Timeline of the 19th Century Westovers - Part 2

Pioneering Utah

The Salt Lake Valley

The transition from traveler to pioneer was a short one. Upon arriving in Salt Lake City the Westovers and most with them took up residency in was what called the Old Fort, an interesting term considering that it was actually less than a year old.

Perhaps it was called that because the living conditions there were so miserable. It was hastily constructed in 1847 as the real priority of the pioneers in late July of 1847 was to plant their crops. The walls were made of adobe, rock and logs and the shelter was constructed of flat-top roofs made of sod. Many a pioneer history tells of women tending house under cover of umbrellas due to the water that would seep in from rain and snow.

Salt Lake Valley

Charles and Edwin worked to quickly shore up a space with new walls and a new flat roof.

It was all only temporary. Everyone knew that the Spring would bring new efforts by all to build permanent houses. But the winter of 1848-49 was a rough one. Food was scarce and the shelter was porous. Thankfully the Old Fort experience would not last long.

Why Patriarchal Blessings are not on Westover Family History

The patriarchal blessings referenced here are important insights into the history of our ancestors. Everyone should have a copy of those blessings for their ancestors who received them. Some have asked why we just don’t make them available here on Westover Family History since we obviously have them.

We don’t do that because these are sacred documents. We can quote briefly from them to bring context to the histories that we share but the Church has asked that we do not share them freely online.

You can obtain them for yourself via your account at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. They are located under a sub-menu of your personal account. Your own blessing, if you have had one, is available there and via the interface you can request blessings for any of your ancestors. (We can help you with that).

Not all of our ancestors received patriarchal blessings (William and Ruth Westover, for example). But for those who were able to obtain them they are a very valuable family history resource.

The 1850s

Settling the Valley

April 4, 1850

Edwin and Sarah welcome daughter Sarah Evaline
Sarah Evaline was the first born of Edwin and Sarah Jane’s family and the first to have been born in Utah.

She shows in the 1860 census in Grantsville and then 10 years later, in 1870, in Mountain Meadows, matching Edwin’s residences exactly. She married Moroni Canfield in 1870. The Canfields lived in Hamblin, where Edwin served as postmaster for many years. So they were neighbors.

Moroni Canfield was the subject of this article from several years ago. His unfortunate passing led to a mystery of sorts for later generations who debated over whether or not he committed suicide or was murdered. It’s a tragic story but one that illustrates well the dangers of living at the time in Southern Utah and all that had to be done to make a living.

Years after Moroni’s passing Sarah would marry James Samuel Page Bowler. Their two families are shown below in an image likely taken not too many years after they married in 1902. Sarah would live until the age of 77, passing away in Gunlock in 1927.
August 3, 1850

Electa Receives a Patriarchal Blessing
When the Westovers took up their residence in Salt Lake City in 1848 they were placed in the Ninth Ward as part of the Salt Lake Stake. John Smith was then their Stake President. Later, in 1849, Smith was ordained as Patriarch to the entire Church. Like Charles before, Electa went to John Smith for a patriarchal blessing.

Electa was in a unique situation. With Edwin married she did not need to provide exclusive care now for any of her grandchildren. Charles by this point was married, too, and living in the home of Erastus Snow as he tended to Snow’s temporal affairs. Oscar was gone off to California.

Many histories say that Edwin and Charles built a house for Electa on property she was entitled to in Salt Lake City as head of her own house. But those histories fail to say when that happened. In the 1850 census, taken around the time of her patriarchal blessing, Electa is shown as living in the home of Simeon Howel, a married man of 36 years of age who lived some three blocks east of Eleazar Miller. Howel’s residence included his wife, three children and two others – the 16 year old Louisa Levett, who would go on to her own inspiring pioneer story in later years — and Electa.

Whatever her circumstances, Electa pursued a patriarchal blessing. Curiously, as was the case with other blessings received of our family members who were LDS, Electa was given a special statement concerning her children and grandchildren:

“…thy posterity shall become numerous and shall be great in the house of Israel…”

As her posterity it is up to us to ponder upon this blessing. Electa’s blessing is brief, specific, and personal to her in every way.
September 17, 1850

Edwin Joins the Nauvoo Legion
Every year through out the 1850s we see Edwin enlist in the local militia known as the Nauvoo Legion.

Here is Edwin’s signature for his service against the Shoshone in 1850:
October 16, 1850

Charles Westover Jr. born
Charles Westover Jr was the first born of 11 children for Charles and Eliza.

As an adult Charles Jr had several vocations. He is listed as a butcher in Silver Reef, where his parents lived for a period of time. He partnered for several years with a man named Marshall. That business dissolved when Marshall retired.

Charles Jr. married in 1883 to Ellen Parker, whose claim to fame is that she is the aunt of Robert Leroy Parker, who later became known as Butch Cassidy.

