Family of Alpheus and Anna Nash Gifford

·         G7 Alpheus Gifford born 28 Aug 1793, married 27 Apr 1817 (age 23), age 26 @FV, baptized 1830-31 (age 37-38), died 25 Dec 1841 (age 48).

·         G7 Anna Nash Gifford was born 17 Feb 1800, married 27 Apr 1817 (age 17), age 20 @FV, baptized 1831 (age 31), died 5 Sep 1879 (age 79).      

 baptized 1830

Alpheus was born in August on Cape Cod, just north of Hyannis Port, in the very vicinity where his father, Noah Samuel Gifford, had also been born exactly 34 years previously.  Born on his father’s birthday, he was the 5^th of 7 children, born to Noah’s wife, Mary Bowerman, who had also been born in the same lovely area, and died there as well.  Alpheus’ grandfathers and three of his four great grandfathers had lived in the same area, all multigenerational Americans in what was most likely a pretty stable and predictable life in the years prior to the Revolutionary War.  Alpheus was 4 ½ years older than Joseph’s brother Alvin Smith.  Alpheus was very religious and sought every opportunity to preach for the saving of souls, not for money.  As his stories that follow bear out, he was a ready recipient of the Restored Gospel, gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and buying five copies to give to his friends.  His life turned out to be far different to the stability of his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.  He died at 48 of pneumonia on Christmas day in Lima, IL, not far from Nauvoo.  

Alpheus was 23 and Anna 17 when they got married in Anna’s birth place and home town, Butternuts, Otsego, New York, 160 miles east and south of Palmyra.  In the Spring of 1820, they had been married four years and were at the ages of 26 and 20, and had two little children, Mary Elizabeth and Ichabod Bowerman, and were probably living in Covington, Tioga, PA where Ichabod had been born the previous September, but they might have already moved to Milo, Yates, NY, 40 miles from Palmyra where third child Samuel Kendall Gifford was born 11 Nov 1821.

As near as we can determine, in our ancestry, Alpheus was the first First Convert to join the Church. 

Alpheus Gifford and Anna Nash

Alpheus Gifford was born 28 Aug 1793 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Adams Township, Berkeshire County, Massachusetts.  Anna Nash was born 17 Feb 1800 in Butternuts, Otsego, New York. Anna married Alpheus Gifford on 27 Feb 1817.   Their earliest known ancestors were among the early pilgrims to America, born in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. 

Alpheus and Anna had ten children.  They lost their ninth, baby Enos Curtis Gifford, at the age of eight months, during the Missouri trials.  Their tenth, Heber Chase Kimball Gifford, died at the age of four, less than two years after his father, Alpheus, died. 

Their oldest, and grandmother of Mahala Strong Parker (my paternal grandfather’s mother), was Mary Elizabeth Gifford, born 23 Apr 1818, in Butternuts, Otswego, NY.  My PAF records show that she was baptized 1 Nov 1848, at the age of 30, after the exodus from Nauvoo. 

Alpheus and Anna Nash Gifford had the following children in the following places:

1.      Mary Elizabeth Gifford, born 23 Apr 1818, Butternuts, NY, died 23 Apr 1880, Springdale, UT 

2.      Ichabod Bowerman Gifford, born 14 Sep 1819, Covington, Tioga, PA, died 26 Jun 1902

3.      Samuel Kendall Gifford, born 11 Nov 1821, Milo, Yates, NY, died 26 Jun 1907, Springdale, UT

4.      William Pitts Gifford, born 14 Aug 1823, Sullivan, Tioga, PA, died 9 Jul 1843, IL

5.      Henry Dill Gifford, born 28 Apr 1825, Reading, Wayne, NY, died 5 May 1901, Idaho Falls, ID

6.      Rhoda Gifford, born 28 Apr 1827, Canandaigua, Ontario, NY, died 2 Nov 1904, Mapleton, UT

7.      Rachel Gifford, born 21 Feb 1829, Hector, NY, died 14 Feb 1846, IL?

8.      Moses Gifford, born 16 May 1833, Jackson County, MO, died 3 Jan 1888, Vale, Oregon

9.      Enos Curtis Gifford, born 4 Feb 1837 in Log Creek, Caldwell, MO, died Oct 1837.

10.  Heber Chase Kimball Gifford was born 16 Jul 1839 in Yelrome, Hancock County, Illinois. He died on my birthday, 3 Aug 1843, at the age of four, while the family lived in the Morley Settlement outside of Nauvoo.

Insert a map here

Alpheus left his Cape Cod home and went west to NY, marrying Anna in Butternuts in 1817 when he was 23, having their 1st child there in 1818, their 2^nd in Tioga County of northern PA in 1819, 3^rd back north into NY in Finger Lakes area south of Palmyra in 1821, by which time, the First Vision had happened.  Their 4^th child was back in Tioga, PA in 1823, 5^th back up to NY in Wayne County in 1825, 6^th in Ontario County in 1827.  Palmyra is in Wayne County, not far from Ontario County.  Their 7^th child was born below Finger Lakes in 1829, still in the vicinity where the Church was organized in 1830, and by the following year was settling into Kirtland, Ohio.  Then, four years later, their 8^th was born in Jackson County in 1833, their 9^th in Caldwell County in 1837, and their 10^th in Hancock County in 1939, all following the well documented history of the Church. 

We will now review stories written about Alpheus and his role as a missionary with others.  Following this focus on him and his generation, we will pick up with his children and review what we have on their lives as they either died young or spread throughout the West with their own new families.

“At the age of eighteen, having scarcely sufficient learning to enable him to read the Bible, he (Alpheus) commenced preaching the Gospel, not for hire, but for the salvation of souls” (HC, Vol. 4, p. 109, footnotes).  (See also HC, Vol. 4, p. 484, footnotes – birth stated to be August 25, 1798.)

Alpheus married Anna Nash on 27 Feb 1817.  They had “seven sons and three daughters.  In the spring of 1831, hearing of the doctrines taught by Joseph Smith, he made diligent inquiry and found they were scriptural and was baptized and ordained a priest; he brought home five books of Mormon which he distributed among his friends; he was then living in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.  Soon after he went to Kirtland, Ohio, to see the Prophet Joseph Smith and the brethren, when he was ordained an elder; he was accompanied by his brother Levi, Elial Strong, Eleazer Miller, Enos Curtis, and Abraham Brown, who were baptized.  On returning to Pennsylvania he preached and baptized many, among whom was Heber C. Kimball. 

Vilate Kimball’s autobiography contains additional detail, starting with, “Into Victor, home town of Vilate Murry Kimball, in the summer of 1831, there walked five young men.  They said they were from Columbia, Bradford County, PA and had the message of the restored gospel to offer.  They said they represented the Church of Jesus Christ and introduced themselves as Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis, and Daniel Bowen.  They were given hospitality by Phinehas H. Young, and immediately held a series of meetings.  The Youngs and Kimballs with other friends went over to Victor to hear them.  What was partially known to Phinehas through his visit the Solomon Chamberlain the previous year was now given to all of them with added emphasis.

“What the missionaries said was stirring and convincing.  They talked of a ‘holy angel who had been commissioned from the heavens, who had committed the Everlasting Gospel and restored the Holy Priesthood unto Joseph Smith as at the beginning.’  They declared the nature of Joseph Smith’s calling as a Prophet, ‘that all men were now called on to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost; they said that these things should follow those that believe, viz:  they should cast out devils in the name of Jesus; they should speak with new tongues…’  The reason they gave for the necessity of this restoration was that the people had ‘transgressed the law, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant.’ 

“Brigham and Heber sat through the series of meetings deeply stirred in their feelings.  To their complete satisfaction these young men answered most of the questions which rose silently within their souls, without ever the questions being given voice.  Their faith was increased when they heard the missionaries speak by the gift of tongues as the ancient saints had done, and then give the interpretation with the dignity of their calling.  This was no idle babble.  It was the pure gift as promised by the scriptures.

“At the end Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were constrained to bear witness that the visitors spoke the truth.  Heber said that when they did this ‘the power of God rested upon us.’

