by Richard H. Bullock The Mowry Family

Transcription

1 The Ship Brooklyn Story - Volume 2 by Richard H. Bullock The Mowry Family The Mowry family consists of Charles Barton Mowry the father, his wife Ruth Walkup Mowry and sons Origin Mowry and Eugene Rhanaldo Mowry. The name is spelled also as Mowrey and Mowery in some records. Barton Mowry had been actually named Charles Barton Mowry but he never used his full name during his lifetime. He had been born 6 July 1798 at Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island to Uriah Mowrey and Joannah Bartlett. Both the Mowrey and Bartlett names go back five generations in New England, having migrated to America in the early 1600's. Barton had been the ninth child of ten born to his parents. His father had fought in the American Revolutionary War and settled in Burrillville as a stone mason. Uriah taught masonry to his sons and Barton actively worked at the trade when he met Ruth Walkup. Ruth is the youngest daughter of Henderson Walkup and Susannah McNamarah Condon, she had been born 13 July 1798 in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts. Susannah is the third wife of Henderson and he had eight other children by his first wives. Susannah had been the widow of Richard Condon who died in Ruth is one of five children born to the couple. Henderson Walkup also fought in the American Revolution. The circumstances of how Barton and Ruth met is not known but their home towns are not far from each other. They were married in March 1820 and made their home in Burrillville where Barton s stone mason work had been located. They started a family not long afterward and the first of four sons had been born in The firstborn received the name of Sylvester Mowry, the second to arrive is Harley W. Mowry on 9 August 1824; the third is Origin Mowry on 3 July 1825; and the last son is Rhanaldo Mowry born 3 February About 1839 the Mowry family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became active participants in their region. Sylvester had dreams of being in the military and so when the family went aboard the Brooklyn he remained behind and attended the United States Military Academy, graduating in Harley Mowry became devoted to Joseph Smith, and while only seventeen he traveled to Nauvoo to be near the Prophet. His home had been directly across the street from Joseph and Emma. He had been called to serve a mission to New Hampshire and then returned to Nauvoo. While here he worked extensively on the Nauvoo Temple, his stone mason skills that he had learned from his father were invaluable in creating beautiful art to the Lord. After the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, Harley enlisted in the Mormon Battalion at Council Bluffs, becoming a Private in Company C. He didn t complete the journey to California, he wintered over in Pueblo, Colorado with the sick detachment. He befriended a young woman named Martha Jane Sargent Sharp after her husband Norman Sharp, also in the Battalion, accidentally shot himself while marching to Santa Fe, and died from the effects. While in Pueblo she gave birth to Norman s little daughter. Harley married Mrs. Sharp on 4 July 1847, while 50 miles southwest of Casper, Independence Rock, Natrona, Wyoming. They arrived five days after Brigham 1

2 Young, under the guidance of Samuel Brannan, in the Salt Lake Valley. But lets get back to our Brooklyn passengers. After the Mowry family arrived in Yerba Buena they were one of the fortunate families that lived in the abandoned barracks. Origin and Rhanaldo, being strong, young men, helped cut the redwood at Bodega Bay the pay the balance of the company passage fare. After working for a short time in San Francisco Barton felt able to purchase a 50 vara lot, and he encouraged both of his son s to do the same. These lots proved to become very valuable in just a couple of years after the gold rush started. Origin Mowry worked at small jobs in San Francisco, served on the Town Council in 1848, and then moved to Sausalito near Mount Tamalpais in the winter. He did odd jobs around the area until the discovery of gold in January By this time he had purchased a small sloop to get back and forth across the bay and he used it to transport people from San Francisco and Benicia to Sacramento, a trade that soon proved to be very profitable for him. He let his little brother Rhanaldo operate the sloop while he spent two months at gold mining and it proved to be very rich diggins for them both. His father Barton, meanwhile, had been appointed to the town council in San Francisco. Barton and Ruth contacted Thomas Larkin about a small house on the beach between Montgomery and Sacramento Streets and he agreed to rent it to them for $300. They quickly opened a coffee saloon and shoe shop. A far cry from his normal career and a stone mason but it would keep them in food until something better came along. In fact it proved so profitable that Barton became part owner of a new craft called the Neptune with his son Origin. This boat would be used for years to carry goods across the bay. His son Origin had established a point of shipping near Washington Township called Mowry s Landing and made frequent trips between the Landing and San Francisco carrying grain and vegetables. The San Francisco branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held their meetings on the second floor of Barton and Ruth s house and it is here where Parley P. Pratt excommunicated Samuel Brannan in September Barton started turning his interest southward toward Washington Township and acquired property in the area, intending to farm as his friend John M. Horner had been doing. Origin had already begun farming there. Barton sold his property in San Francisco for a very large profit and moved he and his remaining family to Irvington, a new town started by John M. Horner. He purchased a large piece of property and developed the land into a producing farm and ranch. He saw his wealth grow steadily and he became a very happy man, especially so since his two other sons, Harley and Sylvester had joined them in Irvington. Harley had completed his term of service with the Mormon Battalion and met Sylvester in Salt Lake City when Colonel Edward Steptoe came through the area investigating the death of Captain John Gunnison. He and Harley made the trip to California where they located their parents. In 1852 a new craze swept through the country called Spiritualism, and Barton and Sylvester were strongly influence by it. Spiritualism had been started by a couple of sisters in the Midwest as a parlor game but they kept the fact that it had been a hoax secret. Thousands started having seances and trying to talk with the dead. Caroline Crosby describes the process well in her journals. I have neglected to state the little of my own experience in regard to the spirit rappers, as I believe they are called. One evening [November 1852] while we were staying at Father Mowreys, the principle operator, a young man by the name of Brunelle accidentally called in. He 2

