LFA Newsletter Volume 37, Issue 1 (March 2010)

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Livingston Family Reunion

"Summer In Sanpete"

By Doug Livingston

Despain Ranch, Birch Creek

Friday, June 18, 2010

• Birch Creek Homestead – set up camp anytime Friday. The Despain family has graciously opened their homestead to anyone who would like to camp
• 1:00pm Manti Temple Endowment Session
• 5:00pm Dinner: Manti Stake Center 100 South Main Street $7 for adults; $4 for children
• 9:30pm Mormon Miracle Pageant, gates open at 6:00pm

Saturday, June 19, 2010

• 8:00 am Registration, Fountain Green City Park
• 8:30 am Breakfast, provided by the association
• 10:00 am Business Meeting (south pavilion) and children’s games
• 11:30 am Box lunches distributed (MUST BE PREORDERED - $6. each) Birch Creek tour – one hour

Please RSVP and send your check for lunches to:

Livingston Family Association

1283 Logan Avenue

Salt Lake City, UT 84105

801-484-2678

board@livingstonfamily.org

Directions to the Despain Ranch in Birch Creek. Click for a larger image.

The Annual Livingston Family Summer Reunion has been planned for the weekend of June 18 and 19, in Sanpete County, Utah.

Our activities begin with an endowment session at the Manti Temple. Don’t forget your recommend and meet in the Chapel at 1:00 PM. Following the Temple we will all meet at 5:00 PM at the Manti Stake Center, 100 South Main Street, for a turkey barbeque dinner. The cost of the dinner is $7 for adults and $4 for children (payable at that time).

Following dinner, we will gather at the Manti Temple for a presentation of the Mormon Miracle Pageant. The gates open at 6:00 PM and the Pageant begins at 9:30 PM. For more information about the Pageant go to pageants.lds.org.

Don Despain has graciously invited everyone to camp at the Birch Creek Homestead, if you choose, where we will supply drinking water and porta-johns for your convenience. If you haven’t already planned to set your overnight camp at Birch Creek, there are a number of other area motels to select from depending on your preference – rooms are going quickly, call today. (see www.mormonmiracle.org)

Saturday morning we will assemble at the Fountain Green City Park where registration will take place from 8 to 9 AM with a wonderful breakfast starting at 8:30 AM until everyone is “filled up”. Breakfast will be provided by the association.

At 10 AM we will begin our business meeting for the adults at the south pavilion and a rousing variety of games and activities for the kids. Promptly at 11:30 AM boxed lunches will be distributed to everyone who orders in advance. Box lunches will be $6 each. We will immediately depart for a one hour tour of Birch Creek with exciting tales of the surrounding area.

We hope you will join us in what promises to be a wonderful reunion. As an added incentive, the lineage with the most representation will receive a traveling trophy to be kept and cherished by that lines appointed representative until the following year. Over time this trophy will become a highly regarded prize with meaningful rewards...

If you have any questions concerning this year’s reunion email us at board@livingstonfamily.org or call Doug (Reunion Chair) at 801-362-4854.

Family History Corner

by Kay Livingston Larsen and Mary Ann Swalberg

We now have the family history information we received from Brenda Kucharzewski, our researcher in Scotland, coordinated with New FamilySearch. These family history records were for the children of Granny Christina Campbell Livingston who stayed in Scotland.

You can now see the temple work that was done last summer during and after the Livingston reunion. It is a good feeling to know that the duplicates have been combined and the family records are in order.

Just a word about New FamilySearch (NFS):

We encourage each member of the Livingston family to register for NFS. It is a simple thing to do and well worth the little bit of effort it takes. You will need three things to register –

1. A computer with internet access. (If you don’t have one, you can go to a family history center. They all have internet access.)
2. Your confirmation date. (This can be obtained from your ward clerk or from your own personal records.)
3. Your membership number. (This can also be obtained from your ward clerk or you can find it on your temple recommend.)

When you are registered, take the time to watch the overview and learn all you can from the “Help Center”. If you cannot find answers to your questions, there is a Family History Support line you can call. The number is 1-877-406-1830. (It is easy to remember if you notice the last 7 digits are the day the Church was organized). This support line is in operation 24 hours a day – 7 days a week.

