Roots and Branches: Wyatt

John Moses Wyatt 1829-1905

Sarah Caroline Horsecroft 1829-1914

John Moses Wyatt, was born in Hove, England May 22, 1829 and his wife, Sarah Caroline Horsecroft, was born there too on January 25, 1829. They were married December 25, 1848. They had been married a very short time when, early in the year of 1852, this young man was returning home after a long day's work. He was walking along the beautiful beach in Hove, adjacent to the resort town of Brighton, England. In the dusk of the evening he approached a small group of people surrounding two men who were preaching the gospel of Christ. He joined the crowd and listened with fascination and wonder. At the close of the open air meeting he hurried home to his bride and young son. As soon as he met his wife, he said in effect: "Sarah, I have heard the true gospel preached for the first time in my life. Tomorrow the Mormon missionaries are holding another meeting in the same place. You and I must go together and hear them." After the next meeting they approached the Elders and requested baptism.

The young man was John Moses Wyatt, age twenty three; his wife Sarah Caroline was also twenty three and their son, John Horsecroft, was three years of age. They were baptized June 21, 1852. They decided to immigrate to Utah in 1853. When John Moses was preparing to leave England, his family, who did not join the church, took his son, John Horsecroft and hid him so that his parents could not take him to the land of the Mormons. Luckily he was found and joined his parents.

He traveled with his wife and young son on the ship, International, leaving Liverpool 28 Feb and arriving in New Orleans 25 Apr 1853. You can read more about their voyage HERE and HERE. He came West in the Jacob Gates Company of 1853 leaving on 3 June and arriving in the valley 26-30 Sept.

225 individuals and 57 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Florence, Nebraska (now Omaha).

They settled in Wellsville. Their son, Charles, died in their first year in their new home. They later lost two other children in infancy. In all they had eleven children.

John Moses Wyatt died 10 Mar 1905 in Wellsville.

Sarah's death certificate. She died of "chronic nephritis" - a kidney condition.

Children:

John Horsecroft Wyatt (1849-1939)

Charles Horsecroft Wyatt (1853-1854)

Sarah Helen Wyatt (1855-1943)

Josephine Horsecroft Wyatt (1858-1941)

William Henry Wyatt (1860-1923)

Franklin Horsecroft Wyatt (1862-1952)

Myrtle Maria Wyatt (1864-1881)

George Edward Wyatt (1866-1957)

Thomas Henry Wyatt (1870-1870)

Mary Hannah Wyatt (1871-1871)

Alfred Horsecroft Wyatt (1872-1951)

John's Temple Work

Endowments (21 Mar 1856)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Spouse (21 Mar 1856)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (28 Oct 1963)

Sarah's Temple Work

Endowments (21 Mar 1856)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Spouse (21 Mar 1856)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (11 Apr 1968)

in Los Angeles Temple

John Horsecroft Wyatt 1849-1939

John Horsecroft Wyatt was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, 2 December 1849, the son of John Moses and Sarah Caroline Horsecroft Wyatt. He was three when his parents accepted the gospel and came to America.

John was 3 when he traveled with his parents on the International leaving Liverpool, England 28 Feb 1853 and arriving in New Orleans 25 Apr 1853. He came West on 3 Jun 1853 and arrived in the valley 26-30 Sep. 262 individuals and 33 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Keokuk, Iowa.

They arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, 3 October 1852 and lived there for six and one-half years. His father was employed by President Brigham Young, and they lived in a log cabin that belonged to him. In the spring of 1860, the Wyatt family journeyed to Cache Valley in company with thirty other wagons. The wagons were literally dragged over the hills. One oxen gave out and the family cow had to be hitched up even though it had a small calf.

John was eleven years old when they arrived. They lived in a dugout on the Williamson farm on the south side of the hill. the following summer they built a little house in Wellsville. When John was eighteen, he was employed by the county to keep New Canyon road open for the mail. He built a little cabin near Dry Lake and lived there with his oxen. He made one trip a day to Wellsville, Utah, and back to keep the road clear. To pass the longs hours he studied his letters, sang songs, learned to calculate, and make shoes. John worked with Walter M. Glenn, who taught him to make bricks and learn the trade of stone mason. He helped build a lime kiln above Mantua which furnished lime used in building the Logan Temple. He cut logs in Logan Canyon to help build the Z.C.M.I. building in Logan, Utah.