Over the course of the ensuing years Charles Jr worked in many capacities: juror, deputy registrar, registrar, election judge and councilor in Silver Reef, Leeds and Washington City. He later relocated to farming in Washington City, where he served as a justice of the peace and a farmer until his passing in 1921.

Charles Jr and his wife were parents to nine children. Both his wife and his mother outlived him.
December 28, 1850

Edwin Receives his first Patriarchal Blessing
Edwin was next to go to John Smith to receive a patriarchal blessing. Perhaps this was discussed among the family.

Edwin would have three such blessings in his lifetime. That again is no longer a common practice. We are grateful for these records because they reveal a great deal about these individuals we call pioneers. Edwin,as the record below shows, was attempting to live his religion, to support his family and to contribute to his community.

This first blessing would speak to Edwin’s efforts to “separate himself from the world” to “do miracles when necessary for the salvation of Israel”.

This blessing would remind Edwin that his name “would be had in honorable remembrance”.

The blessing was brief, as they tended to be in those days. What Edwin thought after receiving his blessing is not known.
February 8, 1851

Edwin Ordained a Seventy
According to the Church record below, Edwin was ordained a Seventy by Jedidiah M. Grant, who was a member of the First Presidency. This contradicts some other histories written about Edwin but this an official church record. This would also indicate that Edwin was re-baptized in 1850.
June 14, 1851

Edwin Joins the Militia Against the Utes
The Cottonwood location of Edwin’s farm is not exactly known. However, his military service gives us a good idea of where he was. In looking at these yearly assignments in the Nauvoo Legion it is clear that Edwin’s family was part of the 24 families living in what is known as Union Fort. All residents there were required to enlist and to drill in preparation for duty.

In 1851, this was Edwin’s enlistment (oh, and the enlistment of his horse):

This is what the Fort looked like:

Did you know Edwin Westover and family were one of the 24 families who lived in the Fort in Union, Utah, better known then as Cottonwood? New sources of information shows them there during the early 1850s.

From a history of the fort we learn:

Military-trained citizens provided defense for Union Fort. Every male between the ages of 18 and 45 belonged to the territorial militia. They drilled and practiced often and rotated standing guard.

The Union Fort settlers had immigrated from different countries, spoke many languages, and followed their traditional customs. Often they could not understand each other, but they all labored together in united effort for their common good. As a result, the name of the settlement was changed from Little Cottonwood to Union.

Union Fort was never attacked. Brigham Young signed a peace treaty with Chief Walkara in 1854, and Indian difficulties ceased late in the 1850s. The settlers began moving back into their homesteads. The fort walls were gradually dismantled and the land used for farms and gardens. The fort served the pioneer settlers well and provided sanctuary and security, uniting them during insecure times.

The area today where the Union Fort was is known as…Fort Union. In the early 1990s the remain structures were removed and the area was paved over for a shopping center.
Spring 1852

Charles ordained a Seventy
Some time in the Spring of 1852 Charles Westover was ordained to the Office of Seventy and assigned to the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy. Seventies are called to serve as special witnesses of Christ, proclaim the gospel, and build up the Church throughout the world. They work under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

At this point in the history of both Utah Territory and the Church the Quorums of the Seventy were men called in many service capacities. It might be part of a militia or an assignment to settle a new area. Men in these quorums could expect mission calls, work assignments or to help meet the needs of those in difficult circumstances.

For example, Charles Westover participated in a Quorum meeting in 1854 that spoke of the needs of one particular family:

Bro. Candland arose to lay before the Breathren and that was concerning the wants and necessities of Brother Barlows family, who was in need of assistance, both in fire wood and the staff of life, on account of a failure on the farm; Bro Westover arose and said he was willing to haul a load of wood, and that he was determined to keep up to the law of tithing.
March 27, 1852

Hannah marries Aaron Sceva, becoming his plural wife
Electa’s sister, Hannah Beal Brown, found herself unmarried sometime after arriving in Salt Lake. That changed in March of 1852. She married Aaron Sceva, becoming the plural wife of her son-in-law.

Aaron Sceva is a man seemingly without a known history. Family Search has little about him and even his obituary published in the Deseret News in September of 1886 was glowing in praise but frustratingly short on details.

From the surviving Westover histories we know that he was there in Ohio and came west with them the whole way. But once he got to Utah, Sceva seems to disappear until the 1850 census when he shows up two doors down from Edwin — and he was living with Adeline Brown and her son from a previous marriage. Adeline was Aunt Hannah Beal’s daughter.

The circumstances and the timing of the marriage between Aaron and Adeline is just unknown. FamilySeach.org tags it as happening in 1852, but obviously the census declares otherwise rather conclusively.

Odd to many, however, is what happened on March 27, 1852 when Aaron married Adeline’s mother, Aunt Hannah. On the surface, this seems to be a marriage arrangement common to early plural marriages in Utah. Hannah was 60 years old by this point and clearly needed support. Aaron was by all measures a faithful and productive man and it was not uncommon for men in his position to support the elderly mothers of their wives.