Take the time to look around in NFS and find your ancestors and link your families. You will have a great time! Just remember, do not “dispute” unless nothing else can be done. Disputing ties up the records so nothing can be done with them. The only person who can remove the dispute is the person who placed it. It is easier to just not “dispute” at all. Try to find other ways to work with the records and have a good time!

Dues

It's a new year and dues are due again. We thank you for the support you have given in the past. We are moving forward in the organization and really need your continued support. $20 a year per family is a pretty good deal. However, if you can give more we appreciate that too. Let's have a GREAT LIVINGSTON FAMILY YEAR!!!

Send Dues to:

Remember donations may be tax deductible The Livingston Family Association has received approval from the Internal Revenue Service for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the code. This means that contributions to our organization are deductible under section 170 of the Code. We are qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106 or 2522 of the Code.

In other words, contributions of all types to the Livingston Family Association are officially tax deductible (consult with your accountant for specific details).

Livingston Family Descendancy Project

Livingston Coat of Arms Patch

We have reached a milestone that we have worked for several years to accomplish. All the individual birth and marriage data contained in the 1808 Archibald Livingston “green” book, that was printed in 1980, has been entered into our electronic PAF database. Many other names have been added that have been sent in via the descendancy submittal charts. Many thanks to all of you who have sent them in. Our database now has over 7,700 names and over 2,250 marriages in it.

We want to continue to receive the birth and marriage data for those that have taken place since 1980. Please continue to use the descendancy submittal charts, available on our website (MS Word or PDF) and SEND THEM IN!!! You parents – please get your married kids to send in their family information.

I am seeking volunteer representatives from each of the family lines (James, Charles, Isabella, Archibald, and William) who would assist me in reaching out to our younger families by making personal phone calls and encouraging them to submit their descendancy information. If you will help, please contact me (see below). You can help me by getting close relatives that you know to send in their contact information, and I can help you with contact information of individuals you may not know but who are in your line. Wouldn’t it be great to increase our database to over 8,500 names by next year’s reunion? LET’S DO IT!!

Stephen Livingston

62 Mill Pond

Stansbury Park, UT 84074

livingstonsb@ldschurch.org

Thanks again for helping us with this important project.

History of JANE AND ELLEN HARROCKS LIVINGSTON

Wives of Charles Livingston

Jane and Ellen Harrocks Livingston were born in Aughton, near Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. Jane was born August 30, 1841 and Ellen was born August 5, 1848. Between Jane and Ellen was a sister, Ann, born June 22, 1844, another sister Elizabeth, who was born September 21, 1851 and a brother, Peter, who was born Jan 4, 1854 all in Aughton. Their parents were Daniel Harrocks, born December 17, 1804, and Ann Rutter Harrocks, born July 4, 1818 both born in Aughton.

Their relatives were among the first in England to hear and accept the gospel and join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On the 14th of June 1852, their 8 year old sister, Ann, accidentally drowned, and in 1854, shortly after the birth of their only son, the family decided to immigrate to Utah, having accepted the Gospel. Their father was particularly determined to gather to Zion and after considerable persuasion and out of loyalty to her husband; their mother accepted his religion. They all decided to cast their lot with the Saints in the Rocky Mountains. Peter Harrocks, Daniel’s older brother, and his wife were also emigrating at the same time with other relatives. They were indeed filled with the spirit of the Gospel to undertake a voyage, not knowing the trials and hardships to come.

The Harrocks’ were fairly well to do people in England and from the reports, were farmers who had business frequently to transact in Liverpool. In the County Clerk’s Office in Salt Lake City are many papers, showing the breaking of the will of Peter Harrocks, which showed money owed to them in England and cash brought with them. Peter Harrocks’ home was planned and built in Salt Lake City before they came to America and was made ready for their arrival. The family sailed on the ship “Juventa” and arrived in Philadelphia May 5, 1855. Their shipping record reads as follows:

From Philadelphia the company went by rail to Pittsburgh and then by steamboat down the Ohio River to St. Louis, Missouri. They then went up the Missouri River to Mormon Grove where they remained for six weeks.

