Our ancestors through Brigham Young...

Here is what I found on line when I did a search looking to learn more about our ancestor, Elizabeth Young, who was Brigham Young's first offspring. I knew that her mother died when she was young, before polygamy came along, and I wondered if she was raised by Brigham Young. Here's what I found from a little google search. It's interesting and odd to note that 4 years after Elizabeth's husband took a second wife he moved to Arizona...and she did not. Elizabeth ended up in Idaho with her children and her sister--SO there is more to the story that would be interesting to know!Enjoy reading some family history fam! History of Elizabeth Young Ellsworth September 26, 1825 – February 2, 1903 Elizabeth Young was the first daughter of the great Mormon leader Brigham Young and she is my great great Grandmother. This is a little part of her history. Elizabeth’s father, Brigham Young, was born June 1, 1801 in Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont, the ninth child in a family of five sons and six daughters born to John and Nabbie Howe Young. On October 8, 1824 Brigham married Miriam Works, daughter of Asa and Jerusha Works. The Works were residents of Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York. In the spring of 1829 Miriam moved with Brigham to Mendon, Monroe County, New York. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born on September 26, 1825 in Port Byron, Cayuga County, New York. Their second daughter, Vilate was born June 1, 1830. Miriam Works Young died of consumption (in the Webster’sDictionary Consumption is described as a “wasting away of the body; a disease causing this; tuberculosis of the lungs”.) on September 8, 1832 at the home of Heber C. Kimball at Mendon, New York. The Kimball family took Elizabeth and Vilate into their home for two years. Then Brigham Young married Mary Ann Angel who became a good mother to the girls. Elizabeth Young’s future husband, Edmund Lovell Ellsworth, was born in July 1, 1819 in Paris, Oneida County, New York. Edmund had an older sister, Charlotte, who was born in March of 1817 and died in 1839 in Pulaski, Oswego County, New York. Edmund arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois October 7, 1841 and went to work at the Temple quarry. On July 10, 1842, Edmund married Elizabeth. Edmund worked for William Law for about one year, running a sawmill and doing other work. Their first child was born July 1, 1843 and they named her Charlotte. In the spring of 1844 the Church called Edmund to go with about twenty other men as pioneers to explore the Rocky Mountain County. Their purpose was to see if the area offered a place suitable for the settlement of the Saints. In February of 1846 Edmund & Elizabeth crossed the Mississippi River, enroute to the Great Salt Lake Valley. While in the Sugar Creek Encampment Edmund was one of the four men who organized the first brass band in the Mormon Church. During the winter they were called on to play for many dances, sometimes six in a week. Despite the cold, almost every night, William Pitt's Brass Band would play music and many would dance around the campfires singing songs like "Home Sweet Home," "The Old Arm Chair," and "Dandy Jim from Caroline." Others in the band were James Smithers and James Standing. [February 28, 1846 A number of the pioneers including the companies of Daniel Spencer, Charles Shumway and part of Samuel Bent's company left the Sugar Creek camp for the next camp. Eliza R. Snow was among those who left. They traveled four miles and camped "in a low, truly romantic valley just large enough for our tents, wagons, etc. We arrived a little before sunset." The ground was covered with snow, shoe-deep. The men used hoes to clear away snow, pitched the tents, and built woodpiles in front of them. (c) Copyright David R. Crockett 1996] Through wind and storm they traveled west to Richardson’s Point, Iowa. When they arrived at Garden Grove, Iowa, Edmund was sent by President Young back to Nauvoo with a span of horses and a carriage to trade them for oxen and a wagon. President Young sent for many things needed in camp, in case Edmund could get them. Edmund obtained everything he had been sent for. During the winter of 1846-47 Edmund was in charge of the cattle of President Young and President Kimball and he was sent over 100 miles up the river to Bush Bottoms. Edmund turned the cattle over and returned home safely. (Note – This took place at Winter Quarters.) In 1847, Edmund & Elizabeth, with their two children, Charlotte and Edmund (born 1845), traveled to the Great Salt Lake Valley in the second company of Saints with Daniel Spencer in command. They arrived in the Valley on October 12, 1847. Edmund was Brigham’s Young’s first grandson. Elizabeth’s sister, Vilate, married Charles Franklin Decker on Feb 4, 1847 at Winter Quarters near Florence, Nebraska. The weather in the Salt Lake Valley that first winter (1847-1848) was bitterly cold and the family lived in a shanty. Here