John married Sarah Jane Barnes on 9 November 1874 and they had four children. Sarah Jane died 3 August 1882. He then married Julia Ann Leavitt 23 November 1882 and they had ten children. John entered into polygamy by marrying Betsy Leavitt 7 June 1890, a sister to Julia; to this union twelve children were born.

John started a diary farm and from this the Farmers' Union Dairy began, then the Farmers Mercantile Company, a department store of general merchandise which was an outgrowth of the Farmers' Union Dairy. Financial difficulties became evident and John took over the ownership, and through hard work and sacrifice he put the Farmers" Mercantile Company back on its feet. It was destroyed by fire in 1922. He was a city councilman and helped install the telephones in Wellsville. In July of 1890 a well was dug for the cemetery.

John was paid $7.50 for planting trees on the city property around the town square. He served two missions in England. He was a director and president of the East Field Irrigation and Canal Company. John and Frank Price also contracted to build a railroad fence between Mendon and Wellsville; much strenuous labor was necessary to complete this task. He was truly a pioneer of Wellsville. John died 10 May 1939 and is buried in the Wellsville cemetery. John was the father of twenty-six children.

John's death certificate. He died of arteriosclerosis.

John's Temple Work

Endowments (9 Nov 1874)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Spouse (23 Nov 1882)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (28 Jul 1886)

In Logan Temple

Western Association of Leavitt Families

Thomas Rowell Leavitt 1834-1891

Thomas Rowell "Tom" Leavitt (June 30, 1834 – May 21, 1891) was an early Mormon settler of Leavitt, Alberta, Canada, which the former Utah sheriff and marshal founded at age 53 after an arduous 800-mile (1,300 km) journey in covered wagons, fleeing a crackdown on polygamy that sent fellow Mormons across the border to Mexico and Canada.

Leavitt was born at Hatley, Quebec, Canada, on June 30, 1834, the son of Jeremiah Leavitt and his wife Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. Jeremiah Leavitt had been born at Grantham, New Hampshire in 1797, and married Sarah Sturdevant of Grafton County, New Hampshire, in 1798. Shortly after their marriage, the couple departed for Hatley, only 15 miles (24 km) from the U.S.-Vermont border, where farmer Jeremiah Leavitt was attracted by the rich soil and plentiful timber. At the time of his immigration to Canada, the area around Hatley was fresh from control of Iroquois Indian tribes. Leavitt cleared his new acreage, on which he built a log cabin, and began raising an eventual family of 10 children.

In subsequent years, Jeremiah Leavitt and his wife Sarah joined the Latter-day Saints (Mormons) led by Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Thomas Rowell Leavitt was 16 months old when his parents pulled up stakes to follow Franklin Chamberlain, a Mormon convert who had married Lydia, the oldest child in the Leavitt family.

The family returned to the United States, having been converted by Mormon missionaries who swept across eastern Canada on orders of Joseph Smith. The Leavitt family remained only briefly in New England, before launching themselves in 1835 towards Kirtland, Ohio, the gathering place of increasing crowds of Mormon converts.

In September 1835, the extended Leavitt family came face-to-face with the man who had converted them long distance: Joseph Smith. No diary exists to describe what they made of their leader, but shortly afterwards the family departed with other recent converts to Smith's religion for Nauvoo, Illinois, the next jumping-off point on the Mormons' westward journey. Along the way, Jeremiah Leavitt's elderly mother, Sarah (Shannon) Leavitt, died of exposure. Having arrived in Nauvoo, the Leavitts bought a farm seven miles (11 km) outside town, where they began planting wheat.

But anti-Mormon sentiment reached a crescendo shortly afterwards, and in 1844 rioters set upon Joseph Smith, killing the church prophet and his brother Hyrum, and setting fire to Mormon properties. On Aug. 8, 1844, church elders voted to replace their fallen prophet with Brigham Young, who shortly afterwards announced his intention to found a Mormon sanctuary safe from persecution. Young's decision was prompted by the State of Illinois's move to expel the settlers from its territory. In 1846, the Leavitt family set out as part of Young's trek, with father Jeremiah dying along the way. Ultimately the family got as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa, where what remained of the family built a house overlooking the Missouri River at Trade Point, where they remained three years. By 1850, the worn-out Leavitt family departed for Utah, where they were told that a successful settlement had been made.