“There were other events which caused their bosoms to burn and their wonder to increase.  One day John Young, Joseph, Brigham, and Heber C. Kimball went to the woods to get wood for Phinehas.  While they were gathering the wood they pondered the events of the past weeks and talked over what they had been told by the five missionaries concerning the new doctrine of the Saints gathering to Zion.  As they talked the ‘glory of the Lord’ shone upon them, and they saw the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and the glory of that would rest upon them, and many more things connected with that great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions which would come upon the people of God, as well as calamities and judgments which would come upon the world.  The glory of this vision caused ‘ such great joy to spring up on our bosoms, that we were hardly able to contain ourselves; and we did shout aloud, Hosannah to God, and the Lamb.’” (Autobiography of Vilate Kimball)

The Millennial Star 26 (1864), p. 488, Heber Kimball Journal, contained the following, written by Heber.  “About three weeks after I joined the Baptist church, five elders of the Church of Jesus Christ came from Pennsylvania to the house of Phinehas H. Young in Victor.  Their names were Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis, and Daniel Bowen.  Hearing of these men, curiosity prompted me to go and see them, when for the first time, I heard the fullness of the everlasting gospel.”  On p. 504 of the that same Heber Kimball Journal, he wrote, “April 14^th, 1832, Brigham Young went forward and was baptized by Eleazer Miller, and the next day, or the day following, Alpheus Gifford came into my shop while I was forming a vessel upon the wheel, and while conversing with me upon the subject of this work, I said, ‘Brother Alpheus, I am ready to go forward and be baptized.’  I jumped up, pulled off my apron, washed my hands and started with him with my sleeves rolled up to my shoulders, and went the distance of one mile where he baptized me in a small stream in the woods.  After I was baptized I kneeled down and he laid his hands upon my head and confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and said unto me, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the holy priesthood receive ye the Holy Ghost,’ and before I got up off my knees, he wanted to ordain me an elder but I plead with him not to do it, as I felt myself unworthy of such a calling, and such an office.” 

Alpheus’ wife Anna was baptized sometime in the 1830-32 range, according to the record compiled by Susan Easton Black. 

The gifts of the Gospel were enjoyed by many, signs followed those who believed; devils were cast out; the sick were healed; many prophesied; some spake with new tongues; while others interpreted the same.  Mr. Calvin Gilmour, with whom Brother Gifford had previously been associated in preaching, heard him speak in tongues and interpret.  Gilmour declared he understood the languages and that they were interpreted correctly, and that he knew Gifford had no classical learning; but that he would rather be damned than believe in Mormonism” (HC, Vol. 4, p. 109, footnotes).

“One morning, happening upon the Kimballs as they knelt in family prayer, Brigham (Young) silently joined them.  Serving as voice was Alpheus Gifford, the Pennsylvania missionary who had done most to convert the Youngs and the Kimballs.  Gifford suddenly began to speak in an unknown tongue.  ‘At that instant,’ said Brigham, ‘the spirit came on me like an electric shock to speak in an unknown tongue, and though I was kneeling in an opposite direction, the same moment I turned round on my knees towards him and spoke in tongues also.’ Those present were awed by this rare phenomenon in Mormonism” (Lenoard J. Arrington, Brigham Young:  American Moses, p. 32). 

In June, 1832, Brother Gifford started for Missouri; traveled to Cincinnati and wintered there with a few Saints, who had been baptized by Lyman Wight.  He arrived in Jackson County, MO, in March, 1833, where he preached much.  He was driven with the Saints in the fall of that year.  He removed to Clay County. 

Alpheus attended a high council meeting, held 6 Aug 1834, in Clay County, Missouri.   Leonard Rich substituted for Parley P. Pratt and Amasa Lyman substituted for William E. McLellin.  W. W. Phelps “reads letter of recommendation for the four brethren assigned at the last council.”   David Whitmer addressed the four brethren "to visit the Churches,” saying “you are not sent to preach the gospel to the world for the world will not hear it in this place But to instruct the disciples in things pertaining to their everlasting happiness as well as temporal peace & prosperity &c (sic).”  Lyman Leonard and Hiram Page shared some testimony, and Alpheus Gifford “testifie(d), to many things which had been given in by other witnesses.” (Far West Record 93n4)

He subsequently went to Kirtland, Ohio, and attended the dedication of the Temple and received the ordinances there administered.  He returned to Missouri, and removed with the Saints to Far West, Caldwell County. 

In the Quarterly Conference in Far West, MO on October 6, 18__, Alpheus accepted the call to “go into the vineyard and preach,”  (HC, Vol. 3, Ch. 11, pp. 153-154). 

In the winter of 1839 he was driven from Missouri.  He located in the Morley Settlement near Lima, Ill, and subsequently removed five miles above Nauvoo, where he died 25 Dec 1841.  (Portions taken from a sketch of his father’s life by Samuel K. Gifford, furnished the Church Historian in November, 1861, and filed in the History of the Church, December, 1841.)

In 8 April 1840 Conference Report, it was reported that Alpheus, with Stephen Perry, had ordained 31 brethren to be Elders in the Church (HC, Vol. 4, Ch. 5, p. 109).  It was at this conference presided over by President Hyrum Smith, that Frederick G. Williams humbly asked forgiveness for his conduct while in Missouri.

He was ordained a High Priest 7 April 1840.  He died 25 Dec 1841, in Morley Settlement, Hancock County, Illinios.  According to HC, Vol. 4, Ch. 28, p. 484, he “died at his home some five miles above Nauvoo.” 

FSFT shows no story or photo for Mary Elizabeth Gifford who married Samuel Parker, Sr., but some of her younger siblings have stories and photos to share.

Samuel Kendall Gifford Life History

  

Contributed By Robyn · 2013-04-18

The following is taken from a biographical encyclopedia.

Samuel Kendall Gifford, a Patriarch in the St. George Stake of Zion, (Utah), was born November 11, 1821, at Milo, Yates county, New York, the son of Alpheus Gifford and Anna Nash. He was baptized in the spring of 1833 in Jackson county, Missouri, ordained a Teacher in 1844 by Isaac Morley; ordained a Seventy of the 26th quorum in 1845 by Joseph Young; became president of the 28th quorum of Seventy in 1857 and was ordained a Patriarch in September, 1902, by Matthias F. Cowley. Elder Gifford passed through the drivings and mobbings to which the Saints were exposed prior to their coming to Utah. He was one of the early pioneers of Utah and one of the founders of Manti, Sanpete county. In 1863 he removed to southern Utah and passed through all the trying scenes in the early days, of that country, while building up the Dixie mission. For several years he acted as presiding Elder of the Shonesburg branch of the Rockville Ward, and also acted as superintendent of the Springdale Sunday school for many years. As a military man he saw rough service in the field, and served as captain of a company during the Walker war; later he served in the Navajo Indian war in southern Utah. October 1, 1848, he married Lora Ann Demill, by whom he had ten children. Patriarch Gifford died June 26, 1907.