their four-year old daughter, Charlotte, suffered frozen feet. Elizabeth’s second daughter, Rowennah, was born in 1848, her second son Brigham, in 1850 and her third daughter Alice Vilate in 1852. On the 24th of December 1853 10 year old Charlotte was burned to death in Salt Lake City. In October of 1852, Edmund married his 2nd wife, Mary Ann Dudley. In the summer of 1854 Edmund was sent on a mission to England and in November, Elizabeth’s 4th daughter, Luna was born. Edmund returned in 1856; their third son, John, was born in 1858 and their youngest child and fifth daughter, Miriam (called Minnie) was born in 1861. Edmund had married Mary Ann Jones and Mary Ann Bates in October 1856. Both girls were on the returning ship from England and Edmund settled in Show Low, Arizona. In 1880 Elizabeth sold her home on South Temple in Salt Lake City and moved to West Weber, Utah, to be near her married children. She built a home near her son, Edmund. During muddy weather she slipped on a board and fell, breaking her leg. They had no doctor and as she lay in bed recovering from the injury, her foot turned outward, the bones knitted together wrong and caused her to be lame so that she used a crutch the rest of her life. A great sorrow came to Edmund and Elizabeth in April 1881 when their daughter, Rowennah Howard (age 33), died, leaving two children, John Henry (Harry), born 1870, and Elizabeth Clift (Cliffe), born 1872. Elizabeth took these children and raised them as her own. In 1883 the pioneering sprit caused her children to move north to Lewisville, Idaho. Later that year, she and her grand daughter, Cliffe, went to Idaho to visit. They arrived in Idaho Falls on the narrow gauge railroad. Richard Franklin Jardine, husband of Luna, met them in Idaho Falls and they followed the Snake River north, keeping on the west side of the knolls, then going east to Lewisville. Cliffe says she remembers that there were many Indians in Pocatello and although it was August they were all wrapped in blankets. Elizabeth & Cliffe, thought this was the most desolate place with the sagebrush standing higher than a man everywhere. In 1884 Elizabeth and the two grandchildren came to Lewisville again, this time to make their home near Edmund, Brigham, Luna, John and their families. In 1892, Alice Vilate (Allie) Swift, died at Hailey, Idaho, leaving eight children. Elizabeth had her own burial clothes and knowing that Hailey was a small place, she took these clothes with her to be used as her daughter’s burial clothes. Edmund passed away in Show Low, Arizona on December 29, 1893. Elizabeth always had a best dress of beautiful black silk, which she wore on special occasions. While living in Lewisville Elizabeth had a new buggy and a beautiful white horse. She did her shopping and banking in Idaho Falls. She and Cliffe drove down there, through the sagebrush, very often. There were no bridges across any of the canals, they just made a trail down and up and had a very good time. Elizabeth’s sons, Ed, Brig and son in law Richard Jardine marked a road straight to Idaho Falls rather than going west to the river. Jack Ellsworth recalls that his Grandfather, Edmund, told the story that to clear the road to Idaho Falls, they used a team of horses pulling a railroad tie across the sagebrush. Later, when surveyors came, they hardly moved the road from its original position. It is said that Elizabeth was a very beautiful woman. She had auburn hair and a very kind, pleasing personality. She was very charitable and free hearted, with a great love for her family whom she chose to live close to. Her last home was a rock house that her son Brigham owned in Lewisville, Idaho. Vilate Young Decker, Elizabeth’s sister, moved to Lewisville in August 1902 to live with her. They anticipated great happiness in being together in their declining years. They did enjoy 3 months together before Vilate contracted pneumonia and died the 18th of November 1902. Vere Ellsworth Belnap, one of Brig’s daughters, stayed all night with Elizabeth on February 2, 1903 and on the morning of February 3, Elizabeth did her own washing. She was very independent and insisted on doing this task herself although she was 78 years old. About noon her son, Brigham, called in to visit with his mother. While they were talking, a pain struck Elizabeth in her heart and in a few minutes she was dead. Elizabeth and her sister were not separated for long. She was buried beside Vilate in the Lewisville cemetery – their graves being marked by one headstone. Elizabeth’s children: Charlotte, July 1, 1843 – December 24, 1853 Edmund, October 7, 1845 – September 14, 1926 Rowennah Wilmot, May 1, 1848 – April 11,1881 Brigham Henry, November 23, 1850 – November 19, 1922 Alice Vilate, November 22, 1852 – April 15, 1892 Luna Caroline, November 17, 1854 – February 26, 1929 John Willard, June 4, 1858 – March 19, 1902 Miriam Josephine, March 30, 1861 – July 1916 Submitted by: Jill Ray Ellsworth Scott Elizabeth Young Ellsworth Edmund Lovell Ellsworth