3 appeared very friendly and familiar with the family, having formerly been a boarder with them. The old gentleman told him that we were entire strangers to the new system, or science, or whatever it may be denominated of conversing with departed spirits, and would like to see a specimen of it, of he was willing to gratify us. He said he would be pleased to do so, but had an appointment at 7 o clock., and had but very few minutes to spare. He however sat down to the table with the old man [Barton], and laid his hands upon it, after a few minutes asked if there were any spirits in the room who wished or were willing to converse with us that evening, and if so requested them to tip the table. After making the request the second or third time, the table began to move forward at one end, intimating to them to lay their hands upon the leaf, instead of the end. They accordingly turned the table around with the leaf towards them. Mr. Brunelle at the same time took his leave, saying that he must go to his appointment, assigning that as the cause why the spirits seemed unwilling to communicate to him. Just as he was leaving Sylvester Mowry came in, sat down to the table with his father and mother, and commenced calling on the spirits for communications. The table immediately commenced responding to various questions regarding the spirit world, the most of which were in accordance with our faith, and quite satisfactory to us. They would answer questions concerning our living friends, who were separated from us. Questions which those who were the mediums, or who operated upon the table, know nothing about. 1 Barton and Sylvester believed strongly in Spiritualism while the other members of the family were skeptical. By 1855 Ruth had totally denied there might be any truth to the spirit tapping. On 28 August 1857 Rhanaldo and his mother Ruth Walkup Mowry joined the Zacheus Cheney Company in San Francisco and headed for Utah, as requested by Brigham Young during the Utah war. Their Company arrived 3 November 1857 and Ruth and her son purchased some land in what became Kaysville, Davis, Utah. She received her endowments at the Endowment House in 1859 and then may have gone back to California, possibly in 1869, to be with her husband Barton. Barton, however, continued his belief in Spiritualism until his death, which occurred on 4 June Barton had helped many with charity donations over the years and had been well liked. There had been so much respect, in fact, that there are streets in Irvington and Fremont named after the Mowry family. Barton Mowry, Irvington Cemetery, Fremont, CA 1 Lyman, Edward Leo; Payne, Susan Ward; and Ellsworth, S. George, No Place To Call Home - The Life Writings of Caroline Barnes Crosby Chronicler of Outlying Mormon Communities, Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah 2005, page

4 Barton received his burial in the Centerville Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 24/B, Fremont, Alameda, California. According to the Sexton his remains were moved to the Irvington Cemetery, Section B, Row 12, Plot 6, Fremont, Alameda, California and is buried next to his son Origin. Ruth had no need to stay in California after her husband s death. She missed the influence of the Church in her life, and it had become almost non-existent now in California. The faithful had gone to Utah and those that remained behind were slowly converting to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They just couldn t stand that polygamy had been practiced in Utah so extensively, it just felt wrong. She said goodby to her son Origin and his family and returned to Utah to be with her sons Harley and Rhanaldo, both faithful to the Church. She made her home in Kaysville where she died 20 August 1887; fifteen years a widow. She is buried in the Kaysville City Cemetery, Platt B, Block 42 Lot 1, Kaysville, Davis, Utah. I have not written much about those who were not passengers on the Brooklyn but I would like to write a little about the two oldest Mowry sons who played a part in California and Arizona s early history. Sylvester Mowry, the firstborn had been born in 1822 in Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island. He had married Laura Ann Trask about 1845 and they had a newborn daughter named Ellen M. Mowry in When his parents and two brothers decided to travel to California on the Brooklyn, Sylvester didn t feel right about taking his tiny child aboard for such a long trip, he felt stronger about serving his country and so he enlisted at West Point, graduating as a Lieutenant in A second child, a son they named George B. had been born in Sylvester spent his first year in Oregon, surveying a route for a railroad near the Columbia River under George B. McClellen. He was assigned to Colonel Edward Steptoe in 1855 to investigate rumors that Captain John Gunnison s survey expedition may have been murdered by whites in Utah Territory. He had stayed in Salt Lake City for a time and several of Steptoe s young Lieutenants courted some of the plural wives that were fed up with polygamy. In fact, Sylvester once courted the wife of one of Brigham Young s sons and claimed that Brigham Young s feisty fifteen-year-old daughter, Alice, told him: Salt Lake needs only to be roofed in to be the biggest whorehouse in the world. 2 Colonel Steptoe and his men finished their investigation, concluding that the Gunnison murders had been the responsibility of Indians and started on their journey for California, taking recruits and horses, to be stationed at Benicia. After arriving in Benicia, Sylvester sought permission to locate his parents and other brothers. He found them in Irvington and spent a great reunion with them. His next call to duty became Arizona Territory near Tucson. He went into the wild country south of Tucson and saw evidence of much wealth in minerals in the area of what is now called Santa Cruz County. He resigned his commission in the Army and purchased the Patagonia 2 Bagley, Will, Salt Lake Tribune, 24 December

