Stephen Aker, born abt 1790, and his wife Elizabeth Lemon or Bird, born abt 1794, were married 1 Jan 1812 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. They were the possible parents of 7 children: James, Daniel, Abraham, Louisa, Emeline, David and John. I have yet to find out much about this family. James is shown with his father Stephen in the 1860 census in Dover Twp, Ocean, New Jersey, in the household of 23-year-old Edward Smith and family--both men are colliers, or makers of charcoal. Daniel married Elizabeth Giberson abt 1840 and had several children. Abraham died at the age of 44 or 45, leaving his wife and young family of five children. Louisa lived to be 81, but not much is known about her life. Emeline, my ancestress, married William Huggins in New Egypt, Monmouth, New Jersey 25 Feb 1837, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and moved west to settle in Fountain Green, Utah. David died rather young. John married and raised a family and died in 1897. From what I know, Emeline outlived all her siblings and was the only to die outside of the family area of New Jersey.
Uriah Calvin Chapin and his wife Ann Richardson Chapin were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1855 and 1861, respectively. Uriah was living in Ohio with his widowed mother when he decided to go west with a neighbor to drive his teams and soon after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley was baptized. Ann was living with her family in Cramlington, Northumberland, England when they were baptized and left within in the week, sailing on the ship Underwriter to America. They met in 1865 while they were both living north west of Salt Lake City through the Ogden Canyon in a place called Morgan. The family of Uriah Chapin was from Vermont and Massachusetts, and Ann's family was from Nottinghamshire, England. In Morgan, Ann and Uriah quietly raised 3 daughters and 1 son to adulthood and participated in farm life in Morgan. Many of the Chapins and their descendents are buried in the South Morgan City Cemetery.
Uriah pictured at left.
Alfred Morton Durham was born in 1872 in Parowan, Iron County, Utah. His parents, Thomas and Caroline Mortensen Durham, sailed across from England on the ship Horizon and then migrated to Utah in 1856 with the Martin Handcart Company as new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The family of Thomas came from Yorkshire, England, and the family of Caroline came from Praesto, Denmark. Alfred had three wives, although not at the same time--Margaret Anna Richards, Ann Chase Matthews and Della Orme Tolley. Both Thomas and Alfred became well known for their musical abilities - Thomas as a choir director and singer, and Alfred as a singer and songwriter. A school teacher, Harriet Ann Richards Barton, who lived in Parowan the same time as the Durham's even recalled being in Alfred's choir. Alfred actually wrote the music for 4 hymns that were published in the 1985 version of the LDS Hymnbook: "Sweet is the Peace the Gospel Brings" (14), "They the Builders of the Nation" (36), "Again, Our Dear Redeeming Lord" (179), and "Carry On" (259). In Lowell Durham's 1968 best known list of top Latter-day Saint classical composers. In Merrill Bradshaw's article, "Music Composition in the Church or Handsprings before the Lord" (1995), he explains: About 27 years ago in the summer of 1968 Lowell Durham published an article in Dialogue Magazine about music in the Church, and especially about the composers in the Church. He polled some 50 people to arrive at a list of composers. He asked them to name the most important composers in the 138 years of the History of the Church to that time. He wanted to name the top 10, but there was a tie for number ten so he actually listed eleven. His listing also included nine additional composers who were mentioned, but did not make the top 11. Alfred did not actually make the list, which included
1. LeRoy Robertson
2. Crawford Gates
3. George Careless
4. Arthur Shepherd
5. Evan Stevens
6. B. Cecil Gates
7. Robert Cundick
8. Alexander Schreiner
9. John Tullidge
10. (tie) Leon Dallin and Merrill Bradshaw
Alfred was among the list of other composers mentioned by those surveyed that also included: Ebenezer Beesley, Joseph J. Daynes, George H. Durham, Gaylen Hatton, Leigh Harline, Cyril Jenkins, Rowan Taylor, and Jay Welch. ("Greatest Latter-day Saint Composers")
Alfred pictured at right.
