Jeff Westover

The Small World of the 1800s

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Over the weekend on Facebook I posted a quote from the Journals of Albert Smith. Even though I have tried to keep things here so far focused on those directly related to William and Ruth so as to engage as many family members as we can I cannot keep from sharing those things I’m seeing from other branches of the family. We will work up a complete profile for Albert Smith soon but for now you should know that Albert is Mary Ann Smith Westover’s grandfather (Mary Ann is Arnold’s wife).

I posted this quote from Albert’s journal, one of the most complete records we have of pioneer life in our family records:

“One day I was asked to talk at Sacrament Meeting on the principle of baptism. A few days previous I had received four hundred names in addition to one hundred I had previously received of my forefathers. Because of this I was meditating on the principles of baptism for the dead. It seemed I was surrounded with the spirits of my forefathers opening the principles to my mind giving me to understand that they were looking to me and my children to attend to those ordinances for them — ordinances they could not attend to themselves. Not only did they open the principles of it to my mind but they showed me the necessity of bringing my children up to faithfulness, and to live that they might be prepared when the temple would be finished to go and take care of those ordinances for which the temple is built. Suffer me to say that I didn’t sleep any more that night as it seemed they stayed with me till day light.

I worked on the temple and I prayed that it would be completed so I could do the work I had for my kindred dead. My prayer was answered, and I had the privilege of working for a number of years in the Manti Temple. Although I was so crippled I could hardly walk with a cane to work, I was always able to leave my cane at the door and perform my work without it. There was some unseen person walking beside me assisting me. I feel that my religion is well worth the sacrifice I have made for it, and I pray the Lord to instill me with His spirit and enable me to discharge my duty to my children and grandchildren that they may have the spirit of Temple work. This is my everlasting prayer.”

I posted that quote not because Albert is related but because he talks about why we are doing what we are doing here.

Albert was much like Electa or Edwin or others we have talked about here on WFH — run-of-the-mill 19th century pioneers trying to make a go of it in the wilderness while harboring a conviction of God and family. They were not famous, powerful or, in the eyes of the world, important. But their journeys were sincere and filled with lessons that only real life experience can provide. The wilderness was not the only thing tamed during those years. Just as our own experiences shape us theirs shaped them and I find that, in many cases, inspiring.

I do not think Edwin and Albert ever met — but it would not have surprised me if they had. The world was quite small in Utah and Idaho of those days. Consider this:

Albert’s third wife was someone I very affectionately call Grandma Sophie. Hers is an incredible story. Albert and Sophie’s story together is an incredible story. And we will get to those. But for now think about this: Sophie came over from Denmark with four of her surviving children in the Willie Handcart Company of 1856. Yes, that handcart company. She made it to Salt Lake and got on with life, ending up with Albert in Manti.

Her company captain James G. Willie settled in Mendon and became Bishop to…Ann Findley Westover.

Coincidence? Probably.

But the more I dig into the lives of our ancestors on all sides the more I see they had in common — both in what they believed and in who they knew and where they lived.

Over the weekend the Church History department put out — and I swear I’m not making this up — this picture on Twitter:

26-06

The person 2nd to the right in this image is Azariah Smith — Albert’s son.

Albert and Azariah served together, father and son, in the Mormon Battalion. Azariah was one of those men who were at Sutter’s Mill when gold was discovered. This picture was taken of the surviving gold discovery group during the 50-year anniversary celebration of the discovery of gold in California in 1899.

The picture is something of a miracle. Towards the end of the journey of the Battalion Azariah was kicked by a horse and suffered a devastating injury to his head. For years he was incapacitated and required a lot of care. Grandma Sophie played a huge part in his recovery. He later went on to live a healthy life and raised a righteous family.

How could the Church know that Albert was on my mind? Well, they didn’t, of course.

But this work of family history is full of surprises like that. A lot of miracles are happening. Since I really started investing myself in this research two years ago I cannot tell you how it has changed my life (a story I will share at a later time). The lessons are that profound.

You should be a part of it.

St. George Temple Workers
Jeff Westover

Electa’s Letter

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With this post announcing the video about Mother Electa Beal Westover it was quite exciting to me to announce the availability of a PDF copy of a letter Electa wrote in 1880 to William Ruthven Westover, her grandson.

That PDF is now part of the document archives here.

Electa's Letter

Electa's Letter

Electa's Letter

In 1880 William would have been 19 years old or so, still a few years away from marrying Ruth. Electa recalls a recent letter she had received from her “white haired Willie” and asks about his mother, Ann Findley Westover and others. She mentions working in the St. George temple as well.