5 silver mine. He changed the name to the Mowry and invested a great amount into modern equipment and operations at the mine, earning a small fortune in the process. In 1862 General Carleton confiscated the mine under the rumor that Mowry had been selling lead to the Confederates and Carleton placed him in the Yuma prison and the Government sold the mine. After six months, Carleton released Mowry and he went back to his mine. He found that the government receiver apparently purposely destroyed the equipment and shafts, making the mine worthless. He couldn t start up the operations again, he didn t have the finances. Sylvester remained in Arizona for some time taking an active role as a politician, author, and trying to raise money to open the Mowry mine again. He became an author, printing two books, one of which is a reference guide for mining The Geography and Resources of Arizona and Sonora He wrote articles for the newspapers in San Francisco talking about Arizona and how the Apaches should be exterminated as a race because of their violence. Sylvester had twice been elected as Delegate to Congress from Arizona before it became a Territory but he never had the chance to take his seat. He wrote a paper to Congress in 1857 that defined the recommended borders of Arizona Territory including the Gadsden Purchase. Then we have the matter of his death. The Miner, of Prescott, Arizona dated 19 October 1871 reads: Honorable Sylvester Mowry died in London, England, on Tuesday. This is sad news for Arizona. In the death of Mr. Mowry this Territory has lost a faithful friend as it ever had in the person of one man. At present, when all the departments of the Government seem combined in one great effort against us, we can ill afford to lose the advocacy of a man so influential and so earnest in our behalf. But I have also located a census record that shows Sylvester alive in 1880 in Napa at the Napa State Insane Asylum, as an inmate! What is the true ending for this man? Harley Mowry had been the second son born to Barton and Ruth Mowry on 9 August 1822 at Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island. We have already talked about his working as a stone mason on the Nauvoo Temple and joining the Mormon Battalion. After spending the winter at Pueblo with the sick detachment Captain Brown led them to the Oregon Trail to join with the Saints in the Rocky Mountains. They stopped at Independence Rock and here he married Martha Jane Sharp, widow of Norman Sharp. Abner Blackburn wrote about their marriage: Their was a couple of young folks in the company spooning.... ever since we started on the road. The whole company weare tired of it, and they weare persuaded to marry now, and have done with it and not wait until journeys end. The next evening we had a wedding and a reglar minister to unite them. And after come the supper with the best the plains could furnish. Then came the dance or howe down. The banjo and the violin made us forget the hardships of the plains. 3 They made the rest of the journey to Salt Lake Valley with Samuel Brannan leading them the last few days. Samuel had came from California to meet with Brigham Young and find out why there had been a delay in the Saints reaching California. Harley inquired of Brannan about his parents and two brothers and felt relief that they were well and no harm had come to them. Harley and Martha Jane made their home in Salt Lake and had their first two children 3 Ricketts, Norma Baldwin, The Mormon Battalion - U.S. Army of the West , Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah, 1996, page