In 1856, Philo Taylor Farnsworth (b. 1826) built a log cabin at the request of the Mormon prophet, Brigham Young. He and his wife, Margaret Yates Farnsworth, settled in Beaver with their 5 boys and 3 girls that lived to adulthood. The family of Philo originated in Worchester, Massachusetts, and the family of Margaret in Lancaster, England. Another Farnsworth of note is Philo T. Farnsworth, the grandson of the above Philo Farnsworth, who is known for inventing the TV tube in Rigby, Idaho. Below is some information about Philo and his life.
Philo pictured at left.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth's electronic inventions took all of the moving parts out of televisions and made possible today's TV industry, the TV shots from the moon, and satellite pictures. Born in Beaver, Utah, Farnsworth, was educated in the Utah and Idaho public school systems and while at Rigby (Idaho) High School in 1921 delved into the molecular theory of matter, electrons and the Einstein theory. He also studied automobile engines and chemistry. Farnsworth attended high school at Provo in the fall of 1923 and in 1924 enrolled in Brigham Young University. He left the university at the end of his second year due to the death of his father. In 1926 Farnsworth joined the Crocker Research Laboratories in San Francisco. At the age of 20 he produced the first all-electronic television image. Crocker Research Laboratories was later reorganized as Television Laboratories, Inc., and in May 1929 was renamed Farnsworth Television Inc., of California. Farnsworth's basic television patents covered scanning, focusing, synchronizing, contrast, controls, and power. He also invented the first cold cathode ray tubes and the first simple electronic microscope. He used radio waves to get direction (later called radar) and black light for seeing at night (used in World War II). During the 1960s he worked on special-purpose TV, missiles, and the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Before his death, he worked on a nuclear fusion process to produce clean, virtually unlimited energy; he held two fusion energy patents. When he died at age 64, he held more than 300 U.S. and foreign patents. He was one of four inventors honored in September 1983 by the U.S. Postal Service with issuance of a stamp bearing his portrait. Philo is buried in the Provo City Cemetery near the Silver Maple tree, which is the largest known maple tree in Utah, at over 100 years of age.(www.invent.org/book/book-text/41.html)
The Gadd Family of Bonneville County, Idaho and Cambridgeshire, England
The Sam and Eliza Chapman Gadd family crossed the American plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1856 with the Willie Handcart Company. They made the trek after Sam Gadd was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1841 in England and knew he wanted to take his family to the Salt Lake Valley. The Gadd family, which consisted of Samuel (age 40), his wife Eliza (also age 40), children Alfred (age 18), Jane (age 16), William (age 12), Samuel (age 10), Mary Ann (age 7), Sarah (age 5), Daniel (almost age 2) and Isaac (age 1) sailed on the ship Thornton, the same ship that the Tolley family sailed on. Crossing the plains, Sam and 3 of his sons--William, Samuel, and Daniel--died within a few days of each other because of extremely harsh weather conditions and lack of food and clothing. Now left with out a father and strong brothers, Sarah, a 6 year-old at the time, led her mother, the snowblind Eliza, as her mother pulled the "lowly cart mile after mile along the road." (Our Pioneer Heritage, pg 331.) Sarah Gadd married William Fisher Tolley at the age of 18 and bore 14 children. William and Sarah Gadd Tolley lived in Nephi, Utah for a few years, and then Sarah moved her children to Milo, Bonneville, Idaho and farmed.
Samuel, son of Sam and Eliza, pictured here.
William Huggins was born and lived in Toms River, Monmouth County, New Jersey (which later became part of Ocean County, New Jersey in 1850) until 1853 when he was baptized into the LDS church and came west with his wife, Emeline Aker Huggins, in the Anthony Ivans company to the Salt Lake Valley. They first settled in Springville, Utah, where William was actively involved in the city politics as a city councilman, and then were asked to help settle Fountain Green, Sanpete County, Utah. There they lived with their 1 son (George) and 4 daughters (Permillia, Hannah, Mary Ann, and Sarah). William and his son George were members of the Utah Territorial militia, and fought in the Black Hawk Indian War in 1865-1867. William's family is from New Jersey and is speculated to originally be from Germany (although no definate proof has been found) and Emeline's Aker ancestors are also from New Jersey, although little proof exists of her family's origin. Right now I am researching William's line to find out if he was really of German descent. *See John Huggins (#24) and Permillia Gullin (#25) on the Orme pedigree or click on the Huggins Family Pedigree link here.* Many of the Huggins' are buried in Sanpete County's Fountain Green's City Cemetery.