I have not yet learned the story of this letter. I would love to know who holds the original, how they came to acquire it and what is known about the circumstances of the family at the time. This letter is dated 2 years after the death of Edwin Ruthven Westover, William’s father and Electa’s son. No mention is made of him or of his passing in the letter but still it is important, I think, to know the context of what the family was experiencing at the time.

Electa bridges Edwin’s two families, speaking of a family member that William had asked about who clearly belongs to Edwin and Sarah, his first wife living by then in St. Joseph, Arizona. This is a fascinating peek into the family relationships brought on under plural marriage. What love and regard there is for them all — by all! So many in our day (and theirs) deride the arrangements of plural situations but clearly these folks lived beyond the petty standards of the world and were ruled by love. I think for that fact alone this letter is ponderous.

As noted before, this letter is a treasure. I still hold out hope there is an image of Electa somewhere.

I thought I got close once, and it gave me quite a start. In my many hours of research for such an image I stumbled upon this image of another one of Electa’s grandchildren, this one named after her — Electa Jane Westover (Emmett). Here she is from an undated photo of St. George Temple workers (I’m guessing around 1910). This Electa Jane is the daughter of Edwin and Sarah, upper left in the back row:

St. George Temple Workers

Jeff Westover

Was it one of the Three Nephites?

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Today we uploaded the full life sketch of Ann Findley Westover, the plural wife of Edwin Westover who lived the majority of her life near where I reside now in Cache Valley, Utah. She is known to most of our family as the mother of William Ruthven Westover. Hers is a must-read story and logged in site members can read it here.

Ann served as Primary President in the little town of Mendon for 37 years and gratefully the city of Mendon has a great city website that shares some more detailed information about Ann, including the outstanding photo above.

As I first researched her life several years ago I came across a family history website called “Hunt Stories” that had Ann as one of their ancestors. Sadly, that site is no longer online. Archived in her profile there was much of the same information we share but it included a story about Ann receiving a blessing shortly after she moved to Mendon after her brother’s death.

Picture it: Ann and Edwin married in 1857. Between that date and when her brother William died in 1869 Ann had five babies, the youngest of which she was carrying when her parents came to St. George to take her home for William’s funeral. These were not only lean years for Edwin and his families (which included his other wife Sarah and her children and also his mother, Electa) — they were years of a lot of transitions, settling and re-settling different areas of Southern Utah as Edwin was called to serve as a farmer, rancher and builder in Mountain Meadows, Hamblin, St. George and other areas. They moved around A LOT. Under those conditions Ann had her children, finally leaving with her parents to Mendon in 1869 with Emma Jane at age 11, William age 7, Mary Ellen age 4, and John Henry just 2. Baby Francis would be born in Mendon.

Conditions in Mendon at the time were not much easier. Yes, her parents had a home there but her parents were getting on in years (in their 60s) and Ann could see they would need help, especially now that William, Jr. was gone. William’s widow Sarah was also in great need with six surviving children of her own and, like Ann’s family, they were all very young. Ann decided to stay after Francis was born, even though it would be just as much a struggle in Mendon as it would prove to be with Edwin in Southern Utah. It could not have been an easy decision.

Ann and Sarah’s combined children totaled 11 — and her William, as the oldest boy — would be raised to be the man of the house especially with the passing of Sarah’s oldest son James in 1871.

But for Ann it was bound to be a continuation of what proved to be a difficult adult life for her. Seeking answers she prayed and one day a total stranger came to her door. He wanted to give her a priesthood blessing. He told her that she had suffered from want and poverty enough and that she would be provided for soon and that there would be plenty. Soon she was offered a job in a local store in Mendon, which allowed her to take baby Francis to work with her and provide for herself and her children. It was believed by that family that the mysterious visitor who gave the blessing was one of the Three Nephites.

Ann did overcome. The City of Mendon speaks fondly and highly of her more than a century after her service in the ward and community there. And no doubt her experience shaped the life of her son William, soon to be profiled here on Westover Family History.

Electa Beal Westover
Jeff Westover

Mother Electa

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Having just added Electa Beal Westover’s profile to the site we felt this was a good time as well to debut a video that can be shared about her.

Electa is a key individual in the story of several generations of 20th century Westovers.

Her sweeping tale is caught up in the migration of Latter-day Saints in the push west but more importantly her example of faith is compelling and inspiring. She may have come along a little too soon for photography but we still hold out hope of one day finding a image of her. If you know of any or of additional histories of Electa that have been written please share them with us.