6 born there in 1848 and They joined the wagon train led by Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich that were going to establish a community at San Bernardino, California. Many of Harley and Martha s friends from Pueblo, including some of the Mississippi Saints were going on the journey with them,so they felt comfortable about the trip. After reaching San Bernardino, Harley felt anxious to see the rest of his family and so they continued on to San Francisco, where a joyous reunion took place. Ruth Mowry felt great joy in seeing Harley with a wife and two children. While there Martha gave birth to a third child! Harley and his family returned to San Bernardino where they made there home. Another child had been born there and then they answered the call of Brigham Young and sold what they could and left for Utah again in They heard that the Utah War had been avoided and so the family stopped on their journey at Beaver City, where another child is born. After his wife gains strength they travel on to Centerville, where another child is born! Harley is called by Brigham Young to help settle southern Idaho so they pack up again and make their home in Paris, Idaho, where three more children are born. The last child is born after they make a move to Bear Lake, Idaho, just a short distance from Paris. After the family is all raised and able to take care of the farm and ranch land, Harley and Martha Jane are called yet again to help pioneer Vernal, Utah. Here they remained until their deaths in 1920 just two months apart. From looking at all their travels and when children were born, it points out that Martha Jane must have been pregnant nearly every time they were on the road. Harley Mowry died on 20 October 1920, one of the last survivors of the Mormon Battalion. Origin Mowry Passenger Origin Mowry had been born 3 July 1825 in Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island as the third son to Barton and Ruth Mowry. He had reached the age of twenty-one when he sailed on the Brooklyn. He helped the sailors when he felt like it or when danger became apparent during storms. He proved most helpful at Juan Fernandez in stocking up on water and food supplies. His strong body had developed because of his apprenticeship as a stone mason. He helped to get the family established in one of the tents at the Barracks in Yerba Buena and ten left with the Brooklyn for Bodega Bay to help cut lumber. Origin went back to Yerba Buena and purchased property when it became available for sale. The property sold then for about $13.00 for a 50 vara lot. He kept the property for some time and it became quite valuable. It is located at the corner of Powell and Broadway Streets and today would be worth millions. Origin next went to Sausalito to spend the winter and worked at odd jobs. He purchased a sloop to get back and forth across the bay to Yerba Buena and to explore the bay area, sailing to the extreme southern end and up a creek that now bears his name. He landed at a place where the Catholic Fathers used to ship their hides and wines. When the gold strike came he used the sloop to make a fortune taking people to the mines and back. He tried his skills for two months in the mines and apparently did quite well but the author failed to find out how much he is supposed to have made. His mining ventures took place at Murphy s Diggings near Stockton. He saw how inflated the prices of supplies had become and decided that would be easier than mining. After working the mines for two months he took his fortune to Valparaiso, Chile and purchased all the merchandise that he had money for. Bringing it back to San Francisco he made a fortune selling at higher prices. All the smart people in the Gold Rush made their fortunes in 6

7 selling to the miners, operating hotels and boarding houses, or providing a service to the miners, not in digging for gold. Very few really made a big strike. Origin met and courted a young lady of twenty-five in San Francisco and they were soon married. The lady in question is Sarah Delina Cheney, born 31 July 1829 in Utica, Oneida, New York, daughter of Elijah Cheney and Achsa Thompson and a sister of Zacheus Cheney. The circumstance of her coming to California is not known but she probably had come to visit her brother Zacheus and his family. Sarah Delina soon settled into married life as Origin took her to Alameda County, where he had a huge piece of ground consisting of four hundred and twentyfive acres. Mowry s Landing is where he operated his boat named the Neptune, and he carried grain between the landing and San Francisco for years. He continued to increase his fortune and his holdings, eventually owning one hundred and sixty acres at Washington Corners, one hundred and sixty acres at Warm Springs, and over one thousand acres in Fresno County on the San Joaquin River. He continued to add to his great wealth over the years by agriculture and raising cattle, nearly all of which saw market in San Francisco. The 1870 census of 25 June 1870 at Washington Township shows Origin, age 44, Delina, age 40, a son Marion L., age 13, born 20 February 1857; a son Joseph C., age 11, born 22 May 1859; a son Frederick W., age 9, born 12 May 1861; and a daughter Abby A., (Augusta) age 6, born 10 August It also shows a net worth estimate for Origin of some $27,000. By the time of the 1880 census the family is still together, but this time they are counted as part of San Francisco. Marion L. is now shown as a telegraph operator and Joseph is working on a farm. Perhaps the family owned a second home in San Francisco and just happened to be there when the census had been taken. Some records have said Abby had died in 1876, but the 1880 census shows her going to school at age fifteen. Origin Mowry 7