But Aaron Sceva clearly left a family in Ohio. He had originally married in 1835 and had four children with her over the course of the next decade. In fact, his youngest was born in 1846, just two years before he came west with the other Ohio Saints.

What gives?

It’s difficult to get the whole story because Aaron’s history — in fact, his life — is not embraced by his children or grandchildren, if he had any.

To find more about him we turned to an accidental find – the story of James W. Bay, a man listed as being a traveling partner to the Westovers in 1848 and perhaps even a cousin to Sarah Jane Burwell (that’s a claim in a written history, but not a fact we have actually been able to confirm yet).

James W. Bay has a wonderful history available to us. In fact, in a book titled “Utah Biographical Index of Pioneers” published in 1950 we find the history of James Bay written by a grandson.

James Bay converted to the Church in 1840. He was single. Guess who his influencing missionary was? The same Elder Goodale who taught Hannah and later Electa while they lived in Ohio.

His history and other recollections of his life by friends who knew James Bay describe him as kind of a religious fanatic. Bay describes his pre-trek experience, which included being jilted by the love of his life, who rejected Mormonism. He came west with the Brigham Young Company and settled into Salt Lake under the employ of Erastus Snow. He had to know Charles Westover pretty well then, right?

In fact, his great desire after living in Salt Lake for about 18 months was to be called on a mission back to Ohio so that he could try to teach his family. He got his wish and he return to Ohio on a mission, writing letters back to Charles in Utah about the business of taking care of Erastus Snow’s place.

While on this mission he pays a visit not only to his family but also to the former Mrs. Sceva – who receives him graciously. She does not convert, as she had long since rejected Mormonism, but she did not treat him poorly or speak ill of Aaron Sceva in any way.

During this part of James Bay narrative he talks about the conversion of Aaron Sceva. Sceva had a visionary conversion after reading the Book of Mormon and insisted on baptism as soon as Bay could accommodate him. Bay did baptize and then ordained him an Elder and sent him on a mission. Sceva literally dropped everything and began to preach everywhere he could – starting with his own home. He kept teaching and just never stopped. In fact, in coming to Salt Lake, and several years later, Sceva enthusiastically accepted mission calls.

Even in the conversion stories of Electa and Hannah, Aaron Sceva is described as singing songs of praise as he paced the floor before the missionaries would speak. The Deseret News, in their obituary for Sceva, said “In him was the saying fulfilled of leaving wife and children, for the Gospel’s sake.”

James Bay return from Ohio seemingly a failure in his efforts to convert family and former neighbors. His history notes that his former girlfriend died not long after he left Ohio. So he went home and did her temple work for her, having her sealed to him because “I still love her so”.

James Bay is a man we want to investigate more. He appears to have kept good records and his posterity, as well as his contemporaries held him in the highest regard. The same can be said of Aaron Sceva.

James W. Bay, later in life.
July 28, 1852

Electa visits California
How hard is it for a woman in the middle of the 19th century to travel from Salt Lake City, Utah to Sacramento, California?

Electa shows up in Sacramento during the July 28th state census:

Who did she travel with? Trains were not yet in service from Salt Lake to California, so how did she get there? By stage coach? Why did she go there? You would think it would be a big deal to travel to California during such a time and that the reasons for the trip would be included in someone’s history somewhere. But it isn’t. We know Electa goes there again to help Oscar with his children when his wife there passed away. She shows up there again about 18 years later.

In investigating this, we notice there are two men listed on the census below Electa’s name. One is Amasa Potter, a man who has an amazing history. In 1852 his history clearly states he was heading out to California for the gold. Did he and Electa know each other?

The other man listed is John Phillip, a native of Wales. He too came from Salt Lake. But there is no history of this young man that can be found.

So where was Oscar in 1852?

That’s unknown. He does not appear until he got married in 1857 in Sonoma County.
September 18, 1852

Edwin Joins the Militia at Fort Union
In most cases, Edwin’s service in the militia could range in time from a week to four weeks or more at a time. He was compensated. But the fact he is on record so consistently during these years shows that his Cottonwood property caused him to be eligible for call up at just about any time.

This was needed because one of the hallmarks of the early settlement of Utah was the regular engagement with Native Americans. Brigham Young’s famous “feed them instead of fighting them” edict was easier said than done. Frequently, settlers had to grapple with stolen livestock and damaged property. History clearly documents difficulties throughout the territory. Sometimes settlers took matters into their own hands, which complicated management of the issues. The militia rarely engaged in a violent manner but they were a consistent presence.
November 3, 1852

Oscar Fitzland Westover born to Charles and Eliza
Named after his uncle, Oscar Fitzland Westover was born to Charles and Eliza in 1852. He would marry in 1875 while the family lived in Pinto and he served as a justice of the peace there for about 8 years. In 1889 he left with his family to pioneer northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. He died in Taos, New Mexico and was buried in Manassa, Colorado when he passed in 1908. He and his wife had seven children.
October 10, 1853

Electa Jane Westover born to Edwin and Sarah
Electa Jane Westover was born to Edwin and Sarah Jane in 1853 in Salt Lake City.