Jeff Westover

A Story of Trek

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Ann Findley Westover is my fourth great grandmother, the wife of Edwin Ruthven Westover. In researching for her profile here on WestoverFamilyHistory.org we wanted to learn more about her upbringing in Scotland and whether or not there was a story or two that survived of her trek in the Daniel D. McArthur Company, the 2nd handcart company overall that arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 26 September 1856. Ann was 17 when she made the trek and she came with her parents, William and Lindsay. From what we can tell they joined the Church about ten years or more before they made the trek to Zion. While we could not find much specific to Ann about trek we did find her brother, also named William, who came to Zion before Ann and his parents arrived. While we are not directly descended from William Findley Jr. we will most certainly claim him. His story with that of his sister Ann are so very much connected. William and his wife Sarah moved to Mendon, Utah not too long after arriving in Salt Lake and it was his death that caused Ann to move there with her children. William was one of the first to be buried in the cemetery there in Mendon. His trek story bears repeating and it includes a neat tradition within the family of his descendants that is worthy of our attention. This is his story:

William Finley, Jr. was just a small boy when his family joined the Church. His family was one of the earliest convert families in Scotland in the mid-1830s. Just as he was coming of adult age he met and fell in love with his bride, Sarah.

Sarah was not a member of the Church but joined the Church just before she married William. Not long after they were married the call came to all the Saints living in Europe to “come to Zion”.

As they discussed leaving England William and Sarah disagreed. He wanted to heed the call to go to Zion but Sarah was afraid to go. Her family already disapproved of her joining the Church, though they loved William deeply. Sarah was concerned that she would never see her family again nor the land of her upbringing. Worse, she feared they would hate William for taking her away.

The issue divided them. At one point Sarah told her father she was leaning towards going to America with William and, as she feared, her father was not in favor. His rebuke broke her heart.
William prayed and determined that he was going – even if that meant leaving Sarah behind.

As he made his preparations he told her that he would leave money for her with the agent at the dock if she changed her mind. William left and did as he promised. Feeling a little lost and burdened by leaving his wife behind, William hesitated, opting to allow one ship to leave in favor for a ticket on another that was leaving a few days later. He hoped one final letter to his bride would convince her to come and would reach her on time so that she could make it to Liverpool to join him.

The letter did not make it on time. But it didn’t need to.

After much suffering and much prayer, Sarah determined that her place and her future was with her husband in Zion – even if that meant leaving her family behind. She packed her things, bid a tearful farewell to her family and went to Liverpool – hoping to get a ticket to America where she hoped to find William.

She arrived just in time and rejoiced to be able to make passage over with her husband.

When they arrived in America they took a train west to Chicago, as far as it went at the time, and then made way to Iowa City to find a wagon train west to join. They were able to do this but it would require them to pack light and walk a great deal. They had to get rid of many of their belongings because they were only allowed to bring a small amount that could fit in the wagon.

William had a cap that he would wear and being fastidious in his dress he liked to have it pressed, so that there would be no wrinkles in it. He liked the same for his shirts but his cap, since it was on his head, had to be perfect. It pained him to have to give up the small iron Sarah would use to press his cap, but it was weighty and could not make the trip. Together William and Sarah decided on which items would make the trek and which would not. The little iron was out.

This was on a trip before handcarts. They were joining a company headed west that had many families. Since William and Sarah did not have children and were adults, they were not allowed much room for their stuff. They were shocked to learn that for all the things they left behind they had to cull it down again because they still had too much.

Sarah did not want William to go without his ironed cap. So she strung the little iron – which weighed about 4 lbs – on a string and tied the string around her waist, under her skirt. The iron would make its way west, banging into Sarah’s legs now and then as she walked the 1300 miles to Salt Lake City.

The iron, though little used on the trip, was used all the years of their married life.

When William died suddenly in 1869, in Mendon, while still a relatively young man, Sarah used the iron on William’s burial clothes. By this time William and Sarah had a much larger iron, an appliance that would have made quicker work of the job. Their eldest daughter asked her mother why she was using such a little iron on her Daddy’s clothes. So Sarah told her the story of the iron.

This daughter recorded this family event in her journal and, years later when Sarah passed away as an old woman, told the story of the iron at her funeral.

For generations the iron has passed from mother to daughter in the Finley family, where it remains today. (The iron always remains with a descendant named “Lindsay”, after William’s mother).

As it passes to each generation the love story of William and Sarah is retold and the testimony of their sacrifices in coming to Zion are shared again and again.