FAMILY HISTORY OF SAMUEL KENDALL GIFFORD

A short biography of Samuel Kendall Gifford, son of Alpheus Gifford and Ann Nash. Born 11th November 1821, Milo Yate County New York dictated by himself and written by his granddaughter, Hannah Jane Gifford. My father was the son of Noah, who was the son of Peleg Gifford, they were born in Barnstable County Massachusetts. My father on hearing concerning Joseph Smith, the Prophet who had lain the foundation of a New Church, and who was every where spoken evil of, was prompted by the spirit to go to Palmira where the church was organized, where he learned the truth, was baptized. This was late in 1830 or very early in 1831. I was told by my uncle that it was in 1831, but President Young told me afterwards that it was 1830. He was ordained a Priest and returned home in company with Enos Curtis who accompanied him to Palmira and also received the gospel. Father brought home with him five books of Mormon, and was full of joy and thanksgiving. He preached the gospel until the church moved from New York to Ohio, when he and several others went to Kirtland to again visit the Prophet. That was in 1831. Father was there ordained an Elder. He returned again to Pennsylvania in connection with his brethren for that was their home. Mother also received the gospel. Early in the spring of 1832 we started on a slow journey for Jackson County Missouri, traveled by team one hundred miles to a place called Olean point on the Allegheny River. Where they built a flat boat, that is, the brethren who had gathered there built a flat boat with a cabin on it, and four families as follows: Alpheus Gifford, my father, My uncle Judith Gifford, Abram Brown, and Isaac Fhumabelt, and their families, floated down the river. My father having to work his way to procure something to eat and wear made our journey very slow. We reached Cincinnati, Ohio in the fall of 1832, where Elizah Newman had followed our boats five miles down to the city. He, having been informed by Lyman Lenard that a preacher by the name of Alpheus Gifford would come on such a boat and would perhaps winter in Cincinnati, found that he was not mistaken. He procured ropes and men enough to tow our boat up the river, five miles to his place of residence, where we spent the winter with Brother Newman. Going five miles on the Sabbath day to meet with a branch of the church that had been organized in Cincinnati. Early in the Spring of 1833, Elias Higbee, Isaac Higbee and John S. Higbee, chartered a steam boat in which they went with their substance and took my father and family with them down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi River to St. Lewis in the State of Missouri, from here they traveled by team to Independence, where we arrived early in the spring, of that year. We settled first on the Blue River, later in what was known as Balson Settlement, presided over by Peter Dustin, and later in another part where we lived in a old log house without a floor, until the 13th of November of the same year 1833. When we were driven by a ruthless mob and were obliged to leave the County. My self, my brothers Ichabod, William, and Henry and my sister Rhoda had been baptized by Saloman Hancock. In the spring or early summer of that year. On the night of the 13th while camping on the banks of the Missouri River, we beheld that beautiful phenomenon known as the falling of the stars which was one of the most beautiful scenes I ever beheld. On the 14th we crossed the river into Clay County, went about two miles from the river, where a branch of the church was organized with John Lowry as President. We remained there, often being threatened by mobs, stirred up by men from Jackson County, who were not satisfied with driving them from Jackson County. In 1844, Joseph Smith with some hundred and fifty men came up from the East in what is known as the Zion's Camp. Failing to agree upon terms with the people of Jackson County, to have the saints restored to their home in Jackson County as the people of Clay County, and Jackson County together had threatened the utter destruction of the Saints if they did not leave Clay County, a treaty was entered unto by which the Saints were permitted to remove to a portion of Ray County that was taken from Ray County and called Caldwell County, where a city was laid off and named Far West. Here I was enrolled in the first company, I believe, of Militia that was ever organized by the Latter Day Saint, and here I first saw the Prophet Joseph Smith, and I saw the chief corner stone placed in its place of the Temple that will some day be built in Far West. But the people of Missouri were not satisfied to let the Saints have a resting place and remain in peace in that State. Mobs were constantly disturbing the Saints. Men and women were massacred. The chief Apostle, David Patten was slain and finally by the exterminating order by governor Lillburn W. Boggs, and army of two or three thousands were sent to Far West. At the time they arrived at Far West my uncle way - Levi, two of my cousins and my self were five miles east of Far West on our way to the city and consequently obliged to stop and go no farther. We were taking a load of corn from our home on Log Creek which we had to abandon for safety nearby where we were stopping my Uncle Levi and Old father Tanner were standing together talking when an army of the mob who had discovered them, they ran to get away from them but father Tanner was caught and his skull broke by the butt of a gun. Uncle Levi escaped that day by hiding under a bank of a creek, but next day was caught and taken to the camp of the enemy. I need not speak of what took place by the treachery of lieutenant George M. Hinckle, whom I had previously looked upon as a man of God. All these things are written in the History of the church. We were driven in the dead of Winter in 1838-39 and had to travel from the west end of Missouri to its eastern line, through mud and snow poorly clad and nearly barefooted, four families to the wagon all having to go on foot that were able to walk that whole distance. When we arrived at the Mississippi River opposite of Quincy, Illinois, we had to stay there some time in order to get a chance to cross the river for there was so many to cross and but one ferry-boat. Finally my father and some others cut down two very large cotton-wood trees and dug them out like canoes excepting they were square and each end like troves, these they pinned together with cross pieces at the proper distance apart to contain the wheels of the wagons, and in this way we crossed the river that was over a mile wide when cakes of ice were floating, that would sometimes almost upset our double barreled ferryboat. We were received with kindness by the citizens of Quincy. After a time my father and others moved some twenty miles up the river near the town of Limy and settled where some were in Adams County and some in Hancock County. Across the line, and heard a branch of the church was organized, presided over by Isaac Morley. We remained here in peace for a short time, again I was enrolled in a military company belonging to the Nauvoo Legion. Saloman Hancock was our Mayor, Steven Markum was our Corlnet. I attended every general training in the city of Nauvoo which was 30 miles above the Morley Settlement. I attended the first conference that was held in the city of Nauvoo. Presided over b y the Prophet Joseph Smith. After the conference was over my father and I met with a lot of the brethren in the house of Joseph Smith. The Prophet talked to us for some time upon our persecutions and drivings from our homes and property and said he was going to the city of Washington to lay our grievances before the President of the United States. This was in October 1839 and said he, "I have a garden in which I have some corn standing and the hogs are getting in destroying my corn and if any of you will stop the hog holes in my garden fence and thereby save my corn I will gain redress for all our grievances in the state of Missouri" One man arose up and said I believe I know what President Smith means by the Hog Holes. He says I went over the river the other day into the island and got in to a beautiful grove of timber which through my greediness I blazed a lot of the trees and wrote my name on them so as to claim the whole grove I believe such as this is what the prophet means by the Hog Holes. The Prophet then arose and said you may take it just as you please but I mean just what I say. If any of you will stop the hog holes in my garden fence and therefore save my corn I will gain redress for all our grievances in the state of Missouri. Another man arose and said, "Brother Joseph has a good crib supposing we gather his corn and put in into his crib." The Prophet again arose and repeated the same words concerning the hog holes making the same promise. A person unknown to anybody in the house arose and said "I and my son will stop the hog holes in your garden tomorrow morning, that seemed to settle the question. Soon after this while the Prophet was talking a person somewhere near the middle of the house got up and walked out of the house, the door being opened. The Prophet went around and inquired of everyone in the house if they knew who it was that went out. No one could tell but all saw him go. As my father and I had to go the next day 30 miles on foot we supposed that all would be right. We learned afterwards that no one came to stop the hog holes and I have always believed that the stranger that left the house whether he was a real man or a devil was the one that promised to stop the hog holes. I can not add anything to the history of the church for it is plainly written by many. But I left Nauvoo and traveled in the first camp, in the spring of 1846, where we traveled through deep mud and snow, stopping for three weeks at a time for storm to clear away. I went with the camp as far as Garden Grove in the state of Iowa, where the saints made a stopping place, leaving a few. The camp moved on a little farther to a place called Mount Pisgah. I returned to Nauvoo with some others, stayed but a day or two then crossed over into Iowa again, went to Farmington some twenty miles, up the Des Moines River where I spent the summer. Then went to winter quarters where I spent the winter. Heard the Revelation known as the Word and will of the Lord. In the winter quarters of the Saints. by President Brigham Young, the first time it was read in public. I made a trip or two down into the state of Missouri for provisions then living with Father Morley in winter quarters. I made some chairs took them down to St. Joseph and sold them for store goods, worked a month in St. Joseph in a wagon shop, took a trip to St. Lewis and back on a steamboat. Returned to Pisgah in the fall of 1847, where I remained manufacturing chairs, and so forth, until the spring of 1850, when I crossed the plains witnessing a awful calamity caused by the Cholera. Both saints sinners were left upon the plains by the hundreds. Arrived in Salt Lake Valley about the eleventh of September. Was called to Sanpete where I arrived in November. In the spring of 1851, was again enrolled in a military company belonging to the Nauvoo Legion. I was first elected third Corporal and gradually promoted until the walker war broke out when I held the office of orderly Sergeant. The duties of which office I performed during the war. Then was gradually promoted till I held the position of first Lieutenant. Syremus Taylor who was then captain soon died. I then was elected and received a captain commission afterwards was elected Major, but soon removed to Southern Utah and did not obtain a commission. I had served six years in the city council in Manti City. I acted for some time as counselor and spokesman to Gad Yale who presided over the mass quorum of Seventies. On May 16, 1857 was ordained one of the presidents of the forty eighth quorum of Seventies by President Joseph Young. I acted as teacher for many years in Manti, had charge of the first teachers ward. I belonged to the Manti Trespen Society for many years. At the time of Reformation for more than one month attended from one to three meetings a day, was teacher in the first Sunday School that was organized in Manti. In November 1862 visited Southern Utah to which place I removed in November 1863 settled in Shonesburg, where I continued my labors as a ward teacher of the Rockville Ward, and also was superintendent of the Sabbath School. Manufactured a great many chairs done some farming, raising fruit and so forth. Again acted as orderly Sergeant in the Militia. In 1866 was again called to serve in the Indian War. Known as the Navaho or piede war. Afterwards I again received a first Lieutenant commission, which office I held until bearing arms was forbidden by a wicked governor. On the sixth day of April 1870 my wife died and was buried near my two sons who had previously died. I was appointed by president Jacob Gates to preside over the seventies of the Rockville Ward then consisting of four settlements, namely Rockville, Grafton, Shonesburg, and Springdale. At the time of the localizing the quorums of Seventies, I was set apart under the directions of President Gates, as one of the Presidents of the Ninth quorum of Seventies with head quarters at Toquerville. I traveled with Brothers Dodge and Savage from Settlement to settlement to complete the organization of the quorums and to stir up the seventies by way of their duties and to prepare them for missionary labor. I performed some home missionary labor in the St. George Stake of Zion. When the united order was organized I took great interest in laboring for the benefit of the community until the order was dissolved. Soon after President Brigham H. Roberts counseled the old men of the Seventies to go into the High Priest quorum I obeyed the council and was ordained by Daniel Duncan McArthur. I have attended many Conferences in St. George, attended the conference in Salt Lake City at the time of the dedication of the temple in April 1893. I had previously witnessed the laying of the corner stones of that great temple on the sixth of April 1853, just forty years previous to the time of it's dedication, I had attended a number of general conferences in Salt Lake previous to this time. I had the privilege of attending one celebration of the 24th of July twenty miles up Big Cotton Wood Canyon with president Young's party. I assisted what I was able to in building the St. George Temple also the Manti Temple. And the great temple of Salt Lake. I have spent a great deal of time means considering what little means I possessed in gathering records and laboring for the benefit of the living and the redemption of the dead. On the sixth day of September 1902, I was ordained a Patriarch by Apostle Matthias F. Cowley, have blessed up to date (March 5, 1904) 301 persons, including all of my posterity that are still living excepting two little babies. I have been afflicted in many ways, my second wife who had been sealed to me in the endowment house in Salt Lake City on the second day of January 1871 died on the twentieth of June 1902. On the 26th or 27th of April 1881 I was seized with a terrible pain in my right eye, which continued to grow worse until I was nearly blind. On the first day of May I met Robert Pickton at Rockville and started on the home mission to travel around the Stake, suffered immensely with my head and eyes would scarcely see anybody or anything but filled my mission, did not miss one meeting, and spoke to the people on the principles of tithing and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for that was the mission that was given us, I returned home on the first day of June. When I returned home I was in great misery but after using two or three bottles of Ray ways read relief, I got so I could do a little work but continued to suffer with my head and eyes my right going entirely blind, and my left eye blind by spells, until eight years ago this month I became entirely blind to see no more in the life. Have come near to the brink of the grave a number of times but through the fulfillment of the promises of the servants of God I have been able to do considerably work in the temple, and am still anxious to labor in the temple, I have a great work before me which I would like to perform before I pass away, but oh how long shall I have to wait for help. I have labored from one day to each week at a time as time would permit since the temple was opened for endowments it has now been six months since I have been to the temple, and can not go without assistance and my pleadings are in vain, I am now eighty two and about four months and would like to complete my work for the dead.