8 Judging from the photograph, Origin may have lost sight in his left eye. There has been no mention of it in the research located by the author. About 1870 a narrow gauge railroad came from San Francisco all the way to San Jose and this took all the freight business from Origin. Origin didn t mind, he had all the financial resources he would need. He used part of his fortune to provide a schoolhouse to the community. With the help of John McDavid, Origin Mowry and a few of the settlers put up the school. One of his stranger holdings is a deposit of peat on some of his land. The estimated amount of peat came to one hundred thousand tons. The ground where it had been located is spongy, shaking and quivering while walking upon it. Peat could be used as a fertilizer for the farms or as a fuel for cooking, as it left no soot. One lady was very unhappy with Origin as she filed a lawsuit against him in 1885: Maria Dugan has entered suit against Origin Mowry, to recover $20, and costs of suit. Plaintiff alleges that during last October she fell through a defective sidewalk in front of the defendant s premises, at 1420 Powell street, and has been thereby rendered permanently lame. 4 The outcome of this suit has not been found. Origin Mowry continued to live in the Irvington/Fremont/San Jose area until his death on 7 November The author could not locate an obituary for him, but an article written about his influence in the area, written in 1976 will serve as an obituary. Mowry name made its mark in the area. It was probably with a feeling of relief that the Mowry family saw the American flag flying over the few scattered mud and canvas huts which made up the town of San Francisco in the summer of The some 230 Mormons who had made the long journey from New York on the ship Brooklyn weren t looking forward to a war with Mexico for possession of California. Only their leader, Sam Brannan, was disappointed. He had sort of figured on establishing a Mormon colony in California before Brigham Young found some other location. Actually San Francisco was a Mormon colony for at least a year. The passengers on the Brooklyn greatly outnumbered the few inhabitants of the little sandhill village. The Mowry s, Barton and wife and two grown sons, Origin and Rhanaldo, had come from Rhode Island where they had farmed. Barton was one of the leaders of the Mormon contingent and he built a two-story house with a meeting room for the church on the second floor. He was elected to the town council in But it is Origin Mowry, pioneer of southern Alameda County, trader, rancher and leading 4 Daily Alta California, Vol. 38, Number 12774, 4 April

9 citizen of Washington township, who is still remembered in the Newark-Irvington area. Origin Mowry has left his name on Signposts for Mowry avenue and Mowry Landing road, as well as on a school in the Irvington district. For a year after arriving in San Francisco, Origin and many of the other male passengers on the Brooklyn worked at sawmills in Sausalito to complete payment of their passage to California. Origin went with Brannan to pick out the location for the Mormon community farm in the San Joaquin Valley, the little short-lived settlement of New Hope on the Stanislaus River near the present Ripon which is now Historic Landmark No When gold was discovered, Origin bought a small sloop and hauled gold seekers from San Francisco to Sutter s Fort. Although this venture was profitable, he couldn t resist trying a little prospecting on his own, and he found gold in Angel s creek where the Murphy brothers, John and Daniel, later of Santa Clara County, had established a camp known today as Murphy s. Early in 1850 Origin Mowry made a trip to Valparaiso, purchasing a stock of merchandise which he sold at tremendous profit in San Francisco. Later that year he explored along the eastern edge of the bay and bought land at an old landing used by Mission San Jose padres to ship hides and tallow. Mowry s Landing became a busy place. Warehouses were built to store hay and grain from the surrounding area and from the Livermore Valley from which coal was also brought by wagons. Barges and small boats came up the Mowry s Landing slough to discharge cargoes of lumber and other goods to take on the produce grown on the rich black lands beside the bay until late in the last century. Today Leslie Salt Co. Ponds cover the old landmarks at the end of Mowry Avenue. The South Pacific Coast Railroad went through Mowry land and until a few years ago the little Mowry Station stood beside the track. Mowry Landing School, built in 1884 after fire destroyed the original which Mowry helped build, is a private residence on Mowry Landing road which parallels Highway 17. Origin Mowry married in 1854 and was the father of six children, two of whom died in infancy. His original 450 acres at the landing were increased by 160 at Washington Corners (Irvington) and the same amount at Harrisburg (Warm Springs). He also owned more than 1,000 acres in Fresno County, and at the time of his death in 1888 was one of the wealthiest men in southern Alameda County. 5 This was also published in the Alta California Origin Mowry, of Mowry s Landing, left an estate valued at $10,300. Sixty acres at the station is estimated at $4500 and forty acres on the road to Niles at $5500. His wife Delina survives, three sons and a daughter. Their names are Marion S. Mowry of San Francisco, Joseph C. Mowry and Frederick W. Mowry of Fresno, and Abby, now Mrs. G. D. Grabili of San Francisco. Joseph C. Mowry has petitioned for letters of administration. 6 He had been buried in the Centerville Presbyterian Pioneer Cemetery, Fremont, Alameda, California but according to the Sexton, he had been moved to the Irvington Memorial Cemetery, Section B, Row 12, Plot 5, Fremont, Alameda, California beside his father Barton. His wife Delina continued to live until 23 May 1899 when she died and is buried by her husband in Irvington. 5 6 Loomis, Patricia, San Jose News, Friday, 8 October Daily Alta California, Vol. 42, Number 14315, 14 November

