We made the Church News!

(Or at least History of the Church. I shared this story with my seminary class yesterday.)

Brinkerhoff line. In July 1838, Nathan and Jane Staker left Kirtland with over 500 other saints—called the Kirtland Camp—headed for Missouri. Nathan and Jane had four young kids at the time including Grandma Brinkerhoff’s grandfather, two year old Alma. By August, the camp had traveled to western Ohio where the following incidents occurred.

From ‘History of the Church’, Volume 3, page 128: Nathan Staker was requested to leave the camp in consequence of the determination of his wife, to all appearances, not to observe the rules and regulations of the camp. There had been contentions in the tent between her and Andrew Lamereaux, overseer of the tent, and also contentions with his family on the road, and after the camp stopped in this place. The Council had become weary of trying to settle these contentions between them. Andrew Lamereaux having gone to Dayton to labor, taking his family with him, was not present at the Council, neither was there any new complaint made, but the impossibility of Brother Staker to keep his family in order was apparent to all, and it was thought to be the best thing for him to take his family and leave the camp.

Here’s the rest of the story from Nathan Staker’s history: Jane Richmond Staker never got along with the Lamereaux family and a lot of ill feelings always existed, which was frowned upon by Nathan. The Staker family tradition has it that on one occasion when a slough about fifteen feet wide was being forded, all the teamsters would start their teams into the slough then grab the back end of the wagon and wade through. When Nathan’s turn came, he got the team and wagon in the slough, then taking a little run jumped over dry shod. Mr. Lamereaux was not a little vexed and ordered him to take water, threatening him with his riding whip, and when Nathan made it dry shod spurred his horse across the slough striking Nathan with the whip ordered him to wade back into the slough. At this wife Jane takes over, wrenches the whip out of the wagon boss’s hand and hit him in the face with it.

After the camp departed, the Stakers moved on to Springfield, IL where they remained until they joined the saints leaving for the west in 1846.

How to post a comment

1. Accept an invitation to be a Contributor when it comes in an email. (Your name will appear on the list of contributors on the left hand side of this page.) Email me at dennisdeford@gmail.com if you'd like to be added.

2. Sign in at the link in the upper right hand corner of this page.

3. Click the New Post link in the same corner.

Lydia Goldthwaite & Newell Knight Marriage

Brinkerhoff line. In a seminary lesson on D&C 110, I shared the following journal entry from Joseph Smith from November 24, 1835, when he performed the marriage of Newell K. Knight and Lydia Goldthwaite (my 5th great grandparents). This was the first marriage ever performed by Joseph.

“I had an invitation to attend a wedding at Br. Hiram [Hyrum] Smith’s in the evening to solemnize the matrimonial ceremony [between Newell Knight and Lydia Goldthwaite] I and my wife went, when we arrived a considerable company had collected, the bridegroom & bride came in and took their seats, which gave me to understand that they were ready, I requested them to arise and join hands, I then remarked that marriage was an institution of heaven instituted in the garden of Eden, that it was necessary that it should be solemnized by the authority of the everlasting priesthood, before joining hands however, we attended to prayers. I then made the remarks above stated. The ceremony was original [with me] it was in substance as follows, You covenant to be each others companions through life, and discharge the duties of husband & wife in every respect to which they assented, I then pronounced them husband & Wife in the name of God and also pronounced the blessings that the Lord conferred upon adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden; that is to multiply and replenish the earth, with the addition of long life and prosperity; dismissed them and returned home.--The weather is freezing cold, some snow on the ground.” “The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals”, page 109

I admitted to being somewhat underwhelmed by the marriage ceremony and asked why Joseph didn’t marry them “for time and all eternity”. They explained (smart kids!) that the sealing power hadn’t been restored yet. Then we jumped into Section 110 where the keys to that power was restored four months later.

Family trees in FamilySearch.org

All lines. I cross checked my .paf file against the data available in the numerous family histories in FamilySearch.org. It wasn't a comprehensive search, but was still reasonably thorough. Typically, our data is better and more complete than what is published there. Where they had reputable looking stuff that exceeded my records, I incorporated their data into my file (available at www.defordmusic.com/DeFordandGilesJan2011.zip).

Eventually, I'll upload my files onto FamilySearch.org.

Peter DeFord's parents?