William pictured at right.
The Peter Lauritzen family, and his ancestors and descendants, made up my research project in a Scandinavian sources class in the Fall 2002 semester. In the few weeks I researched, I discovered several bits of information. Both Peter and Caroline Jensen Lauritzen were born in Skanderborg County, Denmark. Peter and Caroline Jensen Lauritzen immigrated from Denmark to the Salt Lake Valley in 1864 on the Monarch of the Sea. Also traveling with Peter and Caroline was Peter's family, including his parents Lauritz and Marie Pederson Lauritzen, and Peter's 6 siblings. Unfortunately, several of his siblings died between Copenhagen and Salt Lake. Like many Scandinavian immigrants, they lived quietly as farmers in Sanpete County. Their daughter Dorthea Lauritzen married Christian Mikkel Mickelsen, son of Niels Carl Mickelsen. Several of the Lauritzens died and were buried in Moroni, Sanpete, Utah, but I have not been able to publish their headstone online yet, although I do have a collection of several photos of the Lauritzen family. I finished my research project, and although my research is not complete on the Lauritzens (isn't there always more to do?), I created a compiled lineage of the Lauritzen family beginning with Dorthea Christina Lauritzen. Because I am such a busy researcher, this compiled lineage lists all the sources I have currently consulted about the Lauritzen family. I hope to continue research sometime in the future.
Peter pictured at left.
Niels Carl Mickelsen was born in Hjorring, Denmark and lived there with his wife Marie until Marie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1872. Because of religious persecutions directed toward Marie, Niels chose to move their family of 2 children to America. The family sailed on the ship Minnesota which included father Niels (age 32), wife Marie (age 39), and children James Andrew or Jens Andreas (age 4) and Martine (age 2). They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and moved south to Redmond, Sevier County, Utah, and a few years later moved to Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah. Niels was a humble farmer and enjoyed life with his family in Utah. Much information is not known about the Mickelsens because of the difficult nature of Danish research.
Christian, son of Niels Carl, and a missionary companion in Denmark pictured here.
William and Martha "Frant" Huggins Orme lived in Fountain Green, Sanpete, Utah. William Orme's family was from Warwick and Leicester, England. William Orme's parents Abraham and Sarah Ann Gee Orme, sailed from England on the ship John J. Boyd in 1862. On the ship at the time were Abraham (age 32), his wife Sarah A. (age 23), and their son Isaac (the firstborn, born the same year 1862). Frant's family had been in Fountain Green for a few generations. To learn more about Frant's family, see Huggins above. An interesting story is told about the birth of William and Frant's daughter, Della. Della was not supposed to be born in July, nor in Fountain Green. Her mother, Martha Frances Huggins Orme, was visiting her grandmother, Eliza Adams Huggins, and the family in Fountain Green when quite suddenly, on July 26, 1897, there was the baby. According to the Huggins' scales, Frant's new daughter weighed about two pounds. The baby's legs were so thin that her father could slip his wedding ring on them. Since the Huggins' had no clothes small enough for such a tiny child, they lay her on a bed of cotton. At first she was too weak to nurse, and was fed milk with a spoon. For ten days the little one had what they called sinking spells. Her maternal great-grandfather, William Adams, came every day and administered to her, and called her Della.
(Sarah Adell (Della) Orme Tolley Durham : Biography).