While not much is known of her early life it is known that she married Moses Simpson Emmet sometime after 1870. Electa had no children of her own and Emmet’s history indicates that she was not meant to be a mother. She was remembered as a caretaker for Moses and his first wife. They praise Electa Jane for her devotion to her husband and many kindnesses to the family. Even the obituary published about her at the time describes Electa Jane: “She was a very kindly woman, patient, and bore her troubles silently”.

When Moses died in 1907 she was invited to stay with his family but she insisted on moving to St. George. She told a family member she “wanted to live and die in the shadows of the temple”. Electa Jane then sold all she had and moved to St. George for the remainder of her life. This image below is of temple workers from St. George taken sometime after 1907:

Electa Jane passed away in 1925. Please see this link for more details of her incredible life story.
April 10, 1854

Edwin Sends a Consecration Letter to Brigham Young
Brigham Young taught: “How long have we got to live before we find out that we have nothing to consecrate to the Lord—that all belongs to the Father in heaven; that these mountains are His; the valleys, the timber, the water, the soil; in fine, the earth and its fulness?” Brigham was not in the business of building communities. He was building the spiritual lives of men and women and Edwin was striving, as were many others.

In 1854, after attending a conference where Brigham and other leaders spoke, Edwin sent this letter of consecration to President Young:
September 6, 1854

William Albert Westover born to Edwin and Sarah Jane
William Albert Westover was born to Edwin and Sarah Jane but lived only a week, passing away on September 13, 1854 while the family was living in Big Cottonwood.
December 17, 1854

Eliza Ann Westover born to Charles and Eliza
Eliza Ann Westover, daughter of Charles and Eliza, has one of the most storied histories of the pioneer women of Utah. From one of her many biographies:

Eliza lived with her family in Washington County until she returned to Salt Lake City as an adult to attend the University of Deseret (present-day University of Utah). She was a bright student and excelled in her studies to become a teacher. But books and classroom lectures were not the only things that caught her attention. A quiet, serious, kind young man named Lemuel Redd, Jr., also caught her eye. Lemuel was studying to be a teacher and between classes and coursework, they spent as much time together as they could…On April 11, 1878, their long distance courtship came to a very happy end, and they were married in the St. George Temple for time and all eternity.

Eliza and Lem had been married for two years and had just celebrated the birth of their daughter Lulu, when the call from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints to settle southeastern Utah and establish a better relationship with the Indians in that area. Excited at the prospect of furthering the growth of the Church and themselves, they accepted the call and headed for Escalante to begin the journey.

With her baby Lulu on her lap, or lying on a small feather bed behind her, she drove a wagon team the entire way. In the evenings, Eliza and the other women prepared meals for the weary company and set about making everyone as comfortable as they could. She looked forward to the time when someone would invariably pull out a fiddle or harmonica and start to play a song. They would all sing, dance, laugh and count their blessings as the moon rose and the stars filled the vast desert sky. Eliza’s daughter recalled her mother telling of her fond memories of those nights on the trail. “Our mother . . . told of these wonderful evenings when all the hurt feelings and disgruntled tempers were ‘washed away’ in fun under the stars.

It was anticipated that the expedition to southeastern Utah would take about two months. Instead, it took six. This unexpected extension created a shortage of everything from dynamite, to clothing, to flour.

Ingredients were limited but her creativity was not. From their staples of dried fruit, honey and flour, Eliza would make meals that had everyone asking for more. Years later she would make some of these same born-in-the-rough creations for her own children.

Her daughter recalled, “As Mother told and retold of how she baked bread and spread it with stewed dried peaches on the thick slices, I always became very hungry. . . . I had to have a slice of bread with peach-spread. One time as she was telling about those trying times, I asked her, ‘Mother, how did you ever stand such hardships?’ I shall never forget her look of shocked surprise as she answered, ‘why those were the happiest days of my life; the men and women in that party came to genuinely love each other. We were closely welded into one big family.’

A fear of the Indians lurked in the minds of all who lived in Bluff. Eliza knew that a primary reason for Church leaders to colonize the area where they now lived was to build positive relationships with the Indians. She set about to make this happen. “Forth-right and unafraid, she showed her friendliness by feeding them. Very soon the Indians, both Navajo and Ute, discovered that [Eliza] was indeed
their friend.”

