Family Converts up to 1876

Philippe Cardon and Marthe Marie Tourn (1854)
John Paul Cardon and Susanne Goudin

Lorenzo Snow had been serving as a missionary in Italy, but had met with little success until he found the Waldensians in northern Italy.  One family story says that before the missionaries arrived, Philippe had a dream where he saw two men who brought a book to him. His daughter, Madeline also had a dream of the coming missionaries, and when they arrived the Cardons accepted the gospel. They were baptized in 1952, and immigrated to Utah in 1854. They settled in the Logan area where they stayed for 24 years.  Philippe was a stone mason and a builder.  He built many of the fire places and chimneys in the new homes in the growing community.

Marthe Marie Tourn

Along with Philippe and Marie, several of their family and children also joined the church.  We are descended from John Paul Cardon who married Susanne Goudin. She was away to school when her family to join the church, but when it came time for the saints to emigrate to Utah, she was the only one of her family that decided to go. When their group arrived in St Louis, the church had just decided to bring converts to Utah by handcart. Susanne, now 23, was in the first handcart company. Being unmarried, Susanne pulled her own handcart most of the way. She often had a little passenger, Madeline Beus, who was 2 the daughter of another Italian convert family, and was years old at the time. Ironically, Madeline later became a sister wife to Susanne. Once in Utah, other converts from Italy who had emigrated earlier, took in the new arrivals and helped them get settled. John Paul Cardon met Susanne at this time and they were married. They started a silk making industry in Cache Valley. 

Sarah Ann Littlewood, Joseph Wilson and Mary Anne McCornick

Sarah Ann Littlewood was born in 1815 in the Isle of Man but was raised in Cheshire England.  In 1835 she married Thomas Wilson in 1835. In 1840 they heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Parley P. Pratt, and Sarah joined the church, even though Thomas did not. Joseph Wilson was their 4th child, born in 1844. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Andalucía in Spain, where Thomas managed a cotton mill. The family moved back to England 4 years later. Joseph was baptized at the age of 16.  He moved to Leeds to work in a cotton mill, and there met Mary Ann McCornick. 

Joseph Wilson and his daughter Florence

Mary Ann McCornick was born in 1846. By the time she was 14 she was already working in the mills. There she met Thomas, in 1865, and in 1866 joined the church. They decided to immigrate to Utah 1868 with the help of the Perpetual Immigration fund. Once in Utah, they settled in Cache Valley in a humble log cabin in Clarkston.  The weather there was severe, so in 1874 they decided to move to Logan.  Joseph was a machinist, and worked for the foundry the casted the statues of oxen that supported the original Logan Temple baptismal font.

Mary Anne McCornick

William McDonald (1875)--Christina Wallace (1876) and Mary McDonald (1866)

William McDonald was born in 1822 in Angus Scotland. He worked as a tenant farmer and sheepherder.  In 1844 he married Christina Wallace. They had 5 children in Scotland.  In 1855 Mormon missionaries came to Scotland, and Christina decided to join their church.  She was afraid William would disapprove, so she sneaked away to a different town to be baptized.  When she returned she told her husband what she had done. The next year, their 10 year old daughter, Mary,  was also baptized without her father’s knowledge. When Mary was 16 she married James Mowberry.  They had a child in 1862 but shortly thereafter James went to sea and never returned. In 1866 Mary left her son, James Jr, with her parents and migrated to Utah. Mary urged her brothers, and finally her parents to come to Utah with her son in 1874. In 1875 William, Christina, and Mary’s son, James, were all baptized. William set up a farm and an orchard in Holladay, Utah. Christina died just a year later, but William worked the farm and orchard with the help of his sons and son-in-laws until he died in 1910. 

Christina Wallace

William McDonald

Mary McDonald

More Ancestors

 I have decided to go ahead and add the rest of our "ancestors who joined the church" over the next few weeks until the end of the month.  These are people who joined the church after the Doctrine and Covenants, and I will just do short bios on each of them. 

John C Dewey and Harriet Roseann May

John Cook Dewey was born in Lincolnshire England and joined the church at age 17.  He left for “Zion” in 1850, but didn’t arrive in Salt Lake until 1853. Invited to join polygamy by Brigham Young, he married two women the same day, our ancestor, Harriet May and Mary Allen.  He was directed by Brigham Young to settle in a place called Empey Springs, which, in 1864 became Deweyville. 

