(SCOFIELD) Charlotte Abbott and the Indian Raid

Charlotte Freer Allibone, the third of Joseph Allibone and Elizabeth Freear’s nine children, was born January 6, 1808 in Irchester, Northamptonshire, England.1 

Shortly before her 21st birthday, Charlotte married William Abbott.2 He and their ten children were also born in Northamptonshire. Chances were fair that Charlotte, like her parents before her, would spend her entire life within the bounds of one English county.

But faith intervened.

Charlotte and William were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 1850. Several of their children also joined the Church in the ensuing years. Brigham Young, the president of the church, once taught that emigration, “upon the first feasible opportunity, directly follows obedience to the first principles of the gospel”.3 Joseph Smith taught that the faithful immigrated, or “gathered,” to Zion “to build unto the Lord an house whereby he could reveal unto his people [temple] ordinances”.4 All faithful Latter-day Saints had a desire to receive temple ordinances. In Charlotte and William’s time, temple ordinances were available in one place: Utah.

During his mortal ministry the Savior taught, “There is no man that hath left house, or…children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time…and in the world to come eternal life”.5 Charlotte and William showed their faith in Him by their works:6 in 1866 they departed for Utah, along with their daughter Mary Ann Elizabeth Abbott George (later Cheshire) and her son William. They sailed from London on May 5, 1866 aboard the Caroline. Of this voyage a contemporary newspaper noted, “the vessel itself being 8½ feet between decks, and possessing many other conveniences and comforts….But… of far greater importance…the people were inspired with the spirit of confidence in their God. One and all looked on the trials and dangers of a sea voyage with unflinching courage, having an assurance that God was their friend…". After five weeks at sea, they “arrived at New York June 11th, and…continued the journey by steamboats and railroad” and wagon train.7 

Passenger list. Charlotte's family are the last 4 on the page. 8

The William Henry Chipman Company consisted of 375 people—including the Abbotts and Mormon historian B. H. Roberts9—and about 60 wagons.  The Company departed Wyoming, Nebraska on July 11, 1866.10
  

Mormon wagon train circa 1879. 11

Most of the westward journey was typical: a few births and deaths, food made mostly of flour, cold weather and a great deal of walking. However, on August 14th, at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, soldiers stopped the wagon train and related that 100 people had recently been robbed and killed by Indians. And on the 18th “we had trouble with the Indians. We suppose they followed us. We had just corralled, and began to cook our dinners, when the alarm came that the Indians were driving away our cattle. They (the boys) followed them. They got away with ninety-one head and wounded three” oxen. On August 20th the Company “passed Deer Creek. The same day the Indians took our cattle, they took all the possessions of two homes, killed the people and burned their homes”.12 The Indians also burned down Deer Creek Station, a telegraph station and former Pony Express stop.13

Deer Creek Station before its destruction by fire. 14

The company continued on without further incident and “arrived in good condition on the 15th [of September], having made very good time”.15

Charlotte and William settled in Salt Lake City. They were sealed (married for eternity) in the Endowment House on February 23, 1869, obtaining through faith the temple ordinances for which they had trekked 6500 miles16, forsaken home and country, and left family, because they “judged him faithful who had promised”17.




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Sources:

1 - All genealogical information (birth dates and places, baptism and sealing dates, etc.) is from familysearch.org. Charlotte's Person ID is KWJ8-TC2

2 - Photo from "Utah, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 1847-1868," index and images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KL71-4KQ : accessed 29 Nov 2014), William Abbott, ; excerpted from Frank Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah: Comprising Photographs, Genealogies, Biographies (Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah Pioneers Books, 1913).

3 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, eom.byu.edu/index.php/Immigration_and_Emigration

4 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, eom.byu.edu/index.php/Gathering

5 - Mark 10:29-30

6 - see James 2:18

7 - Quotes and information in this paragraph from Mormon Migration, 

London to New York

5 May 1866 - 11 Jun 1866

http://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu/Search/showDetails/db:MM_MII/t:account/id:198/keywords:charlotte+abbott

8 - Passenger list from Mormon Migration website, http://files.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/registry%20images/MM_MII/Boxes%204-5/Images/CR%20271%2025_Bx%205%20Vol%201_00247.jpg

9 - from 

"Passenger List," Deseret News[Weekly], 26 Sep. 1866, 341

http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/trailExcerptMulti?lang=eng&pioneerId=35112&sourceId=10503

10 - William Henry Chipman Company, Company Detail, http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/companyDetail?lang=eng&companyId=87

11 - Photo, "Mormon emigrants." Photograph of covered wagon caravan by C. W. Carter ca. 1879. 165-XS-7 , from 
http://www.archives.gov/research/american-west/images/023.jpg

12 - Quotes and information in this paragraph from 

Clark, Caroline Hopkins, Diary, in Utah State Historical Society Cache Valley Chapter, Historical resource materials for Cache Valley, Utah-Idaho, 1955-1956, reel 1, item 10.

http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/trailExcerptMulti?lang=eng&companyId=87&sourceId=4951

13 - This is presented on many sites, including 
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/nlcs/Historic_Trails/trails_tour.html#deer
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-indianbattles2.html
http://wiki.wyomingplaces.org/w/page/25007519/Deer%20Creek%20Station
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/grock.html

14 - Drawing of Deer Creek Station by a soldier, University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Grace Raymond Hebard Papers, from 
http://wiki.wyomingplaces.org/w/page/25007519/Deer%20Creek%20Station

15 - from 

"Cap. W. Chipman's Train," Deseret News [Weekly], 19 Sep. 1866, 333.