Eliza’s strong, healthy body allowed her the blessing of bearing many children.“Between the years 1879 and 1896, she had eight children: Lulu, Hattie Ellen, Lemuel Hardison III, Herbert Haven, Edith, Charles, Marion, and Amy.” She loved her children with all her heart, and they knew it.

Though neither Lem nor Eliza ever returned to the vocation of teaching, they both deeply valued the education they had received and wanted the same for their children. As a legislator, Lem visited the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and the Agricultural College in Logan (present day Utah State). He was impressed and wrote the following letter to Eliza, dated February 3, 1899: “I
am willing to make any reasonable sacrifice that our children may get an education and religious training at the same time.”

Education for all, not just her children, was important to Eliza Redd. As president of the Bluff Relief Society, she was keenly interested in strengthening her fellow sisters’ knowledge of the gospel. She encouraged them to study and gain a testimony of their own, and could often be found sharing hers. Eliza also served in the Primary and in the Stake Relief Society presidency. Eliza’s testimony was
like her will—firm, steadfast and full of love. After miraculously being healed from a deep, painful burn and the gangrenous infection that followed, Eliza suffered valiantly through several strokes, and painful arthritis before finally being called from this life to the next. She died on March 17, 1938 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
October 2, 1855

Laura Maria Westover born to Edwin and Sarah Jane
Laura Maria Westover was born while Edwin and family lived in Big Cottonwood. She was the 2nd of the Westover girls to marry one of the Canfield men. In 1876 she married Parley Pratt Canfield. They spent their lives in Hamblin. Parley and Laura had two children together. She passed away in 1900.
April 19, 1856

The Findley Family Boards the S Curling for Boston
The Findley family of Fife, Scotland had joined the Church in the 1840s. Their circumstances were difficult and for many years coming to Zion was not possible. Father William, his wife Lindzy, and children William and Ann worked for many years to make coming to Utah possible. After William Jr. married he was able to come with his young bride Sarah, who famously packed a little iron tied to her skirts because she was afraid of having belongings that were overweight for the trek. William Jr. and Sarah preceded the arrival of the rest of their Findley family by several years.

Thanks to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, their time came as part of the handcart companies of 1856. William Sr, Lindzy and 17-year old Ann Findley left Liverpool for Boston, heading for Zion on the S. Curling:

The log of the S Curling showing the Findley family in 1856
September 1, 1856

Charles Marries Mary Shumway
Buried beneath the details of the years of 1855, 1856, and 1857 in Utah are the dramatic events surrounding drought, famine and the Mormon Reformation. At no time since their arrival in 1847 had the settlers of Utah been faced with such difficulties in harvesting food than during the year of 1855. Mormon leaders, concerned for their struggling populations in many outpost areas of the territory, campaigned hard for greater obedience to God’s laws and more faith to overcome their trials.

Complicating matters as the stream of immigrants only increased during these years was the fact that many coming from Europe were already destitute and many of the women were single and/or widowed. Worldwide missionary efforts had increased Church memberships but there were also more women than men who joined. This added pressure on the expansion of plural marriage, which quickly picked up steam during these years.

No doubt the Westovers, who were faithful in as many things as they could be, got caught up in this spirit.

In A Legacy of Faith, by Paul Lewis Westover, the story is told of how Eliza Westover encouraged her husband, Charles, to take an old friend of hers as a plural wife. Her name was Mary Eliza Shumway.

She was the daughter of Charles Shumway, a higher profile Church leader who served from back in the days of Nauvoo. He brought his family to the valley as part of the 1847 group of pioneers and held leadership roles in Salt Lake, Manti, Mendon and later in Arizona. He was a patriarch in his Church calling when he passed away.

Mary was 21 years old in 1856 and according to family lore Charles pursued her:

A good friend of Eliza was a young woman by the name of Mary Shumway. Mary was twenty-one and unmarried. Eliza deemed Mary an acceptable wife for her husband, one she could love herself. Charles’s first attempt in winning Mary’s affections was rebuffed. Charles was a pleasant-looking fellow, bewhiskered in the style of the day. He stood at a respectable five foot seven or eight inches tall without his boots on. He was of slender build, weighing in at about one hundred and fifty pounds. He was kind and mild-mannered. Mary could have done much worse.

Charles and Mary would go on to have six children together.

It is interesting to note that Mary had a longtime sweetheart named Jerome Bonapart Bradley that she had promised to marry years before she met Charles. But Jerome died and on his deathbed he made Mary promise that she would have herself sealed to him. Thus, as we saw with Edwin Lycurgus, any children raised in mortality would be sealed in the afterlife to Jerome and they would be his children and Mary would be his wife.

Mary lived a good long life, to the age of 97, so it comes as no surprise that within the family it was known that she regretted making that promise to Jerome as her love for Charles deepened.