The year 1850 was the highpoint of the California Gold Rush, as well as the Mormon migration westward. On June 1, 1850 a group of Latter Day Saints in 51 wagons, including the Leavitt family, crossed the Mississippi River behind Capt. Milo Andrus. Shortly afterwards, the company reached Zion, or Salt Lake City as it is known today. The Leavitt family subsequently moved to northern Utah, where Thomas Rowell Leavitt settled at Wellsville in Cache Valley, where he became constable, marshal and ultimately sheriff, as well as a rancher, and where he built a large one-room log house on his 55-acre (220,000 m2) farm outside Wellsville.

But by the 1880s, the United States government's toleration of the Mormon practice of polygamy came to an end. The government began cracking down, arresting polygamists. Some hid, others crossed the border into Mexico and Canada. Among the first to leave was Charles Ora Card, who traveled to modern-day Cardston, Alberta, named for the Mormon settler, to escape the crackdown and founding the first Mormon town in Alberta in 1887.

Jeremiah Leavitt had never been a polygamist, but his sons followed the subsequent dictum that church members should take multiple wives.[ Thomas Rowell Leavitt had 26 children with his three wives. Shortly after Card's departure from Utah, former lawman Thomas Rowell Leavitt followed suit. In early spring 1887 Tom Leavitt left Wellsville with other Mormon polygamists in a large wagon train—the last recorded in the Old West. After an arduous six-week, 800-mile (1,300 km) trek, Leavitt's party reached Lee Creek, Alberta, on May 25, 1887. Leavitt had traveled with his wife Harriet Martha (Dowdle) and several children by all three wives. He left wife Ann Eliza (Jenkins) behind on his Wellsville ranch.

By 1890 the rest of the family had followed, including Tom Leavitt's son Alfred, who subsequently helped dig, with his brother, the irrigation canals that Charles Ora Card had promised the Canadian government in exchange for more land grants to fellow Mormons hard-pressed by the U.S. government crackdown.

The former constable, sheriff and marshal Thomas Rowell Leavitt lived out his days in the tiny hamlet he founded in Alberta, known as Buffalo Flats on his arrival, and subsequently christened Leavitt, Alberta, in honor of the pioneer fugitive. Leavitt died there of influenza in 1891, leaving a legacy of scores of disciples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints named Leavitt, many of whom remain in the region today, ranching and living in the bucolic area in the shadow of Chief Mountain.

Salt Lake Endowment House

Thomas' Temple Work

Baptized 1 Jan 1846

Endowments (9 Mar 1861)

in the Endowment House

Sealed to Spouse (9 Mar 1861)

in the Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (28 Sep 1960)

in Manti Utah Temple

Thomas' Nauvoo Land and Records file Click Here

Antoinette Davenport 1843-1880

Antionette Davenport was born 2 Sept. 1843 at Nauvoo, Hancock, McDonnough County, Illinois. After crossing the plains, her family spent a short time in Salt Lake City before moving on to Toole, Utah. Later they moved to Wellsville where she met Thomas Rowell Leavitt and soon became his second wife. They were married at the endowment house at Salt Lake City by Pres. Brigham Young 9 March, 1861. She was a beautiful young lady, tall and graceful with dark hair and eyes that sparkled. She loved life and people and especially her religion. She understood the principles of plural marriage practices in the church at that time. The first wife had to give her consent before this marriage could take place.

Thomas taught all of his children obedience and to honor their mother and church authorities no matter where they lived. They loved their religion and were guided by its teachings. But the mothers were the teachers of these principles in the home as their father was away most of the time.

Two apartments were built exactly alike, a large living room, and one bedroom downstairs and bedrooms upstairs. Ann Eliza and her family lived in one apartment and Antoinette and her family lived in the other one. After this house was completed Antoinette moved from her home in Wellsillve. While Antionette lived in Wellsville, Thomas bought her a four lidded cookstove. All the neighbours came to see it. She had plenty of work and hard times all of her life. Like most pioneer mothers life was hard, especially as her husband could not be at home while their children were young. Most of their children were born on the farm. About this time persecution was rife against all polygamist families in Utah."

"When her tenth child was due, Antoinette's husband Thomas, was hiding in the canyons south of Wellsville. He felt impressed that he was needed at home. He traveled on foot in the dead of the night. When he arrived home he found his beloved wife, Antionette dead, not being able to deliver her child. Dr. Armsley at Logan had been sent for but declined to come. His own child had the croup. When he came the next morning Grandfather met him at the door and ordered him off the place. He said, "My wife is dead. You would not come when we needed you and we don't need you now."