Comments taken from Early Church records on Micro Fiche at the Family History Center in Cody, Wyoming.

Comment #1.

In 1850, Samuel had a household of 3 and a real wealth of $100. In 1860, he had a household of 8, and a real wealth of $525, and a personal wealth of $200. Reference: Utah Federal Census; Year: 1851, 1860.

Comment #2.

Samuel was a Patriarch in the St. George Stake of Zion. He became the President of the 28th Quorum of Seventy in 1857. Elder Gifford passed through the drivings and mobbings to which th Saints were exposed prior to their coming to Utah. He was on e of the early pioneers of Utah and one of the founders of Manti, San Pete County. In 1863, he removed to Southern Utah and passed through all the trying scenes in the early days of that country while building up the Dixie mission. For several years he acted as presiding Elder of the Shonesburg Branch of the Rockville Ward. He also acted as Superintendent of the Springdale Sunday School for many years. As a military man he saw rough service in the field, and served as a captain of a company during the Walker War. He later served in the Navajo Indian War in Southern Utah. Reference: LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951 Volume 2 Page 194.

Comment #3.

This is an excerpt from the journal of Samuel Kendall Gifford: "Journal 1 Book by Samuel Kendall Gifford commencing September 3, 1864 containing a short Genealogy of his forefathers for three generations back and also a short history of his Father and an abridgement of a Journal as taken from old Books." Father joined LDS Church while living in Tioga County, PEnnsylvania, spring 1830, Father baptized Heber C. Kimball. Author born in Milo Township, Yates County, New York, 1821. Started for Missouri in 1831 but spent two years at Maryette, Ohio, arriving in Independence, 1833. Moved to Batson Settlement. Persecution. To Clay County. Great deal said at time about return to Jackson County; some thought it would take place immediately or within a few years. To Far West. Joined a military company, 1837. Trouble with mobs. To Quincy, Illinois, 1839. Settled at Morley Settlement, near Lima. Father moved to Nauvoo and died there, 1841. Worked in Missouri. Spent one winter at Winter Quarters. Came to Utah in 1850. Only violin player in the valley. Consecrated property to Church, 1855. Mormon Reformation. Seventies meetings. Attended phonography school, 1857. Re-elected to Manti City Council. A president in 48th Quorum of Seventies. Gifford genealogy. Reference: Guide to Mormon Diaries & Autobiographies. Bitton, Davis.

Comment #4.

Samuel was in the expulsion from Jackson County, MO in 1833. Reference: Mormon Manuscripts to 1846. Andrus, Hyrum. 1977.

Comment #5.

Samuel was a member of the Nauvoo 2nd Ward. Reference: Nauvoo: Early Mormon....Series 1839-46 Platt, Lyman. 1980.

Comment #6.

Samuel was sealed to Orpha Demille, a childhood sweetheart who was dead. Reference: Family Group Sheet - Self.

Henry Dill Gifford

 

FSFT shows these photos, but does not yet show a personal life story on Alpheus and Anna’s 5^th child, Henry Dill Gifford, born 28 Apr 1825 in Reading, Wayne County, NY, married to Almira Ann Braffett at Council Bluffs on 5 Nov 1848, and died 5 May 1901, near Idaho Falls, ID, with at least six children who lived to mature years and produced their own posterity. 

   

Rhoda Gifford

Rhoda Gifford

Contributed By kennethdonlougee · 2013-07-26

The History of Rhoda Gifford and Her Husbands

Rhoda Gifford, was born 28 April, 1827, to Alpheus Gifford and Anna Nash at No Nine, Candango, New York. Her father, the first one of the family to join the Church, was baptized in 1830. They had a large family, and Rhoda worked for the Prophet Joseph Smith before she was married, doing his family sewing. She was a beautiful seamstress, and did it all by hand. Her father, being a preacher, moved from place to place.

Then she met Alvin Clements and was married to him in February, 1846. Alvin was born 22 November 1822 in Fort Ann, Washington Co., New York. His parents were Albert Clements and Aidah (Ada) Winchell. Very little is known about Alvin’s early years. Rhoda and Alvin, like all the others, were driven out of Nauvoo, Illinois and went west to Winter Quarters which is now Omaha, Nebraska. Their first child, Alpheus Clements, was born at Winter Quarters, 2 February, 1847, but he only lived 22 days and was buried at Winter Quarters.

Alvin, Rhoda’s husband, and her brother, Henry Dill Gifford, went away to find work, so they could be able to go west with the Saints; and while they were gone, a man by the name of George Lyman told grandmother that her husband, Alvin, and Henry Dill had drowned. Since they did not return, and she had received no letter or word from them, she believed them dead. Then Mr. Lyman asked Rhoda to marry him, and the Church authorities gave her consent to marry him. He was a nephew of one of the first twelve apostles of the Church. He was born 3 June 1826 in Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., New York. He was the son of James Lyman and Sarah (Sally) Davis. Very little is known of George’s early years.

Rhoda and George moved to Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, and she had a baby girl, 13 January, 1848, who was named Sarah Elizabeth Lyman. When Sarah was about five months old, Rhoda received a letter from her husband, Alvin Clements, saying that he and Henry were coming home, so Mr. Lyman went away and was killed in a brawl sometime in 1848.

Alvin and Rhoda were married again, and in 1850, Henry Allen was born 13 March 1851 in Kainsville, Iowa. Then they got word that they had to leave. Henry was one year old when they started for Utah. It was a hard journey across the plains with a small child, but they arrived in Salt Lake in the fall of 1851. Rhoda’s mother, Anna Gifford, and family were all in Manti, Utah, so they went right down to Manti. They worked very hard planting their crops and building houses to live in, and also fighting the Indians and feeding them, too.

Rhoda Ann Clements was born in Manti the 22 October, 1853. When she was two years old, Alvin Clements passed away in September, 1855, and was buried in Manti. Thus leaving Rhoda with two children and expecting another. It was a time for Rhoda, and William Alvin Clements, was born in Manti the 22 January, 1856. He died 20 September 1856.

It was very hard for a woman to find work in those days, as there was only housework, washing, or sewing, so on 17 October, 1856, she married Albert Smith. Albert was born 18 November 1804 in Ashfield, Franklin Co., Massachusetts. He was the son of David Smith and Deborah Alden. (For more on Albert’s history see the one preceding this history on Rhoda.) Rhoda and Albert had a son, Albert Smith, born in Manti, 17 October, 1858; and this child only lived a little over 11 months.

In the fall of 1856, there were twenty teams, and couples that went to Salt Lake with their tithing wheat, and to get their own endowments in the Endowment House. Rhoda received hers on 14 February, 1857. While they were there, there was a woman, Sophie Klauen, widow of Peder Pedersen who had come from Copenhagen with four small children, Albert married her the 14 February, 1857, and they were both sealed to him that day.