Charles Rodwell and Agnes Hogensen Pearce immigrated to the Salt Lake Valley in the 1870's. Charles' family was from Essex, England. The Pearce family seemed to come in waves from England. In 1862, Charles' parents Edward (age 59) and Elizabeth Pearce (age 56) came with four of their children: Esther (age 27), Eliza (age 23), William (age 21), and Sarah (age 17) on the ship William Tapscott, the same ship that Agnes' family had traveled on three years previous. The next year, Charles' wife Eliza J. Rodwell Pearce brought children Eliza, Charles, and Helen J. on the ship Amazon. A year after that, Charles joined his family by sailing to America on the ship Hudson. Charles and Agnes were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1872 and made their way to the valley, where they lived with their 7 daughters and 1 son. Charles and Agnes' daughter Mabel was said to be the first white woman born in Bear Lake County, Idaho. Agnes' parents, Christen Haagensen and Karen Petra Larsen of Norway travelled with the LDS emigrating company on the ship William Tapscott in the summer of 1859, led by Robert F. Neslen, and were actually married aboard the ship.
James and Emma Elizabeth Hemming Rich lived in Centerville, Davis County, Utah, and in Morgan, Morgan County, Utah. James' parents John Henry and Lydia Pond Rich were married within the year before sailing to America on the ship Jersey in 1853. At the time of their travel, the newlyweds were just ages 20 and 18. Emma Hemming's parents, William and Emma Sanford Hemming, camed to American in 1855 on the ship Emerald Isle. When the young couple sailed, the family consisted of William (age 28), his wife Emma (age 25), Fanny (age 3) and Harriet (age 1). The union of the two families came in 1877 when James Thomas Rich and Emma Elizabeth Hemming were married. A granddaughter of the couple, Mae Chapin Call, remembers her grandfather and what he looked like. "Then what I remember about my grandfather, James Thomas Rich, was the way he combed his hair. It was curly and had a little finger curl on his forehead. Whenever he came to our house and sat on a straight chair with his legs apart, I would have a glass of bread and milk, on the chair between his legs, and eat it. Grandpa Rich died on my mother's birthday when he was only 63 years old (My Life Story, Mae Chapin Call.)" Emma's daughter [Charlotte Rich] tells a brief story as well: "My mother [Emma Hemming] rode in a little hand cart [sic] at six months of age pulled by her mother [Emma Sanford] from New York to Salt Lake valley, later moving to Morgan County, living there for the rest of her life."
(Life of Charlotte Mae Rich Chapin.)
James Rich pictured at right.
The John Tilton family is not related directly to me, but because of the dead ends in researching the Huggins family, I have decided to research the Tiltons. While doing previous research on the Huggins family, I found the surname Tilton show in many of the records I searched. This John Tilton is also listed as a laborer living with the John Aker and Amelia Tilton family at age 25 in the 1860 census.
John Tilton was born in Dover Township, Ocean County, New Jersey to John and Sally Letts Tilton, both born in New Jersey. The only information collected so far is from the 1860 and 1880 censuses, but the rest of the censuses will be searched soon. Therefore, I do not yet have much information on the Tiltons, so a marriage date, name of spouse, death date, or children. Hopefully the Tilton family will finally give me some leads about the Huggins family!
William Fisher Tolley was born in 1823 in Devonshire, England, and farmed there until he and his wife, Sarah Warren Tolley, were baptized into the Mormon church and sailed on the ship Thornton to America in 1856. Their young son Charles was sick when they arrived in New York, so they stayed in New York and William worked until their circumstances improved. This prevented them from being with members of the Willie Handcart Company, which took other passengers on the Thornton to the Salt Lake Valley. The Willie Handcart Company left the Eastern United States too late in the season and were trapped in the Wyoming mountains freezing to death with little provisions. The Tolleys later migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Edward Stevenson Company and settled in Nephi, Juab County, Utah. There they raised their family of 4 sons and 5 daughters. William later took a second wife, Sarah Gadd, who was much younger than he, and was a survivor of the Willie Handcart Company (they met on the Thornton years earlier). William and Sarah Gadd Tolley had 14 children and she later moved with her children to southeastern Idaho and Canada. Many of the Tolleys are buried in the Vine Bluff Cemetery in Nephi, Utah.
William pictured here.
