William Wilson Morrell, Stalwart Settler And Rancher

WILLIAM WILSON MORRELL, Son of Cyrus Wilson Morrell was born May 8, 1830 at Nile Township, Sciota County, Ohio. Little is known concerning the early life of William Wilson Morrell, although the family was known to be living in Schuyler County, Illinois in the later part of the 1840’s.

Mining excitement was running high at this time. The California Gold Rush of 1849 found William Wilson and his father, Cyrus Wilson Morrell, and other family members joining those seeking their fortunes in the gold fields of California, However, other events intervened which significantly changed the outcome of this venture.
As they neared the Great Basin, it is reported that they met a member of Brigham Young’s colony who persuaded William to accompany him to the Great Salt Lake Valley. In late October of 1849, Silas Richards led a party of emigrants to the Salt Lake Valley. Because of this fact and William’s later involvement with the Richards family, it is possible that Silas Richards was the person whom William met on the way westward.

On September 23, 1850, William married Sarah Jane Richards, the daughter of Silas and Elizabeth McClenahan Richards, prominent pioneer settlers in South Cottonwood and Union Fort. William and Sarah Jane were blessed with seven children while living at Union Fort. Four of the seven children survived to grow into adulthood and three infant daughters were buried in the Union Fort Cemetery.

In 1877 William brought his first wife, Sarah Jane, and their children, Sarah Ellen Maxfield and her family, William Elmer and John Franklin back to Fremont to live. He settled this family on the Fremont River just south of the town of Fremont. He help build the first sawmill in the county. He also sowed the first alfalfa seed in the north end of Rabbit Valley in 1881.

In the year 1891, William left his families at Fremont to accompany his eldest son, Silas, and his family to Mexico. Silas’ health had continually worsened since an accident at the mill. When they reached Farmington, New Mexico, they determined that the purpose of the trip was not being accomplished and began their journey back to Utah. When they reached the Colorado River, William was injured as a result of being caught in quicksand. This must have been near the Moab, Utah, area because he remained in Moab for 14 years (1891-1904). Finally, due to declining years and the loss of his sight, he was brought back to Fremont by his son George. His last years were spent mostly with his son, Hyrum, and family in Fremont. He died Monday, January 14, 1907, at the age of 76 and was buried in the Fremont Cemetery.

To view the headstone of William Wilson Morrell click this link:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18983428

Chloe Jane Morrell, A True Cowgirl

CHLOE JANE MORRELL was born in Fremont, Utah on March 15, 1877, the first white girl and second white child born in Wayne County when the Mormon settlers were beginning to settle Rabbit Valley, an area populated by Indians.

Luzernia Allred and Silas Wilson Morrell owned a farm just east of Fremont where they built a two-story, log house. They also had a dairy farm east of Fish Lake, later known as Silas Springs where in the early summer they herded milk cows to the mountain spring to graze during the warm months.

Silas had suffered a severe back injury and also plaqued with rheumatism. In March 1891, he and Luzernia decided to go to a warmer climate in New Mexico, hoping his health would improve.

Chloe drove the cattle and was in the saddle every day but five for the next six months. It was tiring, because in those days, ladies rode sidesaddle with one leg straight, resting in the stirrup, and the other leg with bended-knee perched on top of the saddle because it was improper for a girl to ride astride a horse. After an eventful and difficult journey they stayed in New Mexico for only a short time. Fortunately Chloe rode back using a real sidesaddle that was much easier to ride on.

During the summers of 1893 and 1894, Chloe worked near Fishlake, a beautiful lake twelve miles north of Fremont. It was at Fishlake where Jeremiah Jackson entered the picture. In 1894 he and one of his friends went to Fishlake on horseback and stopped at the place where Chloe worked. She was a very shy girl, but nevertheless, a romance ensued, and they were married in Fremont at her parent’s home.

Chloe was brave and tough. Nick Indian liked to tease her daughter Luzernia. One day he came to house and started to tease her. Chloe was cutting bread with a large butcher knife. Nick teased Luzernia until she started to cry. Chloe turned around and said, “Nick. Quit that!”

He just went on teasing.

Chloe threw the knife. It flew across the room and stuck in the door casing to the side of him.
Nick looked at the knife quivering in the frame and abruptly left.

