The Ship Brooklyn Story - Volume 2 by Richard H. Bullock Elizabeth Wallace Bird Elizabeth Wallace Bird, daughter of Edmund Fuller Bird and Mary Montgomery Bird was born 1 January 1846 at Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Her father Edmund had been born 15 January 1809 in London, England. He emigrated to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada in 1833 where he met Mary Montgomery of Londonderry, Londonderry, Ireland and they were married 3 May 1834. In 1842 they moved to Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, not far from Boston. Mary gave birth to Elizabeth Wallace Bird and then died from complications on 3 January 1846. The Vital Records of Cambridge record her death as occurring on 5 January 1846, 1 age forty-one. Elizabeth weighed fourteen pounds at the time of her birth and her mother may have been diabetic at the time, causing the child to be so large. She received the middle name of Wallace as the Elder who had baptized them into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been named Wallace. Edmund and Mary had been planning to leave Massachusetts with a group of Saints that were traveling to Nauvoo, and then on to the West, but Edmund realized that he couldn t make the journey with a small baby and no mother. He enlisted the aid of his good friends Daniel and Ann Cook Stark to temporarily care for his little girl. Daniel and Ann Stark were planning to leave on the ship Brooklyn in a few weeks and travel to the West coast to await the rest of the Saints, a safer journey for the little child. Edmund would then make the overland journey and meet the Stark s again to retrieve his little daughter. Indeed, her father Edmund and her older brothers and sisters made the long overland journey to Salt Lake City where they settled with the rest of the Saints. Edmund married Elizabeth M. Williams 20 April 1846 and later that same year married Cordelia M. Martin on 17 September 1846. The circumstances that surrounded the 2 third marriage and what had happened to Elizabeth are not clear. Edmund had no idea as to the fate of his little girl until they met again when she was about fourteen years old. Daniel Stark had spent time in the gold rush area, San Jose, San Bernardino and then in April of 1857 moved to Payson, Utah, Utah. Each time he had built a house for his family and Elizabeth had helped take care of the rest of his family now grown to include four Stark children, only one of which, John Daniel Stark, being older than her. Daniel and Ann Cook Stark adopted Elizabeth as their own child but the location or date for this event is not known. Henry Nelson Howell had been born 23 May 1840 in Yorkville, Gibson County, Tennessee, the son of Thomas Charles Davis Howell and Sarah Stuart. Thomas, of Welsh 1 2 FHL 974.44 C1 V2b page 469 Ibid, page 36 1
descent in North Carolina and Sarah, of Scottish descent in Tennessee joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and traveled to Nauvoo. They crossed the plains with a family of five boys, including Henry Nelson, when Thomas Charles Davis Howell joined the Mormon Battalion. After his discharge in California he traveled to re-unite with his family and in September 1852 they reached Salt Lake City. They drove ox and cow teams further south to Payson where they built an adobe home. Here his son Henry Nelson applied for work with Daniel Stark and looked after Daniel s farm while Daniel traveled East to purchase machinery. Henry fell in love with Elizabeth Wallace Bird while working on Daniel s farm, and upon Daniel s return Henry immediately asked for Elizabeth s hand in marriage. Daniel gave his permission and Elizabeth, age 15, and Henry Nelson Howell, age 21, were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City 16 December 1861. Living in Payson for two years after their marriage, Henry and Elizabeth were expecting their first child and Henry also received an opportunity to teach school in a new settlement called Franklin. Franklin, Franklin, Idaho had just enough pioneer families in 1862 to justify building a schoolhouse and they sought out Henry Nelson Howell as the first school teacher. Henry left Elizabeth in Payson and traveled to Franklin to assume his duties. Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, a son, named Henry Jason Howell 2 September1862 in Payson, Utah, Utah and soon after joined her husband in Franklin. A short time later they moved to Franklin, Franklin, Idaho where a daughter named Sarah Ann Howell arrived on 22 February 1864. Unfortunately the little girl only lived for a year and a half, dying in August 1865. They then moved to Oxford, Franklin, Idaho where two more children were born; Lydia Lauretta Howell on 10 July 1865 and then Mary Melissa Howell on 7 April 1866. Mary Melissa died in 1872 when only six years old. The family took up residence in an old fort that had been built for protection from the Indians. The Deseret News reports on this date: Oxford, Cache County [later part of Idaho] As you have never yet received a report from this place, and many, perhaps, hardly know of its existence, I deem this a favorable opportunity for posting you with a little regarding our welfare. Two years ago today we celebrated the glorious Fourth for the first time in this place. And last year, as an entire settlement, we marched in grand procession with covered wagons to visit our Franklin brethren, 20 miles south, having been called by the Presidency of Cache County to move in with the other small scattered settlements, for protection from the Indians. In addition to the usual labors of opening farms, etc., incident to a new settlement, we have built a neat, substantial school house, 19 by 29 feet, and since last Christmas have kept a well attended school in constant session, under the able tuition of br. Henry N. Howell. 3 The Battle of Bear River that had been conducted by Col. Patrick Connor in January 1863, where nearly three hundred Indians died at the hands of the army, allowed more expansion of the whites into the frontier areas of southern Idaho and many took advantage of the free land. Henry and Elizabeth also took part in this expansion by moving to Clifton, Franklin, Idaho in 1868. Here the remaining seven children were born; Amelia Elizabeth Howell on 3 September 1870; Edmund Fuller Howell on 11 November 1872; Ida Ann Howell on 4 December 1874; Clara Effie Howell on 8 November 1877; John Elmer Howell on 18 December 1879; Wallace Bird Howell on 1 March 1882 and finally Angus Howell on 2 October 1886. In 1868 they moved to Clifton, Idaho, where Henry Howell built the first house of that settlement, somewhere near where the Church now stands. It was just a log cabin, humble indeed, 3 Journal History, 4 July 1867 2
but Elizabeth, who early in life learned the art of good housekeeping, soon made it neat and attractive; and she often in the ensuing years, had as her guests church authorities who came at intervals to the settlements to instruct the Saints. Once Brigham Young, Jr., and his bride, who were touring the country on their honeymoon, spent the night in her humble home. Elizabeth featured in the early history of the Relief Society of the Clifton Ward, acting for three years as counselor to the second president and later for a number of years as visiting teacher. She, being talented in a dramatic way, also often appeared in the leading role of the stage performance in settlements in which she lived. I remember my father telling me that after the long days work was done and the younger children put to bed, she would sit on her stool and study long scripts by the light that came from the grate of the stove. 4 Elizabeth Bird Howell and Henry Nelson Howell brought eleven children into the world during their marriage. Two of them died early in life and the other nine grew to have families of their own. Additionally Elizabeth and Henry raised a grandson named Robert Procter. They struggled against the wild frontier and slowly built a fine farm out of the raw wilderness. The farm provided nearly everything they required including fine fruit orchards and vegetables. Henry would travel to Salt Lake City occasionally to sell his produce and purchase supplies for the family and farm. On one of these trips he had a startling experience: The Ogden Standard reported: A few days ago a man named H. Howell arrived in this city from Salt Lake on his way north. Stopping over in town he called at a saloon on Fifth Street, leaving his money with the bar-tender for safe keeping. When he desired to leave he asked for his money, which was given him. It consisted of two one-hundred dollar bills, which he carelessly placed in his vest pocket. He states that he went to sleep at some time during his stay in the saloon, but cannot tell whether before or after his money had been taken. No trace of it could be found until yesterday morning. Suspicions pointed to Bill Hunt, an individual well known in the saloons as one who never had more than a quarter of a dollar at a time, as the guilty party. He was spending money freely, inviting the boys to drink, even having the impudence to invite his victim to drink at his own expense. The officers were notified, and they made inquiries at the banks, where they learned he had changed the stolen money. He had changed one bill at the First National and the other at the Commercial Bank. He was at once placed under arrest. His conflicting statements as to how he came in possession of so much money are considered evidences of his guilt, he denying the charge of having changed any money at the banks. When arrested, $16.75 cents was all the money found on his person. What he had done with the rest is not known. His case will come up before Justice Dee today. 