10 Beautiful marble memorial marker at Fremont, California. Photos by Author 10

11 Eugene Rhanaldo Mowry Eugene Rhanaldo Mowry, sometimes spelled Rinaldo, had been born 3 February 1828 to Barton and Ruth Walkup Mowry at Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island, the last child born to this couple. Like his father he rarely used his first name. Rhanaldo had barely celebrated his eighteenth birthday when they went aboard the Brooklyn. Rhanaldo participated with the other passengers in adult duties and activities aboard the ship. He especially enjoyed the singing and music in the evenings. When they reached Yerba Buena he is also one that had been chosen to cut wood. His apprenticeship under his father as a stone mason had made him strong and muscular. After working in the mines for a time Rhanaldo desired to go to the Salt Lake Valley and see what the land and opportunities might present themselves. It is not known which group, if any, that he traveled with. He arrived in Salt Lake City just in time to meet a young lady named Annie Hampton who had arrived 12 September 1855 as part of the Moses Thurston group, the fifth Company that year. Anna Hampton had been born 26 March 1840 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Benjamin Hampton and Patience Schull. They courted over the winter and were married on 14 February 1856 in the Endowment House. Rhanaldo returned to California to bring the rest of his family to live with the Saints, and enjoy the spirit of love that he had found. Little did he know that his wife Anna had become pregnant. Rhanaldo reached Alameda County and tried to convince his father Barton and brother Origin to leave California and be with the Saints. Their hearts had grown fond of the wealth and power they enjoyed and they refused to leave, but his mother Ruth Walkup Mowry agreed and they joined the Zacheus Cheney group on 28 August 1857 and traveled by wagon to Salt Lake City, arriving about 3 November Rhanaldo felt complete surprise when he reached home and found his wife with a baby girl, born 21 October They named her Ruth Walkup Mowry. When she was about nine years old she was taken to California by her grandparents and placed the Sacred Heart Academy where she studied until she was sixteen. She developed many talents while there (including playing the piano) which were important for her when she returned to Utah. She was an inspiration to her younger sisters. She married Joseph Bywater in 1878 and they had seven children. She died in Their second child, Anna Amelia (also known as Millie) was born December 7, She married Thomas Margetts in 1880 and they had five children. She died in Emma DeEtta was born October 6, She married Dewoody Jones in 1882 and they had five children. She died in Grace was born August 17, 1864 and died in Mary Mae was born 23 November She married Alexander Hysop in 1883 and they had four children. She died in Rhanaldo Jr. was born October 14, 1871 and died in Elfie (also known as Ethel) was born November 6, She married Harry Junkin in We do not have information as to how many children they had. She died in Myrtle Evenal was born in Kaysville November 24, She married James Forsythe in 1894 and they had four children. She died in Some time after the birth of Myrtle, Rhanaldo and Anna divorced. Rhanaldo married Mary Elizabeth Williams on November 27, She was from England and was much younger than he. They had three children, all born in Kaysville: 11

12 George Barton was born November 2, He married Inez North in 1916 and they had four children. He married Georgina Roberts Livingston in Ernest Thomas was born April 9, He married Rose Krauth in 1910 and they had eight children. He died in Mabel was born September 29, 1889 and died less than one month later on October 20. Her mother--and Rhanaldo*s wife--died before that on October 8, Rhanaldo*s oldest daughter, Ruth took the two boys and raised them along with her seven children. She also took care of Rhanaldo in his old age.7 Rhanaldo had married Elizabeth Mary Williams 22 November 1884, in the Logan Temple; she had been twenty-five years old and Rhanaldo had been fifty-six. Perhaps the divorce from Anna Hampton had to do with this age difference. Elizabeth Mary Williams had been born in Bristol, Gloucester, England on 31 January 1859 and converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gathered to Utah, like so many other thousands had done. Elizabeth Mary suddenly died 8 October 1889, from complications during the birth of her last child on 29 September She is buried in Kaysville. Rhanaldo had a broken heart and asked his oldest daughter to raise his two youngest boys by Elizabeth and take care of him as he felt worn out. She agreed and took good care of him until his death on 4 May 1906 in Salt Lake City. He is buried in the Kaysville City Cemetery Lot 1, Block 42, Plat B, Kaysville, Davis County, Utah next to his mother Ruth, wife Elizabeth, and daughter Mabel. Kaysville City Cemetery Lot 1, Block 42, Plat B 7 Lamb, Ronald W. Unpublished history of the Barton Mowry Family,