Andrew Jensen, a Church Historian, has this to say about Mormon Grove: “Mormon Grove was a temporary settlement, founded in Kansas by the Latter-day Saints in 1855 as an outfitting place for the emigrating Saints who commenced their journey that year over the plains and mountains to Great Salt Lake Valley. During the emigration season of 1855, the place was very lively, hundreds of teams and thousands of Saints commencing their long march westward toward the gathering place in the Rocky Mountains. Mormon Grove was situated on the prairie four and one half miles west of the city of Atchison in Kansas on the Missouri River, which was the landing place in 1855 for Saints who commenced their westward journey that year.”

Daniel Harrocks and his family were organized into what was called a second company composed of Danish Saints and the British Independent Company. Captain Jacob Secrist was in charge. He was returning to Salt Lake City from a mission in Germany. The company consisted of 368 souls, 51 wagons, 317 oxen, 100 cows and 5 horses. Captain Secrist died of Cholera July 2, 1855, which left Noah T. Guyman to take charge.

While in Mormon Grove, they bought a wagon, oxen and a cow. Preparations were almost complete and the little family was rejoicing with the prospect of again starting for Zion when the first tragedy of their journey came - the death of their baby brother on May 29, 1855. Baby Peter died and was buried in Mormon Grove.

The company began their westward trek the next day. When they had traveled about six miles, an epidemic of cholera broke out among the Saints. Their father, Daniel Harrocks, was one of those stricken with cholera and he died June 13, 1855, leaving his widow with three little girls to raise. He had administered to a sick woman, whose husband was absent from the camp. He was taken sick about six o’clock in the evening and was dead by midnight. The wagon was unpacked so they could take his body back to Mormon Grove to be buried beside his son. Tradition of the family says, “He had a wooden box and clean hickory shirt to be laid ways in.”

One of the young men who happened to be in Mormon Grove when they brought the body back to be buried, was Charles Livingston. He was on his way west and was asked to help bury the body. He gladly helped dig the grave. At the time, however, he didn’t know he would later marry two of Daniel’s daughters, Jane and Ellen.

It was in this trying circumstance that the widow with her three daughters showed her faith and courage. Their father’s brother, Peter Harrocks, said to the bereaved widow, “Now Ann, if you want to take your children and go back to England, there is money to take you.” “No,” she answered, “I started to Zion with Daniel and to Zion I am going!” So she and her three little girls, Jane, Ellen and Elizabeth sat on their luggage and waited for the wagon to return from burying Daniel, to take them to Zion. The girls remembered watching their mother wash the bedding while they waited for the brethren to return, so they could continue on their journey to Zion.

Even though Ann had not been as determined as Daniel, she was proven equal to the sacrifice she was called upon to make and remained true and faithful. Years afterward, the burial grounds in Mormon Grove were visited by descendents and no definite locations of the graves could be determined as the old cemetery had become a cornfield.

Before leaving England, the Harrocks family had given much service to the missionaries in England. One of them, O.M. Duall, was glad to drive the oxen and help the little widow in exchange for his board while crossing the plains. The group experienced the usual hardships during the journey and arrived in Salt Lake Valley on September 7, 1855, three months after starting out from Mormon Grove.

The emigrants were directed to the Eighth Ward Square (where the City and County Building now stands), until they could find a home. The day after their arrival Ann Harrocks went out to look for a home. She came upon some men building a one-room home on Seventh East between First and Second South Streets. They offered to sell her the home for two yoke of oxen and a wagon. She decided to buy the unfinished home and proceeded to move her little family into a dugout at the rear of the lot. They lived in the dugout until Christmas Day, 1855, when they moved into their little home.

Now came the problem of earning a living. One of the men who had crossed the plains with them offered to take Ellen to Farmington and pay her to assist his wife. When Ellen arrived in Farmington, he took away her good shoes and made her go barefoot. When fall came, it was cold and she would have to scrape beets out in the cold. Her hands were bleeding and her feet sore. A kind neighbor saw Ellen’s poor treatment and got word to her mother in Salt Lake City. Ann walked to Farmington and back bringing Ellen home.