5 After many years of struggle they were able to set a little aside for their old age. They remained independent for many years but finally grew tired and were forced to move in with their oldest son. They did have an opportunity to travel to Southern California and visit all the places that Elizabeth had remembered as a small girl near San Bernardino. Elizabeth continued to care for her beloved husband until his death 8 November 1929. They had shared happiness for sixty-eight years and Elizabeth felt grateful for this happiness. Henry had been a school teacher, farmer, the Ward clerk for twenty years and the Postmaster for seventeen years. He had been appointed one of the directors of the United Order in Fish Haven in 1876 and had the distinction of being the first school teacher in any Idaho school. He had held the office of the Stake President of the High Priest Quorum for a number of years and had finally 4 5 Unpublished typescript furnished to the author by Reed Hill, Spanish Fork, Utah. Journal History, 27 April 1888. 3
earned his rest at age eighty-nine. He is survived by 53 great-grandchildren, 33 grandchildren, and the following children: Henry J. Howell, Clifton; Mrs. A. D. Crockett, Preston; Edmund F. Howell, Clifton; Mrs. C. M. Alston, Salt Lake; John E. Howell, Pocatello; Wallace B. Howell, McCammon, and Angus Howell, Fresno, Calif. th 6 The funeral was held Tuesday, November 12 at Clifton Ward chapel. Henry Nelson Howell is buried in the Clifton cemetery located west of Clifton on a quiet hillside above the town. His grave looks over the little farming village that he started so long ago. Marker at Clifton, Idaho cemetery. Photo by author 2001 6 Deseret News, Wednesday, November 13, 1929, page 12 4
After the death of her husband Elizabeth soon moved into the home of her daughter Amelia and her husband Alvin D. Crockett. While living here, the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers approached her about traveling to San Francisco in 1940 to help celebrate the arrival of the ship Brooklyn 31 July 1846. She flew to San Francisco on United Air Lines with her stepbrother Fred J. Bird, her daughter Amelia Crockett, her eldest son Henry Howell and Mrs. Perry Egan, a niece. She now had the distinction, at age 94, of being the oldest living survivor of the colonist ship Brooklyn. She had tears in her eyes as she attended the dedication ceremony at the intersection of Battery Street and Broadway in San Francisco as a plaque marking the event reached back into time and honored all those who had made the journey so long ago. At the ripe age of 95 she says, I love my home in Idaho, but would prefer to. live in California. Long quietly cared for by a kind daughter, this last survivor of the Mormon Pioneers 5
who sailed around Cape Horn and landed in San Francisco harbor, July 31, 1846, remains true and steadfast in her faith. 7 A granddaughter once wrote of Elizabeth: I m going to remember Grandmother, not for the things in her life that made their way into the papers, but for those of her every day living her integrity as a home-maker, the patience with which she bore the trials that came, the grace with which she bowed to the will of the Father when death brought sorrow to her home, but most of all for the spirit of peace and serenity that prevailed throughout her life. To me, this was her greatest gift and if the occasion called for it I could cite instances where her peaceful influence acted as, oil upon troubled waters bringing about settlement of differences that might have grown to disastrous proportions. I am told, by those who were with her at the last, that the same peaceful influence prevailed to her dying hour, which came at 12:30 o clock on March 23, 1943. 8 Survivors include five of her eleven sons and daughters. Mrs. Amelia H. Crockett of Preston; Edmund S. Howell, of Clifton; Mrs. Clark Alston, of Salt Lake City; John E. Howell, of Pocatello; Wallace B. Howell, of McCammon; 40 grandchildren, 95 great-grandchildren, 28 great-great-grandchildren and one sister Mrs. Mary Atwood of Salt Lake City. 9 Elizabeth Wallace Bird Howell retains the distinction of being the oldest survivor of the ship Brooklyn. She died at the age of ninety-seven and is buried next to her husband in Clifton, Franklin County, Idaho. The family has marked her grave with a ship Brooklyn bronze memorial plaque. 7 Carter, Kate B., Heart Throbs of the West, compiled by Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1941, Volume Three, page 122 8 Howell, Henderson Verena, unpublished manuscript read by her at the funeral services held for Elizabeth Bird at Clifton, Idaho, March 26, 1943. \ 9 The Salt Lake Tribune, Wednesday, March 24, 1943 page 25: 6
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