Chloe was a true cow girl. She rode horses, could throw a lariat and shoot a gun. One day, her husband and her son Harvey were trying to rope a calf to brand it as Chloe watched them. They made two or three throws but couldn’t hook it.

Chloe laughed and asked, “Are you having trouble roping that calf?”

Harvey replied, “I bet you couldn’t do it?”

She walked up to him and said, “Give me that rope.”

He handed the rope to her, and she flipped it over the calf’s head with ease, then handed the end of the rope back to him. Nobody said a word.

Chloe was devoted to her husband and family and lived most of her life in Fremont, Utah. They were parents to 5 sons and 3 daughters. Perry L. Jackson was her youngest child.

Chloe was in Salt Lake visiting her daughters when she died on October 16, 1956, on the 16th anniversary of her husband Jeremiah’s death.

To view the headstone for Chloe Jane Morrell Jackson click this link:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16224008

Jeremiah Jackson, A Prospector Who Owned a Farm

JEREMIAH JACKSON was born in Payson, Utah, August 9, 1874 to John William Jackson and Sarah Eleanor Bingham. Perry described his father as a good-looking man with blue eyes, a mustache and a full head of hair.
In 1894 Jeremiah (Jerry) and one of his friends went to Fishlake on horseback and stopped at the place where Chloe Jane Morrell worked on a diary farm. She was a very shy girl, but nevertheless, a romance ensued, and they were married by Bishop Hiatt Maxfield on January 18, 1899 in Fremont at her parent’s home.

Jerry became a carpenter, farmer and the village blacksmith. He also, repaired watches, washers, thrashing machines, wagons and acted as the town dentist. He built cabinets for many homes in the county. He also became a prospector. Earl Jackson referred to his grandfather as a “prospector who owned a farm.” Perry and his father went prospecting many times together. They searched for gold, but didn’t find any that was worth much. Jerry found some over by Meeks Lake, but it had a lot of copper in it.

The young family moved to Caineville, Utah for a short time. While Jerry and Chloe lived in Caineville, he occasionally shawed horses for the infamous Butch Cassidy Gang. Jerry would come out to the blacksmith shop and see two or three horses tied up to the fence. He would shoe them and tie them back up again. The next morning he would go back to the shop, and the horses would be gone, and a twenty-dollar gold piece would be lying on the anvil. After two years in Caineville, the family moved back to Lyman.

When their daughter Eleanor was two years old, Jeremiah moved his family to Fremont to Chloe’s parent’s old farm and lived in a two-story log house. Chloe’s mother had remarried and lived on the next farm over.

Jeremiah was friendly with the Indians, and the Piute Indians camped on his front lawn, pitching their tents for three or four days at a time. Jeremiah often visited the Indian camp near Koosharem. The Indians were doing some prospecting, and had found some copper. He would spend time with them to help them stake out their claims and do the legal work.

In the fall of 1935 while Jeremiah was in the field rounding up his cows to bring them to the corral, he had a very unusual experience. Upon returning to the house, he said, “Chloe, sit down. I wish to tell you something that happened to me while I was in the field.” Then he related the following to his wife saying: I heard my father’s voice just as plain as I have ever heard it when he was living. (Jeremiah’s father died in 1928) He said, “Jerry you have just five more years in which to preach the gospel.” After that experience, Jeremiah explained the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many men as came into the shop to get work done. He kept the Bible in the shop at all times for that purpose.

In October 1940 Jeremiah was helping some other men reshingle the Fremont church house. The next morning he went into the field to milk the cows, after which he came into the house and told Chloe that he had a pain in his chest. He then went into the bedroom to lie down. The pain grew intense and Chloe sent Perry for the doctor. Before the doctor came, Jeremiah had passed away. The five years were up.

Chloe and Jeremiah are both buried in the Fremont, Utah Cemetery.

To see the headstone for Jeremiah Jackson click this link: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16224444

What to ask? What to ask?

It is best to ask open-ended questions that are not answered by a “yes” or “no.” For example, when I asked Perry Jackson to tell of his life and what was his earliest memory?, he answered with this descriptive statement: “I’d better start out the day I was born. They say the doctor slapped me, and I said, ‘Where’s my gun and my fishing pole?’ Hunting and fishing were the two things I really love to do.”

When I ask him question # 12 from the list below: Describe what the main street of your town was like, he told an interesting story of an event that happened there rather than a description of buildings etc.