Uriah Calvin Chapin and his wife Ann Richardson Chapin were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1855 and 1861, respectively. Uriah was living in Ohio with his widowed mother when he decided to go west with a neighbor to drive his teams and soon after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley was baptized. Ann was living with her family in Cramlington, Northumberland, England when they were baptized and left within in the week, sailing on the ship Underwriter to America. They met in 1865 while they were both living north west of Salt Lake City through the Ogden Canyon in a place called Morgan. The family of Uriah Chapin was from Vermont and Massachusetts, and Ann's family was from Nottinghamshire, England. In Morgan, Ann and Uriah quietly raised 3 daughters and 1 son to adulthood and participated in farm life in Morgan. Many of the Chapins and their descendents are buried in the South Morgan City Cemetery.
Alfred Morton Durham was born in 1872 in Parowan, Iron County, Utah. His parents, Thomas and Caroline Mortensen Durham, sailed across from England on the ship Horizon and then migrated to Utah in 1856 with the Martin Handcart Company as new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The family of Thomas came from Yorkshire, England, and the family of Caroline came from Praesto, Denmark. Alfred had three wives, although not at the same time--Margaret Anna Richards, Ann Chase Matthews and Della Orme Tolley. Both Thomas and Alfred became well known for their musical abilities - Thomas as a choir director and singer, and Alfred as a singer and songwriter. A school teacher, Harriet Ann Richards Barton, who lived in Parowan the same time as the Durham's even recalled being in Alfred's choir. Alfred actually wrote the music for 4 hymns that were published in the 1985 version of the LDS Hymnbook: "Sweet is the Peace the Gospel Brings" (14), "They the Builders of the Nation" (36), "Again, Our Dear Redeeming Lord" (179), and "Carry On" (259). In Lowell Durham's 1968 best known list of top Latter-day Saint classical composers. In Merrill Bradshaw's article, "Music Composition in the Church or Handsprings before the Lord" (1995), he explains: About 27 years ago in the summer of 1968 Lowell Durham published an article in Dialogue Magazine about music in the Church, and especially about the composers in the Church. He polled some 50 people to arrive at a list of composers. He asked them to name the most important composers in the 138 years of the History of the Church to that time. He wanted to name the top 10, but there was a tie for number ten so he actually listed eleven. His listing also included nine additional composers who were mentioned, but did not make the top 11. Alfred did not actually make the list, which included
In 1856, Philo Taylor Farnsworth (b. 1826) built a log cabin at the request of the Mormon prophet, Brigham Young. He and his wife, Margaret Yates Farnsworth, settled in Beaver with their 5 boys and 3 girls that lived to adulthood. The family of Philo originated in Worchester, Massachusetts, and the family of Margaret in Lancaster, England. Another Farnsworth of note is Philo T. Farnsworth, the grandson of the above Philo Farnsworth, who is known for inventing the TV tube in Rigby, Idaho. Below is some information about Philo and his life.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth's electronic inventions took all of the moving parts out of televisions and made possible today's TV industry, the TV shots from the moon, and satellite pictures. Born in Beaver, Utah, Farnsworth, was educated in the Utah and Idaho public school systems and while at Rigby (Idaho) High School in 1921 delved into the molecular theory of matter, electrons and the Einstein theory. He also studied automobile engines and chemistry. Farnsworth attended high school at Provo in the fall of 1923 and in 1924 enrolled in Brigham Young University. He left the university at the end of his second year due to the death of his father. In 1926 Farnsworth joined the Crocker Research Laboratories in San Francisco. At the age of 20 he produced the first all-electronic television image. Crocker Research Laboratories was later reorganized as Television Laboratories, Inc., and in May 1929 was renamed Farnsworth Television Inc., of California. Farnsworth's basic television patents covered scanning, focusing, synchronizing, contrast, controls, and power. He also invented the first cold cathode ray tubes and the first simple electronic microscope. He used radio waves to get direction (later called radar) and black light for seeing at night (used in World War II). During the 1960s he worked on special-purpose TV, missiles, and the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Before his death, he worked on a nuclear fusion process to produce clean, virtually unlimited energy; he held two fusion energy patents. When he died at age 64, he held more than 300 U.S. and foreign patents. He was one of four inventors honored in September 1983 by the U.S. Postal Service with issuance of a stamp bearing his portrait. Philo is buried in the Provo City Cemetery near the Silver Maple tree, which is the largest known maple tree in Utah, at over 100 years of age.(www.invent.org/book/book-text/41.html)
