Orpha's Beloved Pioneer Mother

Sabina Ann Adams Nicoll

Orpha's mother, Sabina Ann Adams, travelled with her family to Utah in the Samuel Gully-Orson Spencer Company. She was twelve. The Company departed on 28 May 1849 with 322 individuals and 100 wagons, beginning its journey from the outfitting post at Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs). There is no family record with any particular details from their journey, but other sources provide some information that gives some context for her experience. The following is from the journal of Thomas Atkins:

"On July 5th, Brother Samuel Gully (captain of their company) died of cholera and was buried by the roadside." [Orson Spencer was president of the group, so he took over as captain.]

July 27th--passed Chimney Rock.

July 29th--forded the Platte River three quarters of a mile across, very deep, and quick-sand bottom.

August 3rd--passed Fort Laramie.

August 22nd--passed Independence Rock and camped at Devil's Gate, a narrow channel cut through a mountain through which the Sweetwater River runs, overhung by rocky crags. We here began to experience frosty nights.

September 13th--travelled eight miles and camped at Fort Bridger.

September 16th--travelled six miles and crossed Bear River. Rough mountain roads is the rule for the rest of the journey.

September 19th--travelled five miles and crossed the Weber River.

September 20th--travelled fourteen miles, chiefly in a canyon up and down steep hills, having to hold our wagons from upsetting with ropes.

September 21st--travelling over the big mountain.

On Tuesday, September 25th, we entered the Valley early in the afternoon and thus completed our long journey and at last gazed upon the Great Salt Lake Valley."

Sabina Ann's mother gave birth to her ninth child, a baby girl she named Orpha Elzeta, less than a month after arriving in the Valley. Though there is a twelve-year difference in their ages, the two must have been quite close. Sabina would name her seventh child (and your ancestor) Orpha Elzeta after her sister. Likewise, her sister Orpha named her first daughter Sabina.

Sabina Ann would later share some of her pioneer experiences with her grandchildren. Her daughter Armitta's children remembered the following:

"She said that a good milk cow was taken along as her mother insisted on fresh milk for the children. When the morning milking was done, the milk was put in a small wooden keg and strapped to the wagon. When they camped at night, the keg was opened; a nice pat of butter floated on the top. This was eaten on fresh corn bread or baked potatoes. The buttermilk was the evening drink. The night milk was used for breakfast.

Sabina Ann walked a good share of the journey and drove the cow and calf. Her father had given her the calf and she loved it dearly. When the journey was about half done, the Adams family camped by a river. The calf became lost in the brush along the stream. The family stayed almost a day looking for the lost pet. Her parents finally convinced Sabina that the Indians had already taken it or it would have come when the cow called. She left the camp heartbroken and was unhappy for the balance of the trip." 

As you think about your pioneer ancestors this holiday, remember young Sabina Ann's bittersweet experience on the trail.

Happy Pioneer Day!

 

Happy Birthday, Orpha!

Since we can't get together in person, I thought we might celebrate Orpha's 157th birthday and 139th anniversary of her marriage to John Harris by watching a few videos that other people visiting Greer have made and uploaded to Youtube. If you have photos or videos that you would like to share with the family, please email them to me at ballantyne.barbara@gmail.com. Enjoy a brief trip back to Greer!

Greer, Arizona by @Complex Objects

photos from in and around Greer put to music.

Eastern Arizona's HIDDEN GEM | GREER! by Arizona Insider

a family's day trip hiking in Greer and eating at Molly Butler's Lodge

Greer, Arizona - USA. by Journey SeekerZ - AZ

the Greer Lodge property and aerial views of Greer

 

Laurie Jo Greer Rhoton

July 18, 1937 — March 22, 2024

Laurie Jo Greer Rhoton died at 5:00 am on March 22, 2024, in Farmington, Utah, of complications related to breast cancer.

 

Born July 18, 1937, in St. Johns, Arizona, she grew up on a ranch among her five brothers, her father’s cattle, sweet corn, horses, the kittens she carried around, and her mother’s quilting-bee friends. At eight, she read The Blue Fairy Book over and over during a stay in the hospital, and thereafter read every book in the house—there was no library in town. She read her way to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where she studied homemaking and lived for six weeks in the Home Management or Practice House, where her efforts to live on a limited budget once involved the serving of frozen frog legs. One Sunday in her junior year, invited to have supper at the bishop’s house, she hurriedly borrowed a roommate’s cashmere sweater. Bert Rhoton, who had also been invited to supper, liked to say her ability to make salad dressing from scratch was the reason he fell in love . . . but that sweater sure helped. They were married in the Mesa, Arizona temple on June 12, 1958, and moved into a cabin in Flagstaff where they lived—thank goodness for those weeks in the Practice House!--on a tiny household budget. Except for the time when they had only enough money for marshmallows OR licorice, they agreed on just about everything for the next 44 years, especially long drives with each other, the importance of a good sewing machine, tacos for dinner, a large library, and El Pato sauce. 

 

Together they moved wherever the Air Force sent Bert. Jo gave birth to a son, Elmo Vincent, in Utah, in 1963, and a daughter, Laura Lee, in Arizona, in 1967, taking both of them by herself to join Bert in Iceland in 1968. (Laura helped by crying most of the way.) Bert’s last station was at Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield, Utah, so Jo’s garden for the next 40 years was in West Point, where she grew tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, and currants, and met the many wonderful people who were so good to her when Bert was gone. She loved to sew, to make new quilts, to try old and new recipes, and to reflect on her experiences in the photo albums that were her calling cards. The sound of a sewing machine and a pair of shears cutting through cloth will always bring her back to us and remind us that we are happiest in a state of busy expectation.

 

Laurie Jo is survived by her son Vince Rhoton and daughter-in-law Jacki Beard Rhoton of Layton, her daughter Laura and son-in-law Tom McNeal of Coronado, California, and six grandchildren: Adeline Crandall (Seth) of Syracuse, Jackson Rhoton (Jenna) of Roy, Corinne Biddulph (Brad) of Mountain Green, Zane Rhoton (Breanna) of Pacifica, CA, Sam McNeal (Santa Monica, CA), and Henry McNeal (San Diego, CA). Jo is also survived by four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by Bert, her brothers, and her parents. 

 

Funeral Services will be held Saturday March 30, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Rd. Friends may visit with family from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. prior to services at the mortuary. 

 

The family wishes to thank the caring staff of Legacy House in Farmington, the friends who made her welcome there and gave her their love during the hardest time of her life, and the good people of West Point who fixed her computer, shoveled snow for her, and traded garden vegetables all those years. If you ever played Casino with Jo, bring a ten of diamonds and a two of spades to remember her. She holds all the aces now (as she usually did in life) and we are so happy that Bert, whose car has been idling at the curb for 22 years now, can lean over and open the door for her.