In the fall of 1858, they had a scare, because Johnson’s army was coming with the intention of hanging a lot of the leaders; but they let them pass through, and they built a fort at Rush Valley. This proved to be very helpful to a lot of the Saints especially to Albert’s family, as there were 15 in the family and they didn't know where they were going to get cloth to clothe the family, because they were destitute at that time. But the wives kept the clothes clean, and had patch upon patch, and they were able to go to Church and perform their obligations. The people were able to sell their wheat and oats, and they were hired to help build the barracks and home, and they were able to buy clothing, wagons, plows, oxen, chains, and yokes. Albert bought a number yokes of oxen for 75 bushels of wheat, a log cabin for one dollar, and cloth for clothes. Rhoda's son, Albert, died in 6 October 1859 in Manti. On the 3 September, 1860, Rhoda had another girl, which she named Deborah Wing Smith. She was born in Manti. In 1862, they built a large house and moved in before it was finished. Rhoda’s mother, Anna Nash Gifford, was living with them, and Rhoda wanted a place of her own, Albert rented a house for her. Then on the 13, January, 1863, she had another baby girl, Anna Nash Smith. She was born in Manti. In March, 1864, Albert bought a city lot, and Rhoda moved to it.

After settling in Manti, William Knapp Parshall had land across the river from Albert Smith. When William's wife, Martha Adams, became very ill, he asked Rhoda to help him with his sick wife. He was very grateful to Rhoda for her help at this time. However Martha died and right after her death his young son, William Auben Parshall, became very ill, and Rhoda continued to cross the river each day to help William in his time of need. His little son also died. Albert Smith, Rhoda's husband, became quite belligerent to think one of his wives would go across the river every day to see another man. He certainly was not thinking of the illness in the home as Rhoda was. He would not listen to her reasons and divorced her some time before 1865.

In 1866, Rhoda married William Knapp Parshall. William Knapp Parshall was born 25 August 1802 at Phelps, Ontario, New York, a son of James Parshall and Ruhamah Sawyer. Phelps Township, Ontario, New York is situated about five miles from Palmyra, New York. It is believed that the Parshall family became acquainted with the Joseph Smith family while living there. William is the only one of the family known to join the Latter-day Saint church. William had a blessing at the hands of Patriarch John Smith at Nauvoo, Illinois, 31 January 1844. In 1844, William Knapp Parshall was one of 146 Elders who were called to the Eastern States to present to the people, Joseph Smith's views on the powers and policies of the United States Government. His journey took him back to his home in New York. William was listed among the members of the fifteenth quorum of seventy when it was organized 8 October 1844 at Nauvoo, Illinois. He was member of this quorum until his death.

William was married four times before he came west. His first wife was Sene Mills. They were married some time before 1844. There is no record of a death or any children in this marriage. His second wife was Axy or Oka Minerva Hills born 20 May 1821 at Genesse, New York. She had a blessing at the hands of Patriarch John Smith at Nauvoo, Illinois, 31 January 1844. His third wife was Sophia Stowell, born 21 July 1821 at Solon, Cortland, New York, daughter of Augustus Oliver Atriums Stowell and Mary Stephens Holmes. She died 29 September 1845 at Nauvoo, Illinois, with a sever fever. They had no children. His fourth wife was Martha Adams, born 21 January 1814, in Seneca Co., New York. When William came west the only wife he had was Martha. It is not known if he was married to more than one wife at a time. William was one of the first settlers of Manti, he journeyed there 19 November 1849. He was enrolled in the Militia from 1850 to 1853. He worked on the building of the fort from its beginning, 7 May 1852 until its dedication 3 July 1852. He is listed as a carpenter in 1850 census of Manti.

Rhoda and William were married about 1866 in Manti. William was about 64 years old at this time. A son, William Kendall Parshall, was born to them 7 May 1867 at Manti. To suddenly have a large family living in his home was quite hard for William at his age. There was talk of a separation because things were not going well in the home. However before this happened William became very ill and died 19 March 1869 at Manti. Rhoda was left alone with William, who was only two years old, and four others, the oldest, Henry, being 17 years old. It was very hard to find work and make a living for her children.

Rhoda was persuaded to go the journey to Springville, as some of her relatives said she could get more to do, so her oldest son, Henry, made a cart out of two wheels from an old wagon and hitched a steer to it. She, with all her possessions and her family, walked from Manti to Springville; and that would have been a hard journey in those days. She and her son worked to support her family.

On 14 March 1870, Rhoda’s daughter, Rhoda Ann Clements, was married to John Hatfield’s oldest son, William Hatfield. In May, 1870, John Hatfield’s wife died, leaving five motherless children. He asked Rhoda to come and work for him, and it was while she was working for him that he asked her to marry him. They were married on July 24, 1870 in Springville. Rhoda did a very good job of raising his four boys and one girl.

John Hatfield was born in Belper, Derbyshire, England, on the 14th of November, 1818. John was the 4th child of 7 children born to Jacob Hatfield and Elizabeth Street. His father was a land owner and John's boyhood was well spent in helping his father raise various fruits and vegetables. He used the knowledge and experience gained through these when he came to Utah, where he raised a lovely orchard of his own and grew grain on ten acres of land.

Like many English people, John's education was limited. It has always been an English tradition that its people learn a trade of some sort to help make their own livelihood. As he became of age, John learned many trades. Pottery making, glass blowing, and cooking were his chief trades. In pottery, he created his own designs. John became an expert glass blower, making many beautiful ornamental pieces with his clever skill of arrangements. He was also an expert cook, specializing in fruitcake, mincemeat, and candy, which he sold from his privately owned shop. His many customers and friends came from near and far to purchase these fine goods. It has been said he could make perfect star with the ingredients used in stick candy. John was a fine athlete and a well known boxer, holding the championship in Belper and the surrounding counties. John invented insulation for electric wiring, molding it from clay. The patent on this invention was not obtained immediately and some dishonest person claimed the rights to his invention. John was broken hearted over this incident and grieved about it because he knew he could have been a wealthy man, had he obtained this patent.

When John reached manhood, he was large of stature, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds. He was considered very attractive at the time of his marriage to Ann Keaton in England. They had four children, Ann, Louisa, William, and Ann Keaton. All but William died in England. Later, John married Eliza Beard, Born January 7, 1856 at Bredsall, Derby, England. They had five children in England: Samuel Charles, Jacob, Salina, Joseph, and John Henry. Samuel and John Henry died in England.

John became interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, from the fine young missionaries who were sent to England to carry its truth to the English people. John and Eliza were baptized members. Preparations were soon made to migrate to America. John disposed of his property and business. With his wife, children, and personal possessions, he left his native land, England, on the 30th of May, 1863, on the ship "Cynosure” from Liverpool, England. John and Eliza were unfortunate in having their small daughter, Salina, stricken unto death, and was buried beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. On July l9, 1863, the ship “Cynosure” arrived in New York. On July 20th, the passengers, from both the Amazon (sister ship) and the Cynosure, landed at Castle Garden. In the evening of the same day, the two companies continued their journey by rail to Albany, New York, on their way to Florence, Nebraska. Immediate plans were made in starting journey Westward across the plains. Each day brought severe trials that laid heavily upon them. Despite their weariness at close of day, they frequently sought relaxation in singing and square dancing. John and Eliza and their children arrived in the Great, Salt Lake Valley on October 6, 1863. They remained there for some time. While in Salt Lake, John received word from a good friend, Abraham Taylor, who had joined the church some time before. Mr. Taylor had left his native land and settled in Springville, Utah. In the spring of 1864, John bought a wagon and yoke of oxen and moved his family to Springville, Utah. This yoke, of oxen and wagon were donated by John to help bring the saints to Zion and they made many trips across the plains.

John brought from England, a sugar bowl filled with gold pieces, with which to buy a home. On their arrival in Springville, there were no homes available to buy. They stayed for a while with the Taylor family. Then John moved his family into a small adobe house in the vicinity of the Jefferson School, at 800 South Main in Springville, Utah. This was fairly comfortable during the summer, but when it began to get cold in the fall, it was almost unbearable. Quilts and canvas were hung to help keep out the cold. That fall, a kindly couple Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Richardson, who lived a short distance from the Hatfield family, learned of their circumstances and invited John and his family to share a room of their home. It was furnished and had a fine old fashioned fireplace. Here they were warm and comfortable. They enjoyed this winter very much, going to church, sewing and visiting with their neighbors. Home parties were also enjoyed. Eliza had a very fine voice and she would often sing. Among the songs that she sang which they seemed to enjoy was the "Mistletoe Bough". They sang many church hymns also. In the spring of 1865, John moved his family back into the adobe house at 800 South Main, Springville, Utah. From the adobe house they moved in to a dugout near the location of 129 East 8th South. Here a child was born, Amos Hatfield, on the 19th of September, 1865. Here on the 11th of March, 1867, a daughter Eliza Hatfield Edwards, was born. Also in this dugout a son Fredrick Hatfield, was born 26th March, 1869. Some time later they moved into another dugout just as poorly constructed as the first one. It was located at approximately 210 East 8th South, Springville, Utah. The hardships Eliza was forced to endure were beyond her strength. She contacted pneumonia and passed away May 19, 1870 and was buried the 22nd of May, 1870 in the Springville, Utah City Cemetery.