Farnsworth Family Pedigree (now in PDF format)
The Sam and Eliza Chapman Gadd family crossed the American plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1856 with the Willie Handcart Company. They made the trek after Sam Gadd was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1841 in England and knew he wanted to take his family to the Salt Lake Valley. The Gadd family, which consisted of Samuel (age 40), his wife Eliza (also age 40), children Alfred (age 18), Jane (age 16), William (age 12), Samuel (age 10), Mary Ann (age 7), Sarah (age 5), Daniel (almost age 2) and Isaac (age 1) sailed on the ship Thornton, the same ship that the Tolley family sailed on. Crossing the plains, Sam and 3 of his sons--William, Samuel, and Daniel--died within a few days of each other because of extremely harsh weather conditions and lack of food and clothing. Now left with out a father and strong brothers, Sarah, a 6 year-old at the time, led her mother, the snowblind Eliza, as her mother pulled the "lowly cart mile after mile along the road." (Our Pioneer Heritage, pg 331.) Sarah Gadd married William Fisher Tolley at the age of 18 and bore 14 children. William and Sarah Gadd Tolley lived in Nephi, Utah for a few years, and then Sarah moved her children to Milo, Bonneville, Idaho and farmed.
William Huggins was born and lived in Toms River, Monmouth County, New Jersey (which later became part of Ocean County, New Jersey in 1850) until 1853 when he was baptized into the LDS church and came west with his wife, Emeline Aker Huggins, in the Anthony Ivans company to the Salt Lake Valley. They first settled in Springville, Utah, where William was actively involved in the city politics as a city councilman, and then were asked to help settle Fountain Green, Sanpete County, Utah. There they lived with their 1 son (George) and 4 daughters (Permillia, Hannah, Mary Ann, and Sarah). William and his son George were members of the Utah Territorial militia, and fought in the Black Hawk Indian War in 1865-1867. William's family is from New Jersey and is speculated to originally be from Germany (although no definate proof has been found) and Emeline's Aker ancestors are also from New Jersey, although little proof exists of her family's origin. Right now I am researching William's line to find out if he was really of German descent. *See John Huggins (#24) and Permillia Gullin (#25) on the Orme pedigree or click on the Huggins Family Pedigree link here.* Many of the Huggins' are buried in Sanpete County's Fountain Green's City Cemetery.
The Peter Lauritzen family, and his ancestors and descendants, made up my research project in a Scandinavian sources class in the Fall 2002 semester. In the few weeks I researched, I discovered several bits of information. Both Peter and Caroline Jensen Lauritzen were born in Skanderborg County, Denmark. Peter and Caroline Jensen Lauritzen immigrated from Denmark to the Salt Lake Valley in 1864 on the Monarch of the Sea. Also traveling with Peter and Caroline was Peter's family, including his parents Lauritz and Marie Pederson Lauritzen, and Peter's 6 siblings. Unfortunately, several of his siblings died between Copenhagen and Salt Lake. Like many Scandinavian immigrants, they lived quietly as farmers in Sanpete County. Their daughter Dorthea Lauritzen married Christian Mikkel Mickelsen, son of Niels Carl Mickelsen. Several of the Lauritzens died and were buried in Moroni, Sanpete, Utah, but I have not been able to publish their headstone online yet, although I do have a collection of several photos of the Lauritzen family. I finished my research project, and although my research is not complete on the Lauritzens (isn't there always more to do?), I created a compiled lineage of the Lauritzen family beginning with Dorthea Christina Lauritzen. Because I am such a busy researcher, this compiled lineage lists all the sources I have currently consulted about the Lauritzen family. I hope to continue research sometime in the future.
Peter pictured at left.