The family endured many hardships, suffering greatly from cold and hunger. At one period they had no bread. It was necessary to burn the fence posts one winter in order to keep warm. The children dug Sego Lily roots for food. They all worked hard. At one point, Ann was able to obtain work for Isaac Chase, who had a flourmill where Liberty Park is now located. Much of her work consisted of baking bread to give to people who came begging to buy flour, which the mill was not able to supply. The kind-hearted miller could not turn them away empty-handed, so gave them a small portion of bread, because they didn’t have facilities to bake bread. Jane stayed home and took care of the house and the youngest child, Lizzie, and Ellen acted as nursemaid for the Chase children and assisted her mother with the baking.

They went to work early in the morning and stayed until late at night. They worked there for eleven weeks for their board and the bread and a few other necessities, which were brought home to the other children. The water had to be carried from the mill stream to the house, and one morning, when Ellen was getting the water, she fell into the stream. After being carried down about fifty feet, she caught on to a bush and pulled herself out. In later years she would show her children the place of this frightening experience.

To obtain needed money and supplies, Ann sold her husband’s black coat to Brother Chase for $20.00. This was to be paid in flour at $6.00 a hundred and $1.00 a week. This money was divided among herself and her uncle and cousin, who walked from Bountiful and back for their portions. Through having this unusual opportunity of securing a little flour and white bread, they were able to play the “Good Angel” to some of their neighbors.

In 1857, Johnston’s Army came to the Salt Lake Valley and the family joined with the other Saints in the “Move”. They were among the last to leave their home, as Ann was cleaning the Lion House for Brigham Young. He said, “No matter what we leave behind, let it be clean”. The group had only traveled as far as Provo when the trouble was over, so they returned.

The children all worked to help their mother earn a living. Even little Elizabeth gathered cattails from the big field below Liberty Park and used them to fill bed ticks for people. They also gathered wheat and threshed it with a flail. The grain was sold for $1.75 a bushel. The children made dozens of tallow candles and also soft soap. The soap was put into large barrels, and Mr. Jennings took it to his store, where it was sold by the quart. At one time a train derailed into the Green River, drenching a carload of starched bosom shirts consigned to Mr. Jennings store. Mr. Jennings bought a polishing iron and had Mother Harrocks and her girls refinish the shirts.

Jane was a good reader and was blessed with an extra good memory. Her grandchildren enjoyed hearing her tell of her husband walking to the stone quarries and of her being able to watch him for miles on his way to work. She talked of going to the first play, “The Pride of the Market”, at the Salt Lake Theater. While her mother was employed by Brigham Young, they were given tickets to the theater as his employees.

Charles Livingston married Jane Harrocks May 25, 1861.

The children born to Jane and Charles were:

Charles, born July 24,1862 - died October 22, 1862

Helen Ann, born October 8, 1863 - died November 9, 1868

Jane, born March 26 1866 - died April 13, 1868

Elizabeth, born March 2, 1868 - died August 13, 1938

she married Thomas Battersby Child

Mary Jane, born March 11, 1872 - died July 24, 1872

Christina, born February 21, 1873 - died December 11, 1940

she married Charles Kammerle & Tony Filmano

Catherine, born March 2, 1877 – died February 8, 1952

she married James Solomon

Alice Grace, born February 26, 1880 - died April 20, 1881

Charles Livingston married Ellen Harrocks, on October 12, 1867.

The children born to Ellen and Charles were:

Ann Harrocks, born August 30, 1868 - died December 24, 1932

Charles Jr, born September 8, 1870 - died March 26, 1941

he married Eliza Lavina Smith

Ellen, born April 2, 1873 - died November 25, 1923

she married Enoch Smith

Daniel Harrocks, born April 12, 1875 - died March 25, 1955

he married Annie Manette Armstrong

Archibald, born April 25, 1877 – died August 29, 1954

he married May Reed

Margaret, born March 26, 1879 – died March 13, 1945

Priscilla, born October 18, 1881- died August 12, 1957

James, born August 12, 1884 – died August 13, 1884

Grace, born September 12, 1885 – died December 1, 1972

she married John Alma Ovard

Isadora Morris, born February 6, 1888 – died February 17, 1908

she married Lawrence Earl Petersen

Hazel, born July 2, 1891 – died May 18, 1939

she married Duncan Angus Maxwell

Clarence, born January 17, 1894 – died August 19, 1981

he married Ethel Paxman

Elizabeth Harrocks, the youngest Harrocks sister, married George Coulam, December 27, 1869.