Rhoda owned a small lot and a log cabin at 797 South 4th East, Springville, Utah. After they married, John moved his children and what little they possessed from the dugout into her cabin. The day they moved out, the dugout caved in. John homesteaded 15 acres of land around this area. John and his boys built a two-story home of adobes on the back of the cabin joining it. The boys walked to the west fields of Springville and made adobes from clay to finish the home. About 1872 Rhoda bore John a daughter, Eliza Angeline Hatfield she died as an infant. They never had any other children of their own.

John was known to have a gift of healing. He was called to the bedside of those in special need of the power of God to help them regain their health. On one occasion, a man had a very sick child. He asked John to administer to his child. At this time, John was bedridden himself and was unable to perform this duty. John was silent for a short time, then he said to this man, "Go home, your child will be healed. When the father reached the bedside of his child, he was feeling much more comfortable and soon regained his health.

John was also married to Dorothy Sarah Jennison Lichfield in Polygamy. Dorothy Sarah Jennison was born January 4, 1827, in Nottingham, England, to William Jenninson and Matelda Emmerson. About 1873, an old friend of Dorothy's who was living in Springville, Utah, contacted her. His name was John Hatfield. In fact, back in the "Old Country", in their younger days, they had been sweethearts. He was older than she was and her family discouraged her marrying John. Each had married others and they had drifted apart. Now she learned that he was a member of the Church and was living not too far away. They were delighted to renew old memories and exchange stories of their lives since they had last seen each other. They were both in very poor financial circumstance, but the old affections returned. It was love in December and as she told her family later, the only real love she ever knew. They were married and received their endowments in the Endowment House in May, 1874. John continued to live at his home in Springville, Utah and she in her little home in Goshen. In January, 1889, John and Dorothy were called to the Manti Temple to receive their second endowments. Under the hands of Daniel H. Wells, they received these endowments, a blessing given to very few.

Rhoda and John went to the temple in Salt Lake, Manti, and Logan, and did a lot of work for their relatives. They were sealed to each other on 2 January 1871, in the Endowment House. She raised John’s sons, William, Jacob, Amos, Joseph, and Fred Hatfield, and a daughter, Elizabeth. William Kendall Parshall, was adopted and sealed to John Hatfield and Rhoda in the Manti temple, 3 December, 1890. He took the surname Hatfield and was known as William Kendall Parshall Hatfield. Rhoda's two girls by Albert Smith, Deborah and Anna, and her son Henry Clements by her first husband, Alvin Clements, were also sealed to them at that time.

John homesteaded a ranch of one hundred acres in Mapleton, Utah. It was covered with oak brush and hugging the foothills. Mapleton, Utah was formally called Union Bench at the early settlement. Sierra Bonita Mountain (meaning beautiful) is over looking Mapleton from the east. It is above the 100 acres of land John homesteaded. Also, there is a noted scout camp by the same. It was infested with rattlesnakes. To get to this land, John had to walk and then grub the brush out by hand. After the land had been planted in hay and the loads were hauled to Springville, he often discovered rattlesnakes in the load. John had at last reached prosperity after his many severe hardships. He raised cows and pigs. In the fall, they would butcher some to supply their winter meat. John would cure bacon and hams and hang them from the rafters in the kitchen. Rhoda didn't like the looks of these in her immaculate kitchen and remonstrated with him. He answered remembering his lean days, “Aye lass but they look better to me than pictures.”

It was harvest time, and John had reached 76 years of age. The yield was heavy and the facilities for handling the thrashing were inadequate. John, fearing the precious grain might be wasted, assisted in the thrashing by carrying the heavy weighted bags to the bins on his back and dumping the contents. In doing so, he was ruptured and later the rupture strangulated and caused his death. Thus in the year 1896, one of the earth’s stalwart characters passed on. John Hatfield is long remembered for his thrift, honesty and humane virtues. The memory of his work survives him as testimony of his integrity. In September 1896, Dorothy received the unhappy news that her husband John Hatfield died in Springville, Utah. Due to poor traveling and communication, word did not reach Dorothy of John's death until after his burial. Shortly after John’s death, Dorothy seemed to have lost interest to live. Her health began to fail. She died in the late afternoon August 27, 1903. She is buried, in the Goshen cemetery under the name of Dorothy Hatfield.

Rhoda lived with her son William Kendall Parshall Hatfield and his wife, Catherine Ansell, for a while, and then in 1901, she went to live with Deborah and her husband Walter Isaac Clegg. She just went to bed one night and never woke up. That was November 2, 1904. She is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville.

This history was based on a history on Rhoda by Florence H. Clark. Additional information came from histories on William Knapp Parshall by Elna Whiting Perry and a history on John Hatfield compiled by Mary Zerelda Conover Hatfield. These were abridged and arranged by Alva D. Mackay.

See other stories shown on FSFT.  More may be added all the time. 

Among the more mysterious ancestors of this dispensation are Mary Elizabeth Gifford and the Parkers, her husband, Samuel Parker, Sr., and their son, Samuel Parker, Jr.  We are really in need of source docs for them, to clarify marriages, divorce, births, deaths, much less their life stories.

G7 Alpheus and G7 Anna’s firstborn, G6 Mary Elizabeth Gifford, married G6 Samuel Parker, Sr.

Mary Elizabeth Gifford was born 23 Apr 1818, Butternuts, NY, died 23 Apr 1880, Springdale, UT.  She was 12 years old when her parents joined the Church, but was not baptized herself until 1 Nov 1848, at the age of 30.  The life of Mary Elizabeth Gifford is in need of clarification, specifically, her marriage(s) and children. 

What is our evidence that Mary Elizabeth Gifford married George Conrad Barringer, born Wynantskill, NY, on 28 Apr 1831, shortly after her parents’ conversion, when she was 13 and he 24?

Their 6 children, 3 sons living to have children, Mary Elizabeth’s grandchildren, are shown as:

                                                                                Mother’s (Mary Elizabeth’s) age@birth

G5 Seneca Barringer, NY  1833   1855, Henrietta, 2 kids    1859                15

G5 Nelson, NY           1836    married Lavinda, 3 kids          1912                18

Mary E., not married 1839 (same yr as 1 marriage to Samuel, Sr.)    21       

Sara Jane                     1842                                                    1845                24

Caroline                       1845                                                    1845                27

G5 George C., NY    ~1847   wife Isabella, 2 kids                1912                29       

Further descendants per FSFT:

G5 Seneca and Henrietta had two children, one of which, G4 Alida, married Sidney E. Sharp, and had two children, one, G3 Adelmer B. Sharp, married Esther Eckel (green arrow, permission needed - GAPN), and had 4 children in G2 (green arrows, permission needed).  One, G2 Evelyn M Sharp, married John Willard Heminway, and had G1 John Trebor Hemingway, 1942-2000 (GAPN).

G5 Nelson and Lavinda had 3 children, but no spouses are shown and no DODs.

G5 George and Isabella had 2 children, but no spouses are shown and no DODs.

That is the current extent of family shown on FSFT from Mary Elizabeth Gifford and George Conrad Barringer.

Find out closest living relative to work through GAPN.  wayne_gifford@hotmail.com

What is our evidence that Mary Elizabeth Gifford divorced George Conrad Barringer?

What is our evidence that Mary Elizabeth Gifford married Samuel Parker, Sr., who was born about 1816 or 1818 in Butternuts, Otsego, NY, and that they are the parents of Samuel Parker, Jr. who married Mahala Ruth Durfee who bore Mahala Strong Parker who married John William Hepworth?

What is our evidence that Samuel Parker, Sr.’s parents are Daniel Parker and Margaret or Peggy Robertson Parker?  They may be better prospects than another Samuel Parker, born about 1790, place unknown, parents unknown and Mary B., born about 1794, place unknown, parents unknown, marriage date unknown, (no temple work has been done for Samuel Parker or Mary B).

On 30 Mar 1850, almost six months after giving birth to their son, Samuel Parker, Jr., Mary and Samuel Parker, Sr. may have actually married, perhaps in Utah, when he was 32-34 and she was almost 32, then, other children born in the Utah area are shown below.  They received their endowments and were sealed one year later, two years after first being married, on 30 Mar 1852 (in the Endowment House).  To be sealed, he must have been baptized, but where and when? 

                                                           

Samuel Parker, Sr. is shown on FSFT to have married Delaney Shafer, 1798, 29 Jan 1846, Nauvoo, IL.  They have a daughter, Mary O. Johnson Parker, born 1831, New Hampshire, married George Hughes, born 1821-1908, England, and no children. 