Here is a list of questions to help you or someone you know start their personal history. This list is only a beginning to help you make your own list of additional questions or inspire you to get stories from your family you never heard before.

1. What do you believe is your earliest memory?

2. Tell about your brothers or sisters? What makes each of them special?
3. What kind of lessons did you take as a child?
4. What do you remember about your first home?
5. Describe your favorite smell from your childhood.
6. Do you recall any outstanding trips or summer vacations you took as a child?
7. Tell about a favorite vacation as a child. As an adult.
8. Where did you go to grade school? Describe It.
9. What was a typical school day like as a child?
10. Did you have a favorite school teacher? Why?
11. Did you have a bicycle? What was It like? Where did you ride?
12. Describe what the main street of your town was like.
13. Describe your favorite “spot” in the world.
14. What Instrument do you wish you could play?
15. What special things did you do with your mother?
16. What special things did you do with your father?
17. What games did you play as a child, both indoors and outdoors?
18. What did you want to be when you grew up?
19. Do you recall any special event that took place In your neighborhood when you were growing up? (fire, accident, illness etc.)
21. Describe a night at grandma’s house.
22. Describe your grandparents.
23. Describe your parents.
24. What did you look like as a child? What were you like?
25. What were you frightened of as a child?

26. What was your most embarrassing moment?
27. Describe a childhood Christmas?
28. What was your most memorable Christmas?
29. How did you celebrate Christmas as a child?
30. Describe getting a Christmas tree with your family? How did you decorate it?
31. What did your parents do for a living? Your grandparents?
32. Are there any family heirlooms in your family? Tell about them.
33. Tell about how you learned to drive.
34. Tell about a frustrating experience you have had with a car.
35. What was your favorite Saturday activity as a child.
36. Describe Sunday as a child.
37. What things do you enjoy doing today that you did as a child.
38. What do you feel Is the most important world event that has taken place in your lifetime.
39. Describe a serious illness you have had.
40. Tell about your first date.
41. Who was your first boy friend (Girlfriend)?
42. How did you meet your husband (Wife)?
43. Describe how you got engaged.
44. Describe your wedding day.
45. Tell about the birth of your first child. Each child thereafter.
46. Here it comes . . .What were you doing when John F. Kennedy was shot?
47. What are the top 10 most wonderful things that have ever happened to you?
48. What is the most adventuresome thing you have ever done?
49. What is the most trying experience that has ever happened to you?
50. What is comforting to you physically, mentally and spiritually?
51. Describe your first paying job.
52. Tell about the places you have worked.
53. Would you choose different if you could choose your occupation again? What would it be?
54. What is your favorite holiday?
55. Have you had a religious conversion? Describe it?
56. Tell about some of your friends (both as a child and as an adult).
57. Tell about several times when you were trouble.
58. Describe the events of your birth.

Morrel History in the United States

JOHN MORRELL Sr. of Kittering, Maine was born about 1640. The known information concerning the Morrell lineage extends back four generations to an early period in New England colonial history. The first known Morrell ancestor in America was John Morrell Sr., who resided in Kittery, Maine, in 1663, just 42 years after the first permanent English settlement of New England. John Morrell Sr., was a plasterer and a mason by trade. In this connection several accounts refer to him as a stonelayer or bricklayer. In 1665, he married Sarah Hodsdon (Hodgdon) of Kittery, Maine, the daughter of Nicholas Hodgdon and Elizabeth Wincoll Needham. It was after this marriage that John Morrell learned to write his name. At that time, a man who could sign his name was an exception.

In the 1600’s and early 1700’s, the French and Indians combined to fight the English colonists. The area of Maine where John Morrell lived was the scene of periodic Indian attacks. In fact, in 1720 and 1722, John Morrell was ordered to fortify his house as a garrison against Indian attacks. Being Quakers, they fought Indians for defensive purposes only. John Morrell Sr.’s posterity contains a large contingent of noted men including leaders in politics, religion, education, manufacturing, doctors, lawyers, authors, editors, farming, cattlemen etc. Included in this history is a short bio of Cyrus Wilson Morrell and his wife Mary Worley that are shown on Perry's pedigree chart.

Some noted descendants of John Morrell (Morrill) are Edmund Needham Morrell, who became Governor of Kansas in 1895 and a Congressman for 8 years; Daniel J. Morrell Representative from Pennsylvania and industrialist; Lott H. Morrill, Governor of Maine and Secretary of Treasury in 1876, following the Civil War; Anson P. Morrill, first Republican Governor of Maine and Congressman during the Civil War, and of course the honored subject of this Blog, Perry L. Jackson.