The subject of plural marriage was not avoided in the histories of Charles, Eliza and Mary. There was love and sisterhood between Eliza and Mary, just as Eliza hoped their would be. But Charles notes in his history of moments of tension. For most of his married life his wives lived in separate residences, often at a great distance. In fact, Mary Eliza became a celebrated community member in Huntington Utah in her later years, which was far away from Washington City where Charles and Eliza lived near St. George.

For as many years as Mary Shumway Westover lived there is amazingly little detail shared of her adult life – and no known pictures. That is a little unusual for a person who survived until 1932.
September 26, 1856

The Findley Family Arrives in Salt Lake
The handcart companies of 1856 are largely remembered today due to the tragic circumstances of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies. But there were three other companies of handcart pioneers that get little attention these days who arrived before the Willie and Martin companies. The Findleys were part of the 2nd handcart company known as the McArthur Company that arrived on September 26th.

They were hailed by cheering crowds when they appeared on the streets of Salt Lake City. One history reports:

President Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball “escorted by the minute men and a company of Lancers,” and followed by general citizens who walked or took horse-drawn vehicles, met them as they neared the city. The Nauvoo Brass Band and Capt. Ballo’s band heralded the handcart travelers’ arrival. Charles M. Treseder described the first carts rolling into the city: “folks came running from every quarter to get a glimpse of the long-looked-for hand-carts.”

Meeting the Findleys was William Findley Jr and his wife, Sarah. They had been in the valley for about two years and had settled in Big Cottonwood. According to William Jr’s history, the plan was for the family to get property nearby in Big Cottonwood to farm.

On an interesting side note, in researching new records for William Findley Sr we note with great interest there is a patriarchal blessing available for him that we did not know about. We hope to have it soon:
December 9, 1856

Harriet Azalea born to Charles and Elliza
Daughter Harriet Azalea was born while Charles and Eliza lived in Big Cottonwood.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many 19th century women, her full history remains largely unknown. She married at age 21 a man named Charles Gracey, who moved with Harriet to California where they had one child, a son named John Alexander Gracey, who died very young.

Charles Gracey passed away in 1918 and Harriet remarried in 1921 to a man named Frank Austin.

This picture is of Harriet with her sister, Eliza Ann:
February 2, 1857

Edwin Westover marries Ann Findley
William, Lindsay and Ann joined her brother William Jr. and his wife, Sarah, in Big Cottonwood. They were fairly close neighbors to the Westovers. In February, 1857, just months after arriving in Utah, 17-year old Ann Findley became the plural wife to Edwin Ruthven Westover.

Over the course of roughly 12 years Ann and Edwin would become parents to five children: Emma Jane, William Ruthven, Mary Ellen, John Henry, and Francis Edwin. Ann joined Edwin’s family just as he was responding to the call to help settle southern Utah in a project called the Dixie mission. These 12 years were difficult times of child bearing and constant moving for Edwin and Ann as crops failed, floods destroyed properties they were developing and constant demands on Edwin’s time and resources.

This image of Ann Findley Westover likely dates from the 1880s

During these 12 years Ann’s parents and brother and sister-in-law moved from Big Cottonwood to settle the town of Mendon, Utah as original Cache Valley settlers. In 1869 William Jr suddenly died, leaving his wife Sarah with several children to raise. William Sr. and Lindsay traveled to St. George and brought Ann and her children home for William Jr.’s funeral. Ann was expecting her youngest child, Francis Edwin, at the time. Edwin came to Mendon after the baby was born, to give him a blessing. It was the last time Edwin and Ann would see each other.

Ann decided to stay in Mendon to aid her ailing parents and to partner with her brother’s widow in raising the children.

The story is told of a stranger who came to Ann’s door and told her he wanted to give her a 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.

For two years she worked the store only giving it up afterwards when her parents could no longer take care of their place. She moved there and ran the farm with her children and inherited the property when they passed away.

Ann was known throughout the Mendon area for her kindness and love of children. She was known to accept children in her home and to read stories to them. Ann was active in Church, accepting callings to serve in the Relief Society and as a teacher. In time she became the 2nd Primary President in Mendon, a calling she held for 37 years.

Mendon’s Primary Board in 1898. President Ann Westover is in the center.

Ann lived until the ripe old age of 80, when she passed away in 1918, some three years after the first of her great grandchildren were born.
March 15, 1857

Oscar Westover marries Esther Cooley
Meanwhile, out in Petaluma, California, Oscar Fitzland Westover got married to Esther Cooley Nichol.

Esther was married to Augustine Nichol and had three children, but Augustine died in 1855. She then married Oscar Fitzland Westover. I believe that the US Census of 1860 in Petaluma, Sonoma, California, shows the blended family, but the census taker did not write the last name down correctly. It shows O. F. “Weston” instead of Westover.
July 24, 1857

Start of the Utah War
The 10th anniversary of the Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley was celebrated up Big Cottonwood canyon by thousands of Saints who came for the occasion. Given the close proximity in which the families of Charles and Edwin lived, their relatively young age and the fact both were militia members there is little to doubt that they were there.