10 children of Mary Elizabeth Gifford & Samuel Parker, Sr. are shown to be:  

                                                                                Mother’s (Mary Elizabeth’s) age@birth

Samuel Parker, Jr.                         6 Oct 1849, SLC                                       31

Martha Marie Parker                     28 Jul 1851, SLC                                      33

Helaman Parker                                     ~1853, Manti, UT                             35

Daniel Parker                                 9 Sep 1854, Provo, UT                            36

William Robison Parker                31 Jan 1856, Provo, UT                            37

Mary Ann Parker                          10 Jan 1858, Santaquin, UT                      39

Mary Ann Gifford Parker 10 Jun 1858, Santaquin      24 Jan 1946, SLC      40

Tom Parker                                                1859, USA                                    41

I E Parker                                        5 Dec 1859                                              41

Elizabeth Parker                                        1860, UT                                       42

Per FSFT 10/16/13, 2 of 10 children of Mary Elizabeth and Samuel Parker, Sr. had 10 children, with only 2, Samuel Parker, Jr. and Mary Ann Gifford Parker, showing married with children.  Samuel Parker, Jr. had 2 girls with Mahala Ruth Durfee, but only Mahala Strong Parker lived to marry, but with husband John William Hepworth, she produced 9 sons and 1 daughter.  Samuel Parker, Jr. married again and with Barbara Ellen Dayley had 10 children, but only 1 married and had one child who married but had no children. 

Mary Elizabeth Gifford and Samuel Parker, Sr.’s children, only 2 of 10 known to have lived to have children, Samuel Parker, Jr. and Mary Ann Gifford Parker:

1.      Samuel Parker, Jr., born 1949, SLC, married Mahala Ruth Durfee 1850-1875, m ~1872, Washington, UT, 2 girls, Mahala Strong Parker, 1873-1912, and Anna Elizabeth Parker, 1875-1875       

2.      Martha Marie Parker, no spouse               

3.      Helaman Parker, no spouse          

4.      Daniel Parker, no spouse                                       

5.      William Robison Parker, no spouse          

6.      Mary Ann Parker, no spouse    

7.      Mary Ann Gifford Parker, born 8 years after Samuel Jr. in 1858, Santaquin, UT, married Benjamin Amos McBride, born in MO, married 5 Sep 1884, Basin, Cassia, ID (between Oakley and Elba), 9 children

8.      Tom Parker, no spouse                                   

9.      I E Parker, no spouse                         

10.  Elizabeth Parker, no spouse               

Samuel Parker, Jr., born 6 Oct 1849, in Salt Lake City, was the first born of Samuel Parker, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Gifford when she was 31.  Based on the presumed locations of the births of his siblings, they lived in SLC until ~1853, then to Provo until at least 1856, then to Santaquin by 1858. 

Samuel Parker, Sr. died 9 Jul 1879 at the age of 61. 

Mary Elizabeth’s mother, Anna, a widow for almost 38 years, died at the age of 79 on 5 Sep 1879 in Springdale, Washington County, Utah, and was buried 8 Sep 1879 in Shonesburg, Washington County, Utah. 

Mary Elizabeth died on her birthday, 23 Apr 1880, at the age of 62, in Shonesburg, Washington, UT, and was sealed by proxy to her parents over a year later on 16 Jul 1881, in the St. George Temple.  Who saw to it that she was sealed to her parents?

Samuel Parker, Jr. ~1872, at the age of 23, ~8 years before his mother’s death, married Mahala Ruth Durfee, daughter of Abraham and Ursula Curtis Durfee, and granddaughter of Edmond and Lana Durfee and Enos and Ruth Curtis.  Samuel, Jr. was a grandson of Alpheus and Anna Gifford through his mother, Mary Elizabeth.  Samuel Jr. and Mahala as a couple had grandparents, Giffords, Curtis’s, and Durfees, who are 3 of our 14 First Convert Extended Families.  Enos Curtis and Alpheus Gifford had been especially close as missionary companions, friends, and neighbors.

Samuel and Mahala’s daughter Mahala Strong Parker was born 10 Aug 1873 in Shoneburg, Washington, Utah.  Did she have a twin born eight days later, named Anna Elizabeth, who apparently died after birth?  FSFT shows a little girl named Anna Elizabeth who was born nineteen months later, and only lived four months. 

At the time of his mother’s death in 1880, Samuel Parker, Jr. was 30.  The following year, per FSFT, he married 30 Dec 1881, Cassia, ID, Barbara Ellen Dayley born Grantsville, UT, 1862, died Blackfoot, ID, 1936.  They had 10 children.

Samuel Parker, Jr. was born 6 Oct 1849 in Salt Lake City, son of Samuel Parker, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Gifford. He had one younger sister named Mary Ann Parker, born 1851 in Basin, Cassia, ID who married Benjamin McBride.

He was baptized 6 Oct 1857, at the age eight, on his birthday. He was endowed 2 Jan 1878, at the age of 28. Mahala Ruth Durfee was born 17 May 1850, in Carterville, Pottowattomie, IA, daughter of Abraham Durfee and Ursula Curtis.

Mahala Ruth made it to Utah as a baby and grew up in Utah. She was baptized 16 Jan 1869, at the age of 19.

It is recorded somewhere (on my PAF) that she had a spouse named Thomas Harrison Winder, but in 1872, at age 21 or 22, she married Samuel Parker, Jr. He was about 23 when they married. Our PAF does not show the place of marriage. Their first child was Mahala Strong Parker, born 10 Aug 1873, in Shonesburg, Washington, UT, when Mahala Ruth Durfee Parker and Samuel Parker, Jr. were each 23 years old. They had two other little girls who apparently died very young.

Mahala Ruth Durfee Parker was murdered 9 Jul 1875, at the age of 25. This tragic story, involving another man and local Indians, needs to be better documented, but various extracts from my notes are included below.

Family folklore through Joseph Leland Hepworth held that Mahala was sought after by a nonmember manager of a local mine, but married Samuel Parker and they had their little girls. When Mahala was only 25, her body was found up Spanish Fork Canyon with her throat cut as Indians might have done, but the perception was Indians were being framed to cover up for the real perpetrator who acted on behalf of or was in fact the mining manager. When Samuel learned of this, he got on his horse and rode after the mining manager chasing him across Utah and into Nevada until finally discovering his body, apparently killed by Indians.

Joseph Hepworth, father to Leland, told his sons the dramatic story of his maternal grandparents. Apparently, Mahala was pursued by a “suiter” who was a mine company manager, and a nonmember. He wanted very much to marry young Mahala, but she married Samuel instead. On 10 Aug 1873, they had a baby, Mahala Strong Parker, their only child to survive. Anna Elizabeth Parker was born to them 18 Mar 1875, in Shonesburg, Washington, UT. She died less than five months later on 7 Aug 1875, a month after her mother was killed.

Some three years after being married to Samuel Parker, Jr., having two baby girls, Mahala Strong, almost 2, and Anna Elizabeth, 5 months, Mahala Ruth Durfee Parker died. The story was that she was murdered, apparently, in Spanish Fork Canyon, or perhaps another canyon in Southern UT. The record in our PAF says she died 9 Jul 1875, in Springdale, Washington County, UT, at the age of 25.

Leland’s recall is that his father Joseph said that she died in Spanish Fork Canyon, and that she was found with her throat cut, in what was thought to be a staged murder made to look like the Indians had done it. Samuel apparently went after the former suitor, believing he was responsible for the death of his wife. Samuel rode after him on his horse across western Utah and into Nevada, but apparently the Indians got to the man first and killed him, possibly somewhere in Nevada as he sought to escape being pursued. “Grandpa Parker” may have been incriminated in the death of the suitor. There was apparently some controversy in the state of Utah over him in the aftermath of this tragedy.

When his infant daughter died, perhaps due to not having her mother’s nursing care, Samuel was left to care alone for his little Mahala, namesake of his wife. The years passed. We’re not sure where he lived, but Mahala appears to have grown up in Dixie, and we have no reason to think father and daughter were separated.

Mahala Strong and John William Hepworth, who also lived in “Dixie,” were married 2 Dec 1891, in the St. George Temple, when she would have been 18 and he was 23. They had three sons while they lived in Southern Utah, their third, Squire Samuel, being born 28 Apr 1898 (a fourth, Oren, was born, but my PAF doesn’t say where), then their fifth, Joseph, was born in Elba, ID 21 Jul 1901. So, somewhere between spring of 1898 and summer of 1901, they moved to Elba.

Mahala Strong would have been 25-28 years old when they moved to Idaho. Her father, Samuel, would have been 49-52 at that time. Mahala and John William and family settled in Malta and raised their extensive family of mostly sons. Mahala died 17 Sep 1912, at the age of 39. We do not know when or where her father, Samuel Parker, Jr. died. FSFT shows his death as 9 Jul 1879, but that is before he was married in 1881 to Barbara Ellen Dayley, and years before the birth of my grandpa Joe Hepworth, who, according to my father, Leland, knew his Grandpa Parker. 