Jeremiah Bingham

JEREMIAH BINGHAM was born on June 15, 1806 at Cornwall, Addison County, Vermont. His parents were Jeremiah Bingham who was born April 17, 1760 at Cornwall, Vermont and Mary Ives who was born April 25, 1766 at Wellingford, Connecticut. He was the youngest of their ten children. Jeremiah married Abigail Harrington on February 2, 1829 at Brockville, Leeds, Ontario, Canada. Abigail died leaving Jeremiah alone with a family of seven children to raise. Jeremiah met and married Sarah Keele on February 14, 1846 in Iowa. They had four children. Abigail died when their baby Augustus was born, and Jeremiah was left with an additional young family. In 1846, he had also married Susan Keele, a sister to Sarah.

Jeremiah was in Nauvoo when Joseph Smith was martyred. He was well acquainted with the prophet, and at one time was his body guard. There was but six months difference in their age, and they were the same size. At times, they liked to wrestle, a form of sport both enjoyed on the “Common.”

After they were driven from Nauvoo, Jeremiah and family joined the pioneer company of Captain Daniel A. Miller, having eight persons in the family, one wagon, and twelve head of cattle. He joined on April 6, 1852, but had planned on coming with the first company. Ezra Benson ask him for a loan of a horse, which he did, and this kindness caused him to remain behind until he could earn enough money to purchase another horse. He left with the second company on June 8, 1953

After arriving in Utah, a place the Mormons hoped to be a refuge from persecution, on September 9, 1953, the Bingham family settled first in Ogden where Jeremiah did what he could to help build up the community for a year. They then moved to Payson where he assisted in building a fort for the protection of the settlers.

Jeremiah and his son Joseph, who had learned the blacksmith trade from his father, worked together in their shop in Payson. Jeremiah suffered a broken leg from which he never fully recovered. He was an invalid, for two years, and died May 6, 1890 at Payson.

The Bingham genealogy has traced the Bingham name to Augustin Bingham born about 1075 and who lived in Bingham, Melcombe Dorsetshire, England.

I am looking for a photo of Jeremiah Bingham. If anyone can help me, leave a comment on this blog.

To view the headstone of Jeremiah Bingham click this link: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15202110

Sarah Ellenor Bingham, A True Pioneer Woman

SARAH ELLENOR BINGHAM was a true pioneer woman, born of pioneer parents at Mt. Pisgah, Pattomatomic County, Iowa, April 15, 1850, where her parents Jeremiah Bingham and Sarah Keele had been driven at the time of the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois. She spent the first two years of her life there, until her mother died in 1852 as a result of the hardships she had to endure.

That same year, her father resumed his journey to Utah, having in his charge a four-year old and a two-year old daughter.

For a time, her father journeyed with Daniel A. Miller/John W. Cooley Company. After living in Salt Lake City for some time, the family moved to Payson, Utah, where they remained during such hardships as the Walker war between the whites and the Ute Indians.

On October 30, 1871, Sarah Ellenor married John William Jackson, who had emigrated from Manchester, England in 1856. After a difficult life with many challenges the family finally settled in Lyman, Utah.

Lyman is two Miles east of Loa on Highway U-24. The settlement was originally named East Loa and then in 1893 it was changed to Wilmoth. The following year the name was changed to honor Apostle Francis M. Lyman, a Mormon Church official who had suggested they move their settlement to higher ground.

The Jacksons were the last family to abandon the old town site. They had taken in an Indian baby who had been reduced to skin and bones from starvation and disease. The will to live and the fortitude to suffer so inherent in the Indians made her survival possible. Sarah was about fifty-five years old when the little girl became part of their household. They named her Eliza.
Sarah Eleanor Bingham descends from the early royalty of England, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Sweden and Vikings. Some of these ancestors included Reverend John Lothrope, William the Conqueror, John Lackland, King of England, Henry I and Henry II, Kings of England and Charlamagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Sarah died on April 15, 1936 and was buried next to her husband, John William Jackson in the Lyman cemetery, Wayne County, Utah.

To view her headstone in Lyman, Utah go to this site: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=jackson&GSiman=1&GScid=77315&GRid=18983206&