a group of Saints. By February 1847 they reached the Missouri River in the winter months so they could cross on the ice.  Sally Forbush Hill became very sick again, and passed away on the east side of the Missouri River.  A hand sled was fashioned by her children, and it is said that her 10-year-old son, Heamon Alison, pulled her to the west side of the river so they could bury her on a hill on the opposite shore.  

Only three months later, the oldest brother, Charles, age 18, died, and was buried along the wayside.  Out of a family of eleven, only three girls and two boys remained.  Sara, the oldest, was sixteen.  They had no home, no parents, and no food.  The children were left in a settlement, separated into different homes.

Their sister, Sara, soon married a widower by the name of Bingham Bement.  He gathered all of the children together to live with him in his one room house.  They worked diligently trying to prepare to continue their journey to Utah. In the spring of 1850 they finally continued their trek. They arrived in Salt Lake City in October with only the worn out clothes on their backs. Undoubtedly their parents, Leonard and Sally, were with them along the way. 
Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith... Kent Lewis Kindred... Chloris Hill... Jasper Franklin Hill... Heaman Alison Hill... Leonard Hill

Margaret Ann McBride Crandall

  Margaret Ann McBride is my great-great-great grandmother.  She was born June 1, 1794 in Chester, New York.

Margaret was the fifth child and oldest daughter of Abigail and Daniel McBride. In 1811 when she was 16 years old, she was married to David Crandall. She became the mother of 12 children, eight of whom grew to maturity. 

Three missionaries found the McBride family in New York.  The missionaries were:  Evan Green (secretary to the Prophet Joseph Smith), Amasa Lyman, and William Cahoon.  These men toured New York state as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

The McBrides were very kind to the elders who were traveling without purse or script.  They were good listeners, believed the religion, and were baptized in June 1833. They shared their shelter and urge to gather with the Church, and sold at great sacrifice (as many converts did) their farms and homes and moved to Kirtland, Ohio one hundred thirty-five miles away.They assisted in the building of the city and gave of their means for the building of the Kirtland temple, they also went through the trials and tribulations of Kirtland and Nauvoo. 

When her youngest son, Nelson D Crandall, was 11 years old, Margaret died at age 51 at LaHarp, Hancock county, Illinois in August 1845. LaHarp is just a few miles from Nauvoo. Her husband, David Crandall, married again and remained in Illinois where he died in 1861.

One of the greatest tributes to Margaret McBride Crandall is the loyalty of her children. They did what their mother would have them do. They came to the Salt Lake Valley with the Saints, and they came together and stayed together. Her daughters were skilled in the arts of homemaking which involved many arts in those days, they in turn passed their skills on down to their daughters.
Ancestral Line:  Janeal Kindred Smith... Kent Lewis Kindred... Fred Lewis Kindred... Luanna Mariah Bird... Emeline Crandall... Margaret Ann McBride