13 Kaysville City Cemetery- Photos by Author - Note the varied spelling of Mowery This is added as a footnote to the Mowry family because of the connection of their son Harley to the Mormon Battalion. An article written some time ago as a tribute to the oldest survivors of the Battalion. The Last Survivors of the Battalion by Richard H. Bullock The longest living members of the Mormon Battalion came from a single family. Harley Mowry (also spelled Mowery), his wife Martha Jane Sargent Sharp, and his adopted daughter Sarah Ellen Sharp were the members of this family. Harley Mowry, age 23 in 1845, had been born 9 August 1822 at Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island. He was the son of Charles Barton Mowry and Ruth Walkup Mowry, who sailed on the ship Brooklyn with his younger brothers, Origin and Rhanaldo. His older brother Sylvester Mowry had enlisted at West Point military academy. Harley had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January 1839, and soon after left his family and traveled west to newly established Nauvoo to be with Joseph Smith and the Saints. Being a mason and stone cutter his work on the Temple was greatly admired. After being driven from Nauvoo, Harley was with the Saints in Council Bluffs when Captain Allen arrived and requested Brigham Young to help enlist 500 men. Harley signed up willingly and became a Private in Company C on 11 July He was later assigned by Lt 13

14 Andrew Jackson Smith to accompany a detachment of women, children, and the sick to Pueblo, Colorado. Norman Sharp, age 36 was born 10 September He married Martha Jane Sargent, age 17 at Nauvoo, Illinois in September Martha was the daughter of Able Morgan Sargent and Sarah Sally Edwards and had been born 24 September They were driven from Nauvoo with the rest of the Saints and were in the wilds of Iowa when the call to form the Mormon Battalion was made by Brigham Young. Norman, at first reluctant to enlist, finally joined as a Private in Company D. Surprisingly, his father-in-law, Martha s father, Able Morgan Sargent, also signed up at the same time. Martha s sister Caroline Sargent, age 10, not wanting to be left behind, also joined when Martha decided to go with her husband Norman Sharp. Their mother had passed away in March When Lt. A. J. Smith ordered nine women and thirty-three children to Pueblo, the party was led by Captain Nelson Higgins. Norman volunteered to accompany them, as his wife and her sister and their father were among those being sent to Pueblo as part of the detachment. While on the march to Pueblo, Private Norman Sharp accidentally shot himself in the arm while lifting his rifle from the wagon. Captain Higgins decided to leave him with some Arapaho Indians to try and recover from the terrible wound. Martha Jane begged to be left with her husband and Captain Higgins agreed, also assigning Thomas Woolsey to stay with them. The Indians could not heal Norman and he died 24 September 1846 and was buried in a unmarked grave. Thomas Woolsey, Martha and her sister Caroline drove the wagon night and day to reach Pueblo, as they had been warned of hostile Indians in the area. Martha gave birth to her daughter Sarah, by Norman Sharp, while on this journey to Pueblo. The first sick detachment arrived at Pueblo on 5 October Woolsey, the two women and baby arrived in early November. Colonel Philip St. George Cooke assumed command when the main Battalion reached Santa Fe and felt appalled that there were so many sick men and so many women with the Battalion. He knew they would not be able to make the terrible march across the deserts to California. Selecting Captain James Brown as commander, Col. Cooke sent ninety-one men, nineteen women, two children, and Dr. William McIntire to winter at Pueblo. They departed 18 th October 1846 and after traveling over 385 miles, arrived in Pueblo on 18 of November It still left Col. Cooke with many men who were sick, and so an additional 55 men were detached under the command of Lt. W. W. Willis and ordered to also winter at Pueblo. Part of this group arrived on 22 December 1846 after a harrowing journey through the deep snow of New Mexico and the Sangre de Cristos mountains. The rest of Willis men, after being rescued by Corporal Gilbert Hunt and Private Thomas Bingham, staggered in on 15 January This third sick detachment joined with the others in building crude cabins and a brush fence for a stockade at Pueblo. Sarah Ellen Sharp, has been named an honorary member of the Mormon Battalion, as have several others children born that winter. In the spring, Captain James Brown returned to Santa Fe to get orders for the detachments, but found no one there from the Mormon Battalion. Presumably he was seeking guidance about what to do next. Go to California and join the Army of the West? Muster the men out? Join the Saints? His questions were not answered. He received a letter from Brigham Young dated 2 June 1847 instructing him to bring the detachment north to Wyoming and follow the Pioneer Camp on the trail to the west. Captain James Brown started the journey north immediately and was met part way by a party led by Apostle Amasa Lyman, sent by Brigham Young. Lyman greeted the men warmly and 14