It was, perhaps, the largest gathering outside of a General Conference in the history of the territory and one most wanted to celebrate. Serenaded by brass bands from Salt Lake City, Springville, and Ogden, the people set up camp near the Brighton lake. Companies of the Nauvoo Legion paraded and drilled. At sunset, a bugle call summoned the people to prayer. Brigham Young spoke of the arrival of the pioneers, and how God had blessed them to create a garden in the desert. A prayer of thanksgiving was followed by an evening of dancing in three plank-floored boweries built for the party.

About noon, four dusty horsemen – Abraham O. Smoot, Judson Stoddard, Porter Rockwell, and Elias Smith – arrived in camp, bringing the news for which Pioneer Day, 1857, is best remembered: The complaint of the federal government that they believed were conditions of anarchy in Utah. A third of the United States Army, estimated at 2,500 men, were marching toward Utah, beginning what became known as the Utah War.

Elizabeth Haven Barlow, a half sister of Charles’ wife Eliza, recorded this in her journal:

Toward evening Brigham Young called the celebrators together, thousands of them, and told what was happening. A mighty hush fell over the merrymakers. President Young in a very bold manner predicted that God would fight the battle for the Saints and that the army should not possess our land. He called upon every saint to put his trust in the Lord. That night around the campfires the Saints reviewed their former drivings and sufferings and made solemn covenants with themselves and friends that the army, bringing a Gentile Governor and other officers, should not enter the valley. Far into the night the campfires burned, and by daybreak the outfits were on the move home.

The action would immediately change lives for nearly everyone in the territory because nearly everything they were working on was stopped to fight the war.

It was a good war. ‘Killed, none; wounded, none; fooled, everybody,’ reported a correspondent of the New York Herald. The incident of 1857-58 came to be known as the Utah Expedition, the Utah War or Buchanan’s Blunder.

Histories of both Edwin and Charles report their involvement in the action. Edwin was reportedly part of Lot Smith’s Mormon Raiders based out of Echo Canyon and charged with disrupting the advance of the army through any means possible outside of starting a shooting war. They burned grasslands, scattered cattle and destroyed Fort Bridger and Fort Supply. Fortifications were built to fight against the advancing army which are still visible to this day.
August 28, 1857

Electa is sealed to Chauncey Loveland
Several histories state that Electa was sealed to Chauncey Loveland in 1857.

Chauncey Loveland was another storied individual in Church history. He joined the Church in 1837 and endured many years of persecution. He moved to Nauvoo in the early 1840s and became involved with the Nauvoo Legion. His life would be marked by military and church service in support of the territory. He also had several wives and children. It is believed that not all of his wives that he supported are listed on his Family Search profile and that may include Electa.

As was the case with Electa’s sealing to Eleazar Miller, we cannot find any official record of a sealing that actually happened. And since Miller did not pass away until 1876 we have reason to doubt this even more.
December 11, 1857

Minnie Myrtle Westover is born to Oscar and Esther
Minnie Myrtle Westover was born to Oscar and Esther in 1857. She would marry in 1877 to Charles French and together they had two children. Minnie died very young in 1881 and is buried in Sonoma, California.
January 31, 1858

Ella Angelia born to Edwin and Sarah Jane
Ella Angelia was born to Edwin and Sarah Jane in 1858. Everything in her history says she was born in Grantsville. This is an important question because she was born right in the middle of the Utah War. Where was her family at that time? In later months, the Saints of the Salt Lake Valley – which would include her family – would participate in “The Move South”…but where were they in the meantime?

If Edwin was indeed with Lot Smith in Wyoming then it is possible that his families were with Aunt Hannah out in Grantsville. Unfortunately, there are no official records that document their precise location.

Ella would marry Samuel Alonzo Winsor in 1877. They lived in Mesa, Arizona and had 8 children together. She lived until 1939.
March 1858

The Move South
Despite the actions seen of Lot Smith and other leaders of the Nauvoo Legion against the advancing army in Wyoming Brigham Young adopted what was called the Sebastopol policy within Utah Territory. It called for the removal of grain and other supplies that could be useful to an occupying army as well as the removal of women, children and families from cities, towns and villages in Northern Utah.

It came to be called the Move South. The foundations of the Salt Lake Temple were buried and temple square was made to look like a freshly plowed field. Homes were emptied and materials were put in place to put them all ablaze should it prove necessary. Every needful thing was packed and prepared for up to three years in exile.

All of the Westover families were part of the exodus. One participant in the event from Centerville, Hulda Thurston, wrote in her journal:

During that exodus I shall never forget the distress and poverty of the people. I have seen men wearing trousers made of carpet, their feet wrapped in burlap or rags. Women sewed cloth together and made moccasins for their feet. Many women and children were barefoot. One good sister, a neighbor who had a family of seven, told my mother that aside from the clothing on their bodies, she could tie up in a common bandanna handkerchief every article of clothing they possessed. The people were all poor for we had had several years of great scarcity of crops because of the grasshoppers.