Grandpa Parker was apparently blue-eyed, a quiet, happy man, a pleasant, well-behaved gentleman. He never remarried. His son-in-law, Grandpa John William, a very straightforward person, having heard the controversy surrounding Samuel in the aftermath of the death of his wife and her former suitor, asked his father-in-law, “Did you kill that man?” And Grandpa Parker said, “No, I didn’t.” He died UNKNOWN time, UNKNOWN place.

Mahala Ruth Durfee Parker was endowed by proxy, 2 Jan 1878, over two years after she was killed.

Larry October 9, 2010 at 11:39 PM

Thank you for posting what notes and information you have collected on Mahala Ruth Durfee Parker and her daughter, Mahala Strong Parker. Mahala Ruth was my mother’s grandmother’s sister, and Mahala Ruth’s daughter, Mahala Strong, was my grandmother’s first cousin.

My mother and her sisters were close to their mother and grandmother – I’ve often heard them talking about Mahala. I received my information I’ve written from what I heard them talking, but especially from Mahala Ruth’s granddaughter, Ruth Gifford Stevens (daughter of Ursula Ette Winder) who grew up with and knew her relatives and family stories while living there in Springdale, Utah area. Another cousin that is still living at age 93 varified your history as well as what I've added of the story she could remember.

Mahala Ruth Durfee married Thomas Harrison Winder and had three children by him. She was sixteen when their first child was born: Fernando Durfee Winder; then Ursula Ett Winder; and lastly was John Agustus Winder – all born in “Springville, Utah, Utah.” They must have divorced, because her next children had a different father – Samuel Parker, Jr. The first child born to them was Mahala Strong Parker who was born when Mahala Ruth was twenty-three years of age in Shoneburg (Shunesburg), Washington, Utah in the area near to “Springdale, Washington, Utah” where her mother and step-father lived. (The two towns in Utah sound alike, but should not be confused with each other.)

Anyway, it is tradition and varified by older generations of whom I have personally interviewed, that Mahala Ruth’s three surviving children were raised by their maternal grandparents, Ursula Curtis Durfee Gifford and her second husband, Samuel Kendall Gifford – he being the children’s step-grandfather. It is reported that they were good, righteous, and kind people. He was a Patriarch in the Church as well as he worked in the St. George Temple before his death.

The three children of Mahala Ruth were Ursula Ett Winder (Etta and/or “Ettie” as they called her, but her “names” are spelled in various ways), born 1868; John Augustus Winder, born in 1870; and Mahala Strong Parker born in 1873.

These Gifford grandparents were raising their own children as well – along with another granddaughter, at the same time.

Ursula Curtis and Samuel K. Gifford were married 2 January 1871 after his wife had died with six children still at home. When they were married, Samuel K. Gifford’s youngest child was six months old. The next youngest was two; then five; ten; fifteen; a daughter seventeen, but married; and a son, twenty-one years of age. Ursula (pronounced “Ur - soo - lah”) brought three children ages ten, twelve, and sixteen.

Within a few short years, four of her grandchildren became motherless. They were raised by the Giffords. Three of the four children were the children of Mahala Ruth, who died on the 9th of July 1875.

When their mother died, Mahala Strong Parker was 23 months old; Ursula Ett Winder was seven years old; John Augustus being five years old.

What a wonderful blog with lots of interesting data and history of so many people I’m related to one way or the other! Thank you for your efforts and important contribution to all of us!

Larry K. Coleman

(An "unknown cousin" who chanced upon your blog website.)

Reply Brad October 18, 2011 at 1:36 PM

I'm thrilled to find this post. Little has been passed down in regard to how our families in Springdale, UT came to exist. My father was James Harlon Winder, who is the son of Dan Winder, who was a son of John Agustus Winder. I had heard a little about the murder of Mahala Ruth Durfee Winder and later Parker, but wanted to know more.

Reply Debbie January 16, 2012 at 7:12 PM

I enjoyed reading your blog posts and the comments to the post. I am a descendant of Thomas Harrison WInder. I am gathering information on the family for my mother who lives in Emery County. My grandmother was Mildred Caroline Winder. Thanks again, Debbie

Children of Samuel Parker, Jr. and Barbara Ellen Dayley:

Per FSFT, only the 1^st  of 10 had only one child, and he married, but had no children.

1.      Samuel Dayley Parker, born 1881 in Mesa, AZ – died 1909 in Twin Falls, ID, married 1907 Harriet May Stratton, born Mesa, AZ, died Medford, OR.  They had Joseph Jamuel Parker in Twin Falls in 1908, and he married Flossie May Campbell, born 1911 in Nebraska, died 1943, but they show having no children

2.      Caroline Alvira Parker, infant death 1886, Basin, ID

3.      James Dayley Parker, born 1889, Basin, ID, no spouse

4.      Nephi W. Parker, 1891, Basin, ID, no spouse

5.      Emma S. Parker, 1892, Cassia, ID, no spouse

6.      May Elizabeth Parker, infant death 1893, Cassia, ID

7.      Hyrum Parker, 1897, no spouse

8.      Enoch E Parker, 1899, Elba, ID, no spouse

9.      Lenard A. Parker, 1901-1918, born Malta, ID, died Twin Falls, ID, no spouse

10.  George Parker, 1905, no spouse

Children of Samuel Parker Jr.’s younger sister Mary Ann Gifford Parker married on 5 Sep 1884, in Basin, Cassia, ID (between Oakley and Elba), Benjamin Amos McBride, born in MO in 1853, 9 children:

1.      Susan Elizabeth McBride, died 1891, Grantsville, UT, no spouse

2.      Nellie Woolie McBride, married John Henry Inman, Grantsville, no children

3.      William Wallace McBride, no spouse

4.      Edith Lillian McBride, born 1897 Grantsville, UT, died 25 Feb 1980, buried, Holladay, UT, married 20 Nov 1913, Arthur Meyers, born Leadville, Colorado, died SLC 1946, 3 children, Shirley Darlene Meyers, born 1926, SLC, died 25 Apr 2013; Edith Lillian Meyers, born 1915, SLC, died 31 Dec 1996; Lois Meyers, born 1921, SLC, died 20 May 1999.  Shirley married Thomas LeRoy Wheeler, 1964, no children.  Edith married Willie John Nieser 1932, had Robert John Nieser 1935-2007, no spouse.  Lois married Russell McAfee 1941 SLC, died 2000, had Gary Russell McAfee, 1943-1970, no spouse. 

5.      Benjaman Thomas McBride, 1886-1890, died Springville, UT.

6.      Ethyl Princetta McBride, no spouse.

7.      Hyrium McBride, 1888-1890, no spouse

8.      May McBride, married 1914 Charles Herbert Elwood 1890-1920, no children; then 1922 married Orlo Wayne Nelson 1891-1963, had Keith Nelson 1923-2001, no children, and Bruce Nelson 1925-deceased, no children. 

9.      Wilma Ames McBride, no spouse

No spouse might mean no spouse or no spouse known. 

Mahala Strong Parker, my great grandmother, married John William Hepworth on 2 Dec 1891, in St. George, UT.  They had my grandfather Joseph Hepworth who married Lona and had my father Joseph Leland Hepworth.

Alpheus and Anna’s second child, Ichabod Bowerman Gifford

Born 14 Sep 1819, Covington, Tioga, PA, died 26 Jun 1902

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Alpheus and Anna’s third child, Samuel Kendall Gifford

Born 11 Nov 1821, Milo, Yates, NY, died 26 Jun 1907, Springdale, UT

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Alpheus and Anna’s fourth child, William Pitts Gifford

Born 14 Aug 1823, Sullivan, Tioga, PA, died 9 Jul 1843, IL

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Alpheus and Anna’s fifth child, Henry Dill Gifford

Born 28 Apr 1825, Reading, Wayne, NY, died 5 May 1901, Idaho Falls, ID

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Alpheus and Anna’s sixth child, Rhoda Gifford

Born 28 Apr 1827, Canandaigua, Ontario, NY, died 2 Nov 1904, Mapleton, UT

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Alpheus and Anna’s seventh child, Rachel Gifford

Born 21 Feb 1829, Hector, NY, died 14 Feb 1846, IL?

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Alpheus and Anna’s eighth child, Moses Gifford

Born 16 May 1833, Jackson County, MO, died 3 Jan 1888, Vale, Oregon

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Alpheus and Anna’s ninth child, Enos Curtis Gifford

Born 4 Feb 1837 in Log Creek, Caldwell, MO, died Oct 1837.

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Alpheus and Anna’s tenth and last born child, Heber Chase Kimball Gifford

Born 16 Jul 1839 in Yelrome, Hancock County, Illinois. He died on my birthday, 3 Aug 1843, at the age of four, while the family lived in the Morley Settlement outside of Nauvoo.

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