"Antoinette was strict with her children but a wonderful mother, a staunch Latter-day Saint, a loving wife and neighbor. She died at the age of 37 years and is buried in the Wellsville cemetery. What a comfort Ann Eliza and Antionette had been to each other. They shared their joys and sorrows and lived in constant fear for the safety of their husband. When he could not be at home with them, Grandmother Ann Eliza told her friends, "I'm glad there is someone else who can love him just as much as I do." They shared and shared alike in times of sickness and health. They went to church with their little children. They sang beautifully together.

Antoinette's Temple Work

Baptized 23 Feb 1850

Endowments (9 Mar 1861)

in the Endowment House

Sealed to Spouse (9 Mar 1861)

in the Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (12 Jun 1889)

in Logan Utah Temple

Jeremiah Leavitt 1795-1846

Leavitt Family Crest

Jeremiah Leavitt was born to Jeremiah and Sarah Shannon Leavitt, 30 May 1795, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire. He married Sarah Sturtevant, 6 March 1817 in Barton, Orleans, VT. He learned of the Church from his sister-in-law and quickly joined. His parents and siblings were going to Twelve Mile Grove, Illinois to settle. They left on July 20, 1835 and stopped in Kirtland, Ohio for a week. They saw the Egyptian mummies, the writings of Abraham, and heard Joseph preach. Then they moved to Mayfield, Missouri, a little village where they could get work and money to finish their journey. While there they worked to convert their neighbors. Soon they were able to move to Twelve Mile Grove. They worked hard there but soon felt the pull to join the Saints in Nauvoo. Again, they sold all they had and made the journey, this time to be with the Saints. They bought some property 3 miles outside of Nauvoo and worked hard to make their home beautiful.

In February 1846, violent mobs drove members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from their beloved Nauvoo. The Saints crossed the Mississippi River, wagons laden with their meager supplies. Turning their faces westward, they wound their weary way across the prairies in search of a place where they could worship God in peace. Jeremiah and Sarah Sturtevant Leavitt and their family were members of this group. They reached Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, in April 1846. They quickly built a small cabin and planted a crop. Taking 16 year old Dudley along, Jeremiah turned back toward Bonaparte, Iowa. There he hoped to assist his son, Jeremiah III, and his family on to Mt. Pisgah, and bring back flour from the Bonaparte Mills to sustain them through the coming winter. Scarcely had he departed when the whole camp became ill with the ague. By the time he arrived at Bonaparte, Jeremiah, too, was very ill. He died 29 August 1846, Bonaparte, Iowa. His two sons buried him, then moved on to help their widowed mother and the younger children on across the Great Plains.

Children

Mary Ann Leavitt, born February 1818, Lyndon, Caledonia, Vermont. Died February 1818, Lyndon, Caledonia, Vermont.
Clarissa Leavitt, born 1 January 1819, Lyndon, VT. Died 30 April 1894 in Lyndon, VT. Married (1) Horace Sturtevant; (2) Simon Colton.
Louisa Leavitt, born 20 January 1820, Hatley, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Died 29 May 1855, St. Joseph Missouri. Married William Ellis Jones.
Jeremiah Leavitt, born 10 February 1822, Hatley, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Died 12 April 1878, Gunlock, Utah. Married Eliza Harrover.
Lydia Leavitt, born 4 July 1823, Hatley, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Died 9 January 1847, Council Point, Iowa. Married William Snow.
Weare Leavitt, born 1825, Hatley, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Died August 1850, Trade Point, Iowa.
Lemuel Sturtevant Leavitt, born 3 November 1827, Compton, Compton, Quebec, Canada. Died 13 Oct. 1916, Santa Clara, Wash., Utah. Married (1) Laura Melvina Thompson; (2) Betsy Amelia Mortenson; (3) Mary Ann Morgan; (4) Rebecca Gibbons Waite.
Dudley Leavitt, born 31 August 1830, Hatley, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Died 15 Oct. 1908, Bunkerville, Clark, Nevada. Married: (1) Mary Huntsman; (2) Mariah Huntsman; (3)Thirza Hale Riding; (4) Janet Smith; (5) Martha Ann Pulsipher Hughes.
Mary Amelia Leavitt, born 10 Feb. 1832, Compton, Compton, PQ, Canada. Died 12 August 1893, Mt. Graham, Ariz. Married Wm. Haynes Hamblin.
Thomas Rowell Leavitt, born 30 June 1834, Compton, Compton, PQ, Canada. Died 21 May 1891, Cardston, Alberta, Canada. Married (1) Ann Eliza Jenkins; (2) Antoinette Davenport; (3) Harriet Martha Dowdle.
Betsy Jane Leavitt, born 12 May 1839, Twelve Mile Grove, Will, Illinois. Died 12 Sept.1917, Safford, Ariz. Married Wm Haynes Hamblin.
Sarah Priscilla Leavitt, born 8 May 1841, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. Died 23 July 1927, Alpine, Ariz. Married Jacob Vernon Hamblin.