The Saints of Big Cottonwood camped to an area just north of the Provo River and they stayed there until they returned in July 1858. It is not known if Edwin and Charles were actually with their families at this time or in service to the Nauvoo Legion.

“It is not in the power of the United States to destroy this people,” Brigham reminded the Saints. “For they are in the hands of God, and so are we; and he will do with us as he pleases — and if we do right, God will preserve us.”

This is a rare image of the 3rd Regiment of the Nauvoo Legion, believed to be around the time of the Utah War.
February 2, 1858

Andrew Jerome Westover is born to Charles and Mary
Baby Andrew only lived a little more than a year. His official records are few. Church membership records show him with Charles and family in South Cottonwood in 1858. He is shown in Salt Lake County at the time of his passing in 1860.

It would be interesting to have more information about Andrew. It is interesting to note that he was given the middle name of Jerome, the same name Mary’s original intended had. The 1860 census record is a mortality schedule and it lists his cause of death as “brain inflammation”.
September 3, 1858

Emma Jane is born to Edwin and Ann
Emma Jane Westover was the first born of Edwin and Ann Findley Westover. She was born in September 1858 in Big Cottonwood – more or less proving that Edwin and families moved back to Cottonwood after the Utah War.

Emma’s history needs to be known. Being the eldest she would play an important role in Ann’s home, especially after the move to Mendon in 1869, when she was about 11 years old.

She became the 2nd wife of Walter Paul, a well known craftsman who knew many trades. Walter Paul was the son of William Paul, an English-born carpenter who trained his sons in the furniture business. Early on, Walter was known for his work on some of the finest homes and businesses in Salt Lake City. Walter married in 1857 and had a large family with his wife, Ann. They moved in Cache Valley in the early 1870s. Unfortunately, Ann passed away in childbirth in 1875, leaving Walter with a large family with several small children.

So he married Emma Jane, though she was younger than Walter’s oldest daughter. In fact, that daughter was one of Emma’s best friends.

Emma and Walter would have 11 children over the course of the married life. They lived in Cache Valley until moving to Rexburg. Emma’s younger brother William and family would follow Walter and Emma Paul to Rexburg.

Walter opened several businesses in Rexburg. He was the furniture maker, the undertaker, justice of the peace and shop owner. Walter was prominent in civic and church affairs.

Despite his business activities life was rough for them in Rexburg and they struggled (along with everyone else in Rexburg).

Emma Jane died two weeks after her youngest baby was born. Walter, having been born 63 years before, was unable to care for his youngest children. Two of them, Dora and Elmer, were sent to live with their grandmother, Ann Findley Westover, even though she was well into her sixties at that time as well. She would raise those kids to maturity and become beloved of them.

Emma Jane’s life was one filled with family devotion. She was every bit the pioneer woman that her mother was.
January 12, 1859

Charles Henry Westover is born to Oscar and Esther
Charles Henry Westover was born in Petaluma, California. It is interesting to note that both Oscar and Charles Westover name their children after each other.

We know very little about Charles Henry and his life in California. Census and voting records show that he worked as a boxmaker and a butcher. We also know that at age 60 he was living alone. We cannot find any records to indicate that he married or had children. He passed in Sonoma in 1924.
January 28, 1859

Theresa Maria Westover born to Charles and Eliza
Theresa Maria Westover was born in South Cottonwood in 1859 to Charles and Eliza. She married in 1878 to Charles Knell and together they raised a family of 8 children while living in Southern Utah. She passed in 1900. Here is a picture taken of her when she was roughly 11 or 12 years old, the same time the photos of her sisters were taken as shown above. The bottom photo is her later in life, likely some time in the late 1880s.

For as chaotic and dramatic as the 1850s were for the Westover the road ahead in the 1860s would not be less so. As families continued to expand the challenge of pioneering shifted south to Utah’s Dixie and calls to contribute to the Cotton Mission. Coming soon…

Part 3

Pioneering Utah

Why Patriarchal Blessings are not on Westover Family History

The 1850s

April 4, 1850

August 3, 1850

September 17, 1850

October 16, 1850

December 28, 1850

February 8, 1851

June 14, 1851

Spring 1852

March 27, 1852

July 28, 1852

September 18, 1852

November 3, 1852

October 10, 1853

April 10, 1854

September 6, 1854

December 17, 1854

October 2, 1855

April 19, 1856

September 1, 1856

September 26, 1856

December 9, 1856

February 2, 1857

March 15, 1857

July 24, 1857

August 28, 1857

December 11, 1857

January 31, 1858

March 1858

February 2, 1858

September 3, 1858

January 12, 1859

January 28, 1859

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