http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/trailExcerptMulti?lang=eng&companyId=87&sourceId=10804

16 - from Distance Table on Monday June 18 in 

The Diary of William Driver

http://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu/Search/showDetails/db:MM_MII/t:account/id:200/keywords:charlotte+abbott

17 - Hebrews 11:11

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Line of descent: 

Charlotte Freer Allibone, 1808-1879
Mary Ann Elizabeth Abbott, 1845-1920
George Cheshire, 1873-1935
Clara Lavon Cheshire, 1915-2007

(ROBERTS) James Robert Laws

{This is one of four posts about my children's ancestors named James--one James from each grandparent's ancestral line.}


James Robert Laws was born July 12, 1868 in Joliet, Illinois to James Laws and Mary Ann Lowe. In the 1870s, James's family moved to Kansas. 

Location of Kansas in the United States, from wikipedia 

James married Sarah Elizabeth White on November 2, 1887. 

Sarah Elizabeth White Laws in her later years

They had 9 children. 

7 of the 9 Laws children
Kline, Eva, Silas, Nina, Homer, Anna, Charles
Not pictured: Maude, Curtis

James settled his family in Coffey County. 

Location of Coffey County in Kansas, from wikipedia 

Around 1900, he purchased land in Pleasant Township, an area of 68 square miles, populated, in 1900, by 1200 people. (The population has since consistently declined; it is now about 250.) 

Location of Pleasant Township in Coffey County,
from kansasmemory.org 

James appears to have owned 80 acres, located in Township 21 S, Range 14 E, Section 7. 

Location of Section 7 in 1901 plat map. James's
land is in the center labeled J R Laws
from kansasmemory.org

Location of Section 7 in 1919 plat map. James's
land is in the center labeled J R Laws
from kansasmemory.org 

James continued on this farm until his death in September 1945. 

James's death certificate 

James's obituary
from the Emporia Gazette, Sep 10, 1945

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Line of descent:
James Robert Laws, born 1868
Eva Irene Laws, born 1892
Dolores Mae Peters, born 1927


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Sources:

1 -http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Township,_Coffey_County,_Kansas
2 -http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffey_County,_Kansas
3 -http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209376/page/16
4 -http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/223987/page/23

(SMITH) James Greaves

{This is one of four posts about my children's ancestors named James--one James from each grandparent's ancestral line.}
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James Greaves was born in 1773 in Shaw, Lancashire, England. He married Betty Buckley; they had two daughters. 

James's life spanned a time of local transition. Shaw had previously been so small that "going to Shaw was synonymous with going to church as there was not much else there." At that time "the area was sparsely populated and consisted of woods, moors and bogs." Shaw, with poor soil and rugged terrain better suited to sheep grazing than farming, had long been dependent on woolen manufacture.  Though wool was the foundation of the local economy, international demand was growing for a different clothing fiber: cotton. 

As it turned out, Shaw's damp climate was ideal for spinning cotton; it kept the cotton threads from drying and breaking. When James was 10, a cotton mill was built in the area. When James was 20, there were a dozen mills and Shaw's population had at least doubled. 

As is often the case, change was not completely welcome. To encourage and support wool production during the transition decades, there was a law in Shaw that the bodies of the deceased had to be dressed in woolen clothing. Nevertheless, the area became increasingly dedicated to industrialized cotton spinning and textile manufacture. 

James's grandchildren were born during a time of conflict as hand loom weavers faced the reality that they could not work as fast as machines. There was even a local riot during which many power looms were smashed. Despite the violence, progress and mechanization marched on, and Shaw was solidly a mill town for the next 150 years. 



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Line of descent:

James Greaves, born 1773
Ann Greaves, born 1799
Alice Greaves Hurst, born 1819
Asa Brigham Scoville, born 1861
Lucia Naomi Scoville, born 1889
Alice Zemp, born 1925


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Sources: 


1 -  www.lan-opc.org.uk/Oldham/Shaw-and-Crompton  The quotes are from this website. 
2 - www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Shaw/#Description 
3 - en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_and_Crompton
4 - www.familysearch.org person ID LZFD-7P8
big/eng/LAN/Shaw/#Description-http://e

(LUKE) James Kirkman

{This is one of four posts about my children's ancestors named James--one James from each grandparent's ancestral line.}
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James Kirkman was born October 8, 1823 at Breightmet Fold, Lancashire, England, the son of John Kirkman and Ellen Lomax. His baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 21, 1843 makes him our children's only "James" ancestor who was also Mormon. He attended the Bolton, Manchester, England Conference and was branch president for years. 

James married Mary Haslam on October 29, 1843 in Middleton Parish, Ainsworth, Lancashire, England. They had 12 children. The Kirkmans lived in a rowhouse in the village of Darcy Lever, near Bolton. According to James's granddaughter, peace, joy, and love abounded in his home. Their family were the only Mormons in the village of about 1,000 people. 

James was a miner--presumably a coal miner. His children worked in a nearby mill (almost certainly a cotton mill) from an early age. James died on February 27, 1874 at Darcy Lever, Lancashire, England. Many of his children later emigrated to the United States. 

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Line of descent:

James Kirkman, born 1823

Ann Kirkman, born 1850

Sarah Jane Howarth, born 1882

Russell Victor Luke, born 1905

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Sources:

- ancestry.com, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848

- "Utah Pioneer Ann Kirkman," www.oocities.org/iluv_familyhistory/annkhowarth.htm

-Darcy Lever population from www.mancuniensis.info/DarcyLeverFP.htm