Jeremiah's Temple Work

Endowments (2 Feb 1846)

in Nauvoo Temple

Sealed to Spouse (23 Aug 1862)

in Salt Lake Endowment House

Sealed to Parents (28 Sep 1960)

in Manti Temple

Jeremiah's Nauvoo Land and Records file Click Here
Sarah Shannon, Jeremiah's mother, Nauvoo Land and Records file Click Here

Sarah Studevant 1798-1878

Sarah Studevant was born 5 Sep 1798 in Lyme, New Hampshire. She married Jeremiah Leavitt 6 March 1817 in Barton, Orleans, VT. She learned of the Church from her sister-in-law and quickly joined. Her in-laws were going to Twelve Mile Grove, Illinois to settle. They left on July 20, 1835 and stopped in Kirtland, Ohio for a week. They saw the Egyptian mummies, the writings of Abraham, and heard Joseph preach. Then they moved to Mayfield, Missouri, a little village where they could get work and money to finish their journey. While there they worked to convert their neighbors. Soon they were able to move to Twelve Mile Grove. They worked hard there but soon felt the pull to join the Saints in Nauvoo. Again, they sold all they had and made the journey, this time to be with the Saints. They bought some property 3 miles outside of Nauvoo and worked hard to make their home beautiful.

In February 1846, violent mobs drove members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from their beloved Nauvoo. The Saints crossed the Mississippi River, wagons laden with their meager supplies. Turning their faces westward, they wound their weary way across the prairies in search of a place where they could worship God in peace. Jeremiah and Sarah Studevant Leavitt and their family were members of this group. They reached Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, in April 1846. They quickly built a small cabin and planted a crop. Taking 16 year old Dudley along, Jeremiah turned back toward Bonaparte, Iowa. There he hoped to assist his son, Jeremiah III, and his family on to Mt. Pisgah, and bring back flour from the Bonaparte Mills to sustain them through the coming winter. Scarcely had he departed when the whole camp became ill with the ague. By the time he arrived at Bonaparte, Jeremiah, too, was very ill. He died 29 August 1846, Bonaparte, Iowa. His two sons buried him, then moved on to help their widowed mother and the younger children on across the Great Plains. She traveled in the John Tidwell Company of 1852. 340 individuals and 61 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs).

Sarah lived 32 more years as a lonely widow, but always kept the faith and taught her children to do the same.

Sarah's Temple Work

Baptized 1 Jan 1837

Endowments (2 Feb 1846)

in the Nauvoo Temple

Sealed to Spouse (3 Feb 1846)

in the Nauvoo Temple

Sealed to Parents (11 Mar 1949)

in Manti Utah Temple

in Jordan River Temple

Sarah's Nauvoo Land and Records file Click Here

James Davenport 1802-1883

Almira Phelps 1805-1901

James was born in 1802 in Vermont, and Almira was born in 1805 In New York. They were married in 1822 in New York when he was twenty and she was seventeen. They had eleven children. Shortly after the church was organized, they were baptized. Unfortunately, nothing more is said of their actual conversion, although their life after baptism shows a great amount of faith.

James worked as a blacksmith and a farmer in Nauvoo before leaving for Winter Quarters with his wife and small children in order to escape persecution. It was in Winter Quarters that Brigham Young invited James to join the first company of Pioneers going to the Salt Lake Valley. This meant that James had to leave his family behind until he could return for them.

Although James was in the Pioneer Company, he did not enter the Valley with Brigham Young. He served as a blacksmith for the company and was among nine men left to operate the upper ferry of the Platte River, later known as Fort Casper. This group was instructed to ferry the companies across and charge those who could pay.

Late in July, after the ferry had ceased operations due to the end of the high water season, James headed back to Winter Quarters for his family. In 1850 they joined with another company and went west to settle in Grantsville, near Tooele. James traveled across the plains twice more to help bring wagon trains of converts.

The family later moved to Wellsville, and finally Richmond, in Cache County, Utah. Some of the children did not come west, and James and Almira spent some time visiting with them in the Midwest. Both died and were buried in Richmond.