Utah Pioneers
from Cleve and Anita Raymond's Progenitors

The story of the Utah pioneers is inspiring. Many thousands of people left homes and family to gather with "the Saints" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Utah territory. Many lost their lives. All faced extreme challenges in taming this area of the American West. Their dedication and their stories stand as their witnesses that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that Brigham Young was His prophet in their day.

Personal Histories

• Aagesen, Bertha Cathrine (1826) - Mother died when 13. Disowned when she joined the church. Sold their belongings to emigrate to Utah. Six weeks on the ocean in "Monarch of the Sea." By rail to the Missouri. Came to Utah by wagon. Two children died on the trail. SLC, Hyde Park, Logan, Richmond.
• Brown, Rebecca (1818) - Daughter healed of fits when rebaptized. Pioneers of 1869. Crossed on the steamship Manhattan, which departed Liverpool, England on Sept. 22, 1869 (Wednesday) with 239 Saints, in charge of Joseph Lawson. The company arrived at New York Oct. 7th and at Ogden Oct. 16th. This was one of the first groups to take the railroad all the way, from NY to SL. (The first company came June 25th, 1869.) Rebecca was perturbed that her mother failed to record her birth date so all her life she didn't know her birthday.
• Davenport, Almira (1847) - Born at Winter Quarters in 1847 while her father was gone with the Brigham Young company. He came back and the family crossed in 1850.
• Davenport, James (1802)
• Dorris, Drusilla (1810) - Deeply religious from the time she was a child, Drusilla had the gift of dreams. Joined the church in 1835 in Kentucky. Suffered through Missouri persecutions. Husband shot and paralized at the Battle of Crooked River. Moved to Nauvoo. After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, saw Joseph's mantle fall upon Brigham Young. Reached the Salt Lake valley in 1847. Richmond.
• Elston, Nancy (1806) - Wife of Austin Hammer, who was killed by a mob at Haun's Mill in 1838.
• Ewing, Cordelia Jane (1873).
• Ewing, John Jackson (1835) - Pioneer of 20 Oct 1847, Jedediah M. Grant company, the 3rd company to cross the plains. Was 12 yrs. old. Mom died on plains. Lived in Provo, Lehi, Cedar Fort. Part of handcart rescue companies.
• Frost, Martha McKinney (1825) - Joined church in 1841, present when Brother Woodruff healed sick with handkerchief of the prophet. Present when B. Young assumed mantle of the prophet Joseph. Left Nauvoo in 1846. In May, Heber C. Kimball company, arrived Sept. 25th, 1848. Her husband at the time, George Langley, built the first adobe house in Salt Lake City and was the first person buried in the Salt Lake Cemetary.
• Frost, McCaslin (1785) - Married Peninna Jane Smith. Converted to the church about 1840. Moved to Nauvoo. Endowed in Nauvoo temple. Crossed the plains to Utah in 1848 when 63 years old.
• Hammer, Austin (1804) - Joined the church in 1835. Killed by a mob at Haun's Mill in 1838.
• Hammer, Julia Ann (1836) - Born 3 or 4 miles from Haun's Mill. In 1846, at the age of 9 her family went to Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters. It took them 3 months to cross the plains. They lived in an adobe hut in Farmington. Later she lived at Bear Lake.
• Hendricks, James (1808) - Joined the church in 1835 in Kentucky. Suffered through Missouri persecutions. Shot and paralized at the Battle of Crooked River. While mostly an invalid the rest of his life, he walked after Joseph Smith, Sr. blessed him. Moved to Nauvoo. Reached the Salt Lake valley in 1847. Richmond.
• Hendricks, Lettie Cornelia Jane (1878).
• Hendricks, William Dorris (1829) - Born in 1829. Drusilla Dorris Hendrick's son. When father paralyzed in battle of crooked river, he was 9. Played fife in Nauvoo Legion. Present when mantle of Joseph fell upon Brigham Young. One of youngest members of Mormon Battalion. Built first bridge over City Creek in SLC. First mayor of Richmond in 1864. Had wives named Alvira and Almira. Stake President in southern Idaho. Fled to Mexico during polygamy persecutions.
• Hillyard, Elizabeth (1838) - Joined the church in 1850. Immigrated from Liverpool in 1853. Jan 23 - Mar 26. SLC by Oct. Second settler of St. George.
