Richards Ancestor Highlights

Franklin Dewey Richards 1821-1899

Apostle – President of Quorum of 12

Official Church Historian

Carpenter in Nauvoo Temple

Mission President in Scotland and England

Member of UT Territorial Legislature

see Franklin D. Richards blogpost
see Richards family blog

Nanny Longstroth 1828-1911

First Husband was Willard Richards

Married to Franklin Dewey Richards

Patriarch John Smith told Nanny in a blessing which he gave when she was sixteen years old, "that prophets, seers and revelators, should proceed forth from her." This prediction was fulfilled. She is the mother of Apostle George F. Richards, who [was] also President of the Salt Lake Temple. She is grandmother of Apostle Stephen L Richards, and she was the wife of two apostles – Willard and his nephew Franklin.
see Nanny Longstroth blogpost

Frederick William Richards 1866-1945

Frederick William Richards 1866-1945

Married to Carolyn Laub

Served Mission to Nebraska

Carolyn  (Carlie) Laub 1865-1944

married to Frederick William Richards

George Laub 1814-1880

 Married Mary Jane McGinness

Father of Carolyn (Carlie) Laub

Carpenter

His father died when he was 8, mother died at 14

He later converted to Mormonism, w/o his adopted family “Adopted” to John D. Lee

First son died at 7 mo., Had 13 children

Mabel Richards 1893-1966

Married to Willie Helaman Stewart

Stewart Ancestor Highlights

Isaac Mitton Stewart 1815-1890

His father Beakley b 1758 fought in Revolutionary War

Married to Matilda Jane Downs

Farmer, brickmason, Father of 16

Pioneer Captain in 1852 to Draper, UT

Became prosperous – Started w/ one room adobe, dirt floored home to 5000 sq. ft. 15 room “mansion”

Bishop in Draper 1856-1890

County Selectman (Commissioner)

Matilda Jane Downs  1823-1890

3^rd of 6 children

1^st wife of Isaac Mitton Stewart

pregnant during journey west from Nauvoo to SLC

supported her husband in plural marriage

In later life, she unselfishly moved to live with her grown son to help her husband avoid legal trouble so he could raise his younger wives’ small children w/o trouble after polygamy was outlawed.

James Zebulon Stewart 1844-1931

Married to Julia Ann Wadsworth Fitzgerald

During difficult farm years in Draper as a child, he gathered roots and weeds to eat to avoid starving

President of Brigham Young College –Logan

Lawyer/Probate Judge

Missionary to Mexico 4x 

Translated Book of Mormon into Spanish

Julia Ann Wadsworth Fitzgerald

1854-1953

Mother of 10 children who all married in the temple

Cared for 3 small children while her husband was away serving missions

1^st Pres of Young Ladies Entrenchment Society in Draper

James Z. and Julia Ann Stewart Family

Willie Helaman Stewart 1886-1951

 

Mabel Richards  1893-1966 

Willie and Mabel Stewart Family

Julia Alta Gale Stewart (Knight)  1915-2005

Gale Stewart Knight was was born January 18, 1915 in Logan, Utah to Mabel Richards and Willie Helaman Stewart. She married Richard Knight on July 2, 1935 in the Salt Lake Temple. As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she served in many callings,including service as a full time missionary and as an ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple. Her beautiful voice was appreciated by all who heard her sing. She was a gifted and much loved teacher in the church and in the Salt Lake School District where she taught for many years. She found much joy in the beauties of nature and her greatest delight was children. Respected and loved by all who knew her and cherished by her family, she made our world a better place. In a difficult world, she taught by example that forgiveness and unconditional love bring peace. (excerpt from obituary).

Brimhall Ancestor Highlights

(wife of George Mayer) Ann Yost 1809-1893

George Mayer 1805-1896 

 3^rd of 13 children

Born in of Pennsylvania

Ancestors of German Descent

Expert wagon and ploughmaker

Held Important Military Positions

Served Mission in Switzerland 4 yrs

Parent of Rachel Ann Mayer

see diary of George Mayer

Rachel Ann Mayer 1829-1917

 Oldest of 8 children

Mother of 10 Children (George H. Brimhall oldest)

Apprenticed as a tailor

Drove the wagon from Nauvoo to Salt Lake at age 19

“She was a woman of high ideals with great determination and strong emotions of love, joy and sorrow. She was every obedient to the cause that made her a pioneer.”  She helped settle  Parawon, Ogden, Little Muddy, NV, and Spanish Fork.

She loved to sew and read, especially the scriptures.

See Biography of Rachel Ann Mayer

George Washington Brimhall 1814-1895 (no picture yet - wikipedia picture is George H. I think)
 Married to Rachel Ann Mayer

Member of Utah Territorial Legislature, Ogden City

Council and UT State Legislature

Called on Mission to settle St. George, UT (Muddy Mission)

Patriarch of Utah County Stake

See Wikipedia George Washington Brimhall

George H. Brimhall 1852-1932

 BYU President 1904-1921

"My ruling passion has been to move men's minds"

 

“Seek the truth, love man & God,

And in your work be glad

Be much more moved by love of good

Than by the fear of bad.”

“As shadows flee from light,

so does ignorance from learning.”

– George H. Brimhall

“O, may I know the Lord as friend,

And love of him my life attend;

May freedom’s joy my soul e’er thrill,

In yielding mine to Father’s will

O, may I grow to love, to give,

And for the help of others live;

May greatest joy be mine to know

That I have lessened others’ woe.