DeFord line. I've been searching for GGGpa Peter DeFord in French Canadian haystacks and found one near Montreal with many of the right characteristics. The Montreal suburbs of Repentigny and L'Assomption were knee deep in Bougret dit Dufords in 1838 when Peter was born. The BdDs slowly dropped Bougret and retained Duford--which sometimes became Deford when they emigrated to the U.S.

Joseph Bougret dit Duford married Marguerite Nouvion in 1814 in Repentigny. They had a number of kids, including two sets of twins before Joseph died in 1849 (our Peter would have been 11 at the time). BdD marriages, baptisms and burials were faithfully recorded in the parish records (handwritten in French) up through about 1833, after which the family disappears. The 1851 census proves they still lived there, but they dropped out of the local parish rolls--consistent with family stories of a falling out with the local church. If Peter (or Pierre--there was a BdD cousin of similar age named Pierre) was born in Repentigny in 1838, he wasn't baptized in the local church. And there's no Peter in the family in the 1851 census--consistent with the story of him running away at age 12. Unfortunately, the census and parish records are the only sources of any kind from that time/place. We may never get any closer than this... Still, I'll keep searching in haystacks.

Lucy Adeline Thompson

Giles line. Found the Canadian birth certificate for Sally's great grandmother, Lucy Thompson. Lucy was born in 1886 to Nathaniel Thompson and Martha Porter in Dufferin County, Canada (northwest of Toronto). The certificate gives her birthdate and parents' names and even identifies her husband, Albert Bliss. The birth certificate was prepared in 1939 based on a statement by Lucy's half-brother William John Davidson, 67. He states he was born on the same farm of the same mother (he must have been born about 1872--14 years before Lucy). Martha Porter must have had a previous husband named Davidson. William states Lucy was married to Albert Bliss of Tuscon, AZ.

Lydia Goldthwaite Knight

Brinkerhoff line. We're studying the D&C in Seminary this year, so I've recounted several stories from our family history to illustrate events in church history. So far the kids have enjoyed stories about Newell Knight, Polly Knight, Lorenzo Dow Young, Nathan Staker, Jane Richmond and others. And there are many more to go as the saints move from Missouri to Nauvoo and then west to Utah.

I used one of my favorite stories in a lesson about D&C 100. It's an account of Lydia Goldthwaite's conversion in a small town in Canada. Here's a synopsis from page 117 of 'Church History in the Fulness of Times Institute Student Manual':

"In Mount Pleasant, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon baptized twelve people, including the sons of Elder Nickerson and their families, who became the nucleus of the branch there.

Lydia Bailey was one of those in the Eleazer Freeman Nickerson household in Mount Pleasant who responded to the gospel with all of her heart. She was raised in Massachusetts and New York and at age sixteen married Calvin Bailey. Because he drank, her life with him was unhappy. After three years of marriage, he abandoned her, her daughter, and the child she was expecting. Her son died at birth, and less than a year later her daughter also died. At age twenty Lydia went to Canada with the Nickersons to recover her emotional health. There she met Joseph Smith, and he told her, “You shall yet be a savior to your father’s house.” Lydia later moved to Kirtland, where she met and married Newel Knight, a widower. Many years later, in Utah, Lydia did the ordinance work for seven hundred of her kindred dead in the St. George Utah Temple, thus fulfilling Joseph’s prophecy."

D&C 100 was received in October, 1833 in Perrysville, NY as Joseph and Sidney traveled from Kirtland around Lake Erie and into lower Canada. They went to Canada specifically to visit the Nickerson family at the urging of Elder Freeman Nickerson back in Kirtland. On the way, the Lord confirmed to Joseph that they were on the right track. "Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place, in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land." (D&C 100:3)

Evidently, one of "his people" was Lydia and one of those "doors" was the series of events that led her from Massachusetts to the very house in Canada that the prophet was sent to visit. Good stuff!

p.s.--Yesterday I told the kids a Valentines Day story about Newell meeting and marrying Lydia after both of them had traveled to Kirtland.

Adam & Eve

Just for fun, I entered a new line into my DeFord/Giles paf file; one that leads all the way back to Adam & Eve. We've always had multiple lines back to British royalty (who doesn't?) so I tied our known ancestors to one of the more trustworthy royal family histories. It traces English royalty to the Kings of Ireland and Scotland, and eventually to the House of David, and thence all the way back to Adam. The royal histories are questionable when you get past the 1400s and the leap from Scotland to Palestine is at best a self-serving guess, but it's still fun to trace an unbroken line all the way to our first parents.