Niels Carl Mickelsen was born in Hjorring, Denmark and lived there with his wife Marie until Marie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1872. Because of religious persecutions directed toward Marie, Niels chose to move their family of 2 children to America. The family sailed on the ship Minnesota which included father Niels (age 32), wife Marie (age 39), and children James Andrew or Jens Andreas (age 4) and Martine (age 2). They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and moved south to Redmond, Sevier County, Utah, and a few years later moved to Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah. Niels was a humble farmer and enjoyed life with his family in Utah. Much information is not known about the Mickelsens because of the difficult nature of Danish research.
William and Martha "Frant" Huggins Orme lived in Fountain Green, Sanpete, Utah. William Orme's family was from Warwick and Leicester, England. William Orme's parents Abraham and Sarah Ann Gee Orme, sailed from England on the ship John J. Boyd in 1862. On the ship at the time were Abraham (age 32), his wife Sarah A. (age 23), and their son Isaac (the firstborn, born the same year 1862). Frant's family had been in Fountain Green for a few generations. To learn more about Frant's family, see Huggins above. An interesting story is told about the birth of William and Frant's daughter, Della. Della was not supposed to be born in July, nor in Fountain Green. Her mother, Martha Frances Huggins Orme, was visiting her grandmother, Eliza Adams Huggins, and the family in Fountain Green when quite suddenly, on July 26, 1897, there was the baby. According to the Huggins' scales, Frant's new daughter weighed about two pounds. The baby's legs were so thin that her father could slip his wedding ring on them. Since the Huggins' had no clothes small enough for such a tiny child, they lay her on a bed of cotton. At first she was too weak to nurse, and was fed milk with a spoon. For ten days the little one had what they called sinking spells. Her maternal great-grandfather, William Adams, came every day and administered to her, and called her Della.
(Sarah Adell (Della) Orme Tolley Durham : Biography).
James and Emma Elizabeth Hemming Rich lived in Centerville, Davis County, Utah, and in Morgan, Morgan County, Utah. James' parents John Henry and Lydia Pond Rich were married within the year before sailing to America on the ship Jersey in 1853. At the time of their travel, the newlyweds were just ages 20 and 18. Emma Hemming's parents, William and Emma Sanford Hemming, camed to American in 1855 on the ship Emerald Isle. When the young couple sailed, the family consisted of William (age 28), his wife Emma (age 25), Fanny (age 3) and Harriet (age 1). The union of the two families came in 1877 when James Thomas Rich and Emma Elizabeth Hemming were married. A granddaughter of the couple, Mae Chapin Call, remembers her grandfather and what he looked like. "Then what I remember about my grandfather, James Thomas Rich, was the way he combed his hair. It was curly and had a little finger curl on his forehead. Whenever he came to our house and sat on a straight chair with his legs apart, I would have a glass of bread and milk, on the chair between his legs, and eat it. Grandpa Rich died on my mother's birthday when he was only 63 years old (My Life Story, Mae Chapin Call.)" Emma's daughter [Charlotte Rich] tells a brief story as well: "My mother [Emma Hemming] rode in a little hand cart [sic] at six months of age pulled by her mother [Emma Sanford] from New York to Salt Lake valley, later moving to Morgan County, living there for the rest of her life."
(Life of Charlotte Mae Rich Chapin.)
James Rich pictured at right.
William Fisher Tolley was born in 1823 in Devonshire, England, and farmed there until he and his wife, Sarah Warren Tolley, were baptized into the Mormon church and sailed on the ship Thornton to America in 1856. Their young son Charles was sick when they arrived in New York, so they stayed in New York and William worked until their circumstances improved. This prevented them from being with members of the Willie Handcart Company, which took other passengers on the Thornton to the Salt Lake Valley. The Willie Handcart Company left the Eastern United States too late in the season and were trapped in the Wyoming mountains freezing to death with little provisions. The Tolleys later migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Edward Stevenson Company and settled in Nephi, Juab County, Utah. There they raised their family of 4 sons and 5 daughters. William later took a second wife, Sarah Gadd, who was much younger than he, and was a survivor of the Willie Handcart Company (they met on the Thornton years earlier). William and Sarah Gadd Tolley had 14 children and she later moved with her children to southeastern Idaho and Canada. Many of the Tolleys are buried in the Vine Bluff Cemetery in Nephi, Utah.