Harriet May’s family received the gospel from Lorenzo Snow in England.  As they were migrating to America, her parents both died of cholera. She was only 12 years old, so Lorenzo Snow took care of her until they reached Salt Lake.  She lived with different families until she married John at age 19. 

Abram Reeves and Bessie Widdowson

Abram and Bessie were born in Derbyshire England. Abram was a lace maker. They joined the church in England in 1851 but didn’t migrate to America until 1865. They settled in Kaysville Utah where Abram continued making fine lace until his death. (I couldn't find a picture of them)

John Thompson and Margaret Smith

John Thompson was baptized in 1852 in England, and married Margaret Smith in 1853.  They were leaders in their branch in England until 1862 when they immigrated to Utah.  While Margaret was crossing the plains, she got sunstroke and was blind for three weeks.  She would tie herself to the wagon and trudge along carrying a baby. Once in Utah, they were assigned to settle in Franklin Idaho, and later moved to Hooper. 

Phebe Whittemore Carter 1834

Phebe Whittemore Carter was born in 1807 in Maine. In 1834, at the age of 27, she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Her family did not approve of her decision and were not happy when she decided to move to Kirtland, Ohio to be with the Saints. I had a hard time finding a source that said who taught and baptized her, and when, exactly, she moved to Kirtland, but we know that in 1837 she met and married Wilford Woodruff who was also 27.

A few months after their marriage, her husband was called on a mission to the Eastern United States and, since Phebe’s family lived there, she decided to go along. They were not very rich, so when it was time to buy a coach ticket for the last leg of the journey to Hartford, they only had enough money for one ticket. Wilford bought one for his wife, and he walked the 137 miles on foot. 

Soon Phebe was pregnant with her first child so they decided to stay in Maine until after the baby was born. In 1938 they decided to return to Kirtland, and on the way she became very sick. She thought she would die, and even had an out-of-body experience during which she spoke with a heavenly being and was given a choice whether to return to her body or not. She received a blessing from her husband and was revived.

By the time she was ready to travel again the Saints had already been driven out of Missouri  and Kirkland. Wilford was leading a group of about 50 saints from Maine and they decided to stop in Rochester, Illinois, and stayed there until 1839 when they moved to Quincy Illinois. Wilford was called to serve a mission in Great Britain, and while he was gone, Phebe’s baby daughter died. She also had another child, a son, who is named after his father. 

When Wilford returned from Great Britain in 1841, they moved to Nauvoo and stayed there until 1844. During that time they receive their temple endowment and are sealed by Hyrum Smith. 

In 1844 Phebe and Wilford moved to England so that Wilford could preside over the British Mission. While there, Phebe had another baby. They returned to Nauvoo in 1846, in time for the Nauvoo Temple dedication, but soon needed to leave Nauvoo along with the rest of the saints due to persecution.

In 1846, Wilford and Phebe were taught about the principle of plural marriage. At first Phoebe was opposed to the principle, but later gained a testimony of it. Wilford took on a total of nine  additional plural wives, though a few of the marriages were short lived. 

Wilford was in the first wagon train to travel to Utah in 1847.  He returned to Council Bluffs the same summer, but arrived three days after Phebe had given birth. Wilford was called to preside over the Eastern States missions and Phebe and the children went with him.  Phebe’s new baby died not long after they arrived. 

They stayed in the Eastern United States until 1850, when they finally migrated to the Salt Lake Valley.  They built a home called The Valley House and Phebe lived there the rest of her life. She ended up having nine children in total but only five lived past age 2. 

In 1879 Wilford Woodruff went into hiding because of polygamy. He spent a lot of time in or near Saint George where he had served as temple president. Meanwhile, Phebe served in the presidency of the SLC 14th Stake Relief Society. In 1885 she became ill.  When Wilford heard that Phebe was ill he came to Salt Lake and was by her side when she died in November of 1885, but was unable to attend her funeral for fear of capture and incarceration. In 1889 Wilford Woodruff became the 4th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in 1890 he issued the Manifesto ending the practice of Plural Marriage.