While their children were young, the families of Jane and Ellen lived together, but as they grew older, Jane had her own three rooms and Ellen hers.

In 1890, Charles Livingston was superintendent of the building of the Salt Lake Temple under Bishop John Winder, until its completion. The wages were poor – one half being in tithing pay. On Saturday mornings they would go down to the tithing office early to get some good cuts of meat, and sometimes they would get outing flannel to make the girls warm petticoats and nightgowns.

Calico was $.60 a yard and thread was $.25 a spool, so one calico dress was a luxury. Flour was $25.00 a sack and at one time Ann Harrocks went to Henry W. Lawrence to buy a sack for her son-in-law, Charles Livingston. Mr. Lawrence invited her to ride in his buggy to her home, and on arrival she found that he had sent two sacks instead of the one she had paid for. Upon inquiry Mr. Lawrence said: “One is for you, Ann – you deserve it.”

After being released from the temple, Charles was without steady work for almost three years. At this time, they sold the property below 21st South on State Street, which was part of the Harrocks estate. In the settlement claim against the Peter Harrocks estate, Charles received the equivalent of $20,000 in real estate, notes and cash. Some of the money was invested in ventures that were a failure. Their son, Daniel was on a mission about 1894 in Australia. It was an expensive mission, from $50 to $75 per month and the mission lasted over a period of 3 ½ years.

Charles bought a fine surrey and a beautiful black horse. Ellen, able to drive most any horse, was afraid of this animal; and if by chance she had to drive out to get fruit in what is now Sugarhouse, the children realized they had to be very quiet or they might frighten the horse. He also bought what he called his secretary, which was a beautiful large bookcase with his desk attached. These things were a great pride and joy to the family.

When Charles was put in the bishopric of the 11th Ward in 1891 with Bishop Robert Morris, Ellen was called upon to take charge of the big ward dinners. Those were busy days and the dinners were always a rousing success because of her efficiency and organization.

There was always plenty of work for the Livingston’s to do. They always had cows and horses to take care of with orchards and currant bushes in the backyard and Lucerne growing on every available space that was not gardened. No one lacked for the necessities of life.

Jane received a great deal of satisfaction from her oldest living daughter, Elizabeth, who had a family of 6 sons and 2 daughters, and most of her time was spent at their home. She lost 5 of her children as infants and small children and her two other daughters caused her great anxiety because of circumstances and had often said, “There is worse trials than laying them away.”

Toward the end of her life, Jane fell and broke her arm and dislocated her ankle and rheumatism set in, which was so serious it twisted her limbs and body into such a misshapen condition that on July 2, 1914, age 72, she died. This must have been a happy relief from her suffering. Her funeral was held in the 11th Ward where she had resided all her life since leaving England.

Ellen was the mother of twelve children, raising eleven to maturity. She also raised two grandchildren, sons of a daughter who died, and her half sister, Lizzie, her sister Jane’s daughter, who was raised just like a twin with her daughter, Ann. To Ellen, her home was her kingdom and her entire time and energies were devoted to her children.

In November of 1923 Ellen Livingston Smith, her third child, died of cancer leaving 11 children. This must have been a terrible time for her. In the winter of 1924, she was taken seriously ill with pneumonia and she died, December 6, 1924 at the age of 76. She had lived and raised her family on the same property where she came to Salt Lake with her mother, Ann Harrocks and her two sisters, Jane and Elizabeth in 1855.

Livingston Family Board

The current board of directors of the Livingston Family Association is as follows:

Contact us at 801-484-2678 (Enid Cox) or email us all at board@livingstonfamily.org. Please use this family resource for family-related business only.

© 2010 Livingston Family Association
Comments to board@livingstonfamily.org