15 led them to Fort Laramie, where they had missed Brigham Young by just two weeks. On 4 July 1847 Harley Mowry, age 25, and Martha Jane Sargent Sharp, age 20, were married by Elder Dimmick B. Huntington at Independence Rock. They had been such lovebirds that they were told to get married or cool down the romance. The group, also including the Mississippi Saints, pressed ahead and nearly caught up with Brigham Young before they had reached the Great Salt Lake Valley. Samuel Brannan, leader of the Brooklyn voyage met the Battalion on the trail and assisted in guiding them into the valley, where they arrived on 28 July No doubt, Harley was relieved to hear about the welfare of the rest of his family that had sailed aboard the Brooklyn. Some of the Battalion brethren had gone ahead of Brigham Young and began irrigating the land and planting crops as they had learned in Pueblo. Harley and Martha with the little baby Sarah Ellen made their home in a log cabin assigned by Brigham Young and they suffered this first winter from lack of food and warmth. They had 100 pounds of flour and a bushel of corn to last the winter. The half-bushel of wheat they had was planted that fall. When it came up in the spring it was eaten by grasshoppers but they were able to harvest 15 bushels later that year. They were forced to eat roots, Sego bulbs and sagebrush. It was a harsh life in the beginning. In 1850 the family was called by Brigham Young to accompany a wagon train being led by C. C. Rich and Amasa Lyman to California. The little family, now with three children, joined Harley s parents near San Jose and they lived there for two years. While there, the oldest brother, Sylvester Mowry, recently discharged from the military, joined the family and it must have been a joyous reunion to Barton Mowry to have all his sons near him again. Sylvester stayed only a short while and then traveled to Arizona where he opened a lead and silver mine. Later he did a survey for the government along part of the route the Battalion had traveled and reported to Washington on the rich potentials for mining in the area. It was his survey and recommendation that eventually led to the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in In 1852 Harley and his family left San Jose and traveled to San Bernardino to join Lyman and Rich in building up the new colony. When Brigham Young recalled the Saints in 1857, Harley went to San Jose and convinced his mother Ruth Walkup Mowry and youngest brother Rhanaldo to come to Utah with them. Harley and Martha now had four children. Reaching Utah they settled in Kaysville but when called to go south in 1858, during the Utah War, they went as far south as Beaver for the winter. Returning in the spring they lived in Centerville, Utah where they remained until the fall of 1864 when they were called to join C. C. Rich in helping settle the Bear Lake Valley. Harley and his family, now containing seven children, packed their things on wagons and made the journey to Paris, Idaho on the shores of Bear Lake. He became a member of the Bear Lake High Council, a position he held until 1885, when he moved the family to Vernal, Utah. Harley and Martha had ten children but only seven grew to adulthood. He was appointed to the Stake High Council in Vernal and held that position until his health failed him. He died 20 October 1920 at the age of 98 years. Only one other Battalion man lived longer, William Beddome, who died 4 December 1920, just two months after Harley. William Beddome had remained in California after his discharge from the Battalion and is buried in Los Angeles. After the death of her husband Harley, Martha took up residence with her daughter Sarah Ellen Sharp Thomas in Roosevelt but only lived until 20 December 1920, just two months after her husband has passed away. She is buried by his side in the Vernal cemetery, and is noted as the last survivor of the Battalion that had originally started on the march in Sarah Ellen Sharp, as a small child, remembers roaming around the Salt Lake foothills 15

16 with her mother Martha, looking for roots and Sego bulbs to help feed the family. She loved growing up around her adopted family in San Jose and listening to her step-grandfather Barton Mowry tell about the voyage of the Brooklyn in 1846 and his adventures during the gold rush. When the family returned to Utah and subsequently to Paris, Idaho, Sarah Ellen was right there helping with driving the cattle and preparing meals. She was soon courted in Paris by Benjamin (Marion) Clark Thomas and the couple was married on New Years Day in Benjamin, son of Elijah Alexander Thomas and Melissa Davis, born in Van Buren, Iowa, was 22 years old and his beautiful bride Sarah was 19. They lived in Paris, Idaho for the next twenty years and Sarah gave birth to eleven children. Sadly, the family was struck by an outbreak of Diphtheria in March of 1876 and six of their children died. They moved their remaining family to Vernal, Uintah, Utah where their last child was born, but he only lived three months. They continued living in Vernal where her husband Benjamin died 24 January 1914 at the age of 70. When she could no longer care for herself, she moved in with her daughter at Roosevelt, Utah. She was honored as the last survivor of the Mormon Battalion and was present at the unveiling of the Mormon Battalion monument on the State Capital grounds in 1927, and a special guest of the Covered Wagon Days of 1931at the age of 85. She had lived with her daughter for twenty years, when she died 1 March 1937, at the age of 90. She was survived by four of her children, 26 grandchildren and 40 great grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren. Her remains lie at rest in the Vernal Cemetery next to her husband. Her grave has not been memorialized, nor that of her mother Martha Jane, also buried in the Vernal Cemetery. Harley and Martha in their older years 16

17 Last known photo of Harley Mowry Family photo of Harley Mowry and Martha Jane Sargent ca