• Isaacson, Mary Ellen (1851) - Joined in Norway in 1859. In 1861 crossed the Atlantic in the Monarch of the Sea. Six weeks to New York. On rail journey to Florence, as a 9 year old, parents missed train. Hyde Park, Logan, Richmond.
• Isaacson, Neils (Nels) (1817) - Sold their belongings to emigrate to Utah. Six weeks on the ocean in "Monarch of the Sea." By rail to the Missouri. Came to Utah by wagon. Two children died on the trail. SLC, Hyde Park, Logan, Richmond.
• McCauley, Elizabeth (1805) - Wife of William G. Thompson. Immigrated from Scotland to Canada. Joined the church and moved to Missouri. Driven out by mobs and died in Quincy, Illinois.
• Pitcher, James Daniel (1860) - Parents joined the church in Shepdham, England. Came to Utah in 1869, among the first to travel by train. Farmington. Smithfield. Canada.
• Pitcher, John (1816) - Daughter healed of fits when rebaptized. Pioneers of 1869. Crossed on the steamship Manhattan, which departed Liverpool, England on Sept. 22, 1869 (Wednesday) with 239 Saints, in charge of Joseph Lawson. The company arrived at New York Oct. 7th and at Ogden Oct. 16th. This was one of the first groups to take the railroad all the way, from NY to SL. (The first company came June 25th, 1869.) John Pitcher was a short man.
• Raymond, Alma (1871).
• Raymond, Alonzo Pearis (1820) - Mormon Battalion. Pioneer of 1848. Lived in SLC, West Jordan, Lehi. Among 1st to settle Cache Valley.
• Robinson, Elizabeth (1838) - A Handcart Pioneer of 1856 who came to Utah with the Martin-Tyler handcart Company when she was twenty years old, was born May 17th., 1836. May 25th, 1856 sailed from Liverpool on the ship Horizon. After 40 days arrived in Boston on July 3rd and Iowa City, by rail, by July 8th. (Also on the Horizon was Sister Hinckley's grandmother, Mary Ann Goble Pay, a girl of 13. She crossed with the wagon company that followed the Martin company.)
• Smith, Nancy Jane (1865) - Born in Bloomington, Bear Lake Co., Idaho, while her parents colonized the area.
• Smith, Peninna Jane (1794) - Married McCaslin Frost. Converted to the church about 1840. Moved to Nauvoo. Endowed in Nauvoo temple. Crossed the plains to Utah in 1848 when 54 years old.
• Smith, Rebecca (1842) - Family joined church in 1849. Pioneer of 1856 at age of 14. Father died at Platt River camp. Lived in Tooele, Lehi.
• Telford, John (1802) - Joined in 1838 and went to Kirtland, only to be driven out to Missouri before year's end. Endowed 24 Dec 1845. Pioneer of 1851 Harry Walton Company. Sept. 1851. Three kids died before the trip. Settled in Bountiful. Raised the 1st peaches in Davis County. Lived in Richmond, Brigham City, and Lewiston.
• Telford, Rebecca Ann (1862) - Born in Brigham City, less than 15 years after the first pioneer company reached the Salt Lake Valley. She is the daughter of John Telford and Elizabeth Robinson Telford, who were both early Utah Pioneers.
• Thompson, William (1836) - 1845, mother died when he was 9. 1851 pioneer Henry Walton Company. Settled in Bountiful. 1860 helped settle Richmond at age of 24. Boasted he was one of the best wrestlers around. Swam the Missouri at a point that was a mile wide. Had new Levis catch in thresher; realizing the danger, he braced himself with enough strength that his Levis were torn off him and were shredded in the thresher.
• Thompson, William G (1806) - Immigrated to Canada in 1833. Joined the church. Missouri. Illinois. Crossed the plains in 1851. Bountiful. Attended School of the Prophets in SLC.
• Wiser, John McCormick (1826) - Father died when he was 8, mother when he was 13. In 1849 his wife died in childbirth, along with his child so he became a "Miner 49er". He wintered in Salt Lake, joined the church and married Martha McKenny Frost. They lived in Cottonwood, Draper, and Alpine (Mountainville). Miracle of wild onions and sugar lumps. Walked to Draper to get grain. His name is carved in a log in Fort Richmond. Helped bring in the handcart companies in 1856. In 1872 helped found Lewiston.
• Wiser, Samuel Frost (1862) - A native born pioneer in Richmond, Cache County, Utah just a little over two years after the first settlers located there. He was probably born in the Richmond Old Fort, as it wasn't abandoned until 1864.
• Wool, Elizabeth (1810) - Widowed at 30. Joined the church in England. Utah pioneer of 1853. Walked all the way across the plains. Widowed again in 1864.