May life eternal be my share

Under my Redeemer’s care.

With those I love, eternal joy

Eternal day in God’s employ.

George Henry Brimhall

 see From the Muddy River to the Ivory Tower:  The Journey of George H. Brimhall

Alsina Elizabeth Wilkins 1856-1926

Wife of George H. Brimhall

Her 6^th ( and last) child lived only 3 months.  Due to infection during childbirth she was diagnosed with brain fever.  After 2 year of steady decline, she went to Provo mental hospital where her husband continued to visit her for 40 years.

George Washington Wilkins 1822-1916

overcame swearing habit “immediately” after baptism

prosperous farmer

branch president in Massachusetts

helped establish Mormon settlement in

San Bernardino CA

owner of one of the first molasses mills in Spanish Fork

member of the City Council

served mission to England

father of Alsina Wilkins

 see George Washington Wilkins- Wilkins Family History

Lucy Jane (Jennie) Brimhall 1875-1957

 

Some thirty years after her release as a missionary, a Relief Society Magazine article commented on the effectiveness of Jennie Brimhall’s mission. “So effective was her testimony that after twenty years an unbeliever who listened to her speak wrote, saying he could never forget her sincere, guileless expression and was led further to investigate and receive the blessings of membership” (“Jennie Brimhall Knight,” Dec. 1928, p. 646).

First Single Sister Missionary

Served with Inez Knight in England, 1898

Jay Will Knight & Jennie Brimhall (Knight)

Jennie Brimhall (Knight) & Jay Will Knight

Knight Ancestor Highlights

Joseph Knight Farm in Colesville, New York

Joseph Knight, Sr. 1772-1847

“It shall be said of him, by the sons of Zion…that this man was a faithful man in Israel.” (Joseph Smith)

loaned wagon and horse to Joseph Smith to obtain gold plates

Joseph Smith recorded “my aged and beloved brother Joseph Knight, Sr., was among the

first to administer to my necessities” in the work of the Restoration. “He has [ever]

been faithful and true . . . never deviating to the right hand nor to the left. Behold he

is a righteous man. May God Almighty lengthen out the old man's days; . . . [He is] a

faithful man in Israel; therefore his name shall never be forgotten. There is his son

Newel Knight, [and his other son] Joseph Knight Jr., whose names I record in the Book

of the Law of the Lord, with unspeakable delight, for they are my friends.”

Polly Peck 1774-1831

“Her greatest desire was to set her feet upon the land of Zion and to have her body interred in that land…The Lord gave her the desire of her heart.”

She was the 1^st Latter-day Saint

to die in Missouri

 

Newell Knight 1800-1847

“Seek forth to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion, be humble and full of love, having faith, hope and charity, being temperate in all things.”

Lydia Goldthwait Knight1812-1884

Her motto was “God Rules”

When another woman complained about the mob Lydia said “Be calm; let your heart rather be filled with humblest prayer, that God will turn aside their wicked purposes.”

 

Jesse Knight 1845-1921

Ány money we should get should be used wisely for the purpose of doing good and building up the Church.”

Amanda McEwan Knight 1851-1932

Friends and family attributed her goodness to  “wisdom…beauty of mind and body…warm friendliness…she made all the grandchildren feel equally loved.”

Amanda Melvina Higbee 1826-1882

(Mother of Amanda McEwan Knight)

Excerpts from Relief Society vault letter to posterity:

“To my dear children and my grandchildren who may be living when the box which contains this letter shall be opened and the fingers that penned these lines gone back to mother earth.

I conjure you, my dear children, to be faithful in all your covenants that you make in the Church. Pay all your tithes and offerings with an eye single to the glory of God and be faithful to the end of your days. It is the great love I bear you that causes me to pen you these few lines, the last you will have from me on this earth. It is the voice of your mother and grandmother speaking to you from the grave, calling upon you to live near your God and do all that you can that is left undone for our dead….And new, my beloved children and children’s children, down to the latest generation: Be true to yourself and to your religion and to your God for there is no exaltation outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Isaac Higbee, Jr. 1797-1874

Married to Keziah String, father of Amanda Higbee

1^st Stk. President of Utah County

Only son was killed in the   Utah Indian War near Squaw Peak

Bishop of Nauvoo and Salt Lake

Built 1st grist mill in Provo and owned a butcher shop

Probate Judge, Postmaster in Provo and first Chief Justice in UT County, County clerk and recorder, Circulation Mgr of Deseret News

He served on three missions;

Near the end of his life he said“I wish to die in peace and in fellowship with all humanity.”

see Isaac Higbee

Keziah String 1802-1841

Born on Christmas Day 1802

Married Isaac Higbee, Jr. at age 16

“Isaac Higbee’s devoted wife, Keziah String died Nov. 3, 1841, [in Nauvoo] three days after the birth of their tenth child. She was truly a martyr to the cause of truth, like so many of the Saints, being driven from place to place and suffering all the persecutions, mobbings, and indignities of their enemies.”

 

 

Jay Will Knight 1874-1956

Served mission to Great Britain

Married to Lucy Jane (Jennie) Brimhall

Ranchowner and Miner,

Bishop and Counselor to Stk. President

in Cardston, Alberta Canada

Candidate for Governer in Utah, Utah State Senator

Hobbies: Horseback riding, jockeying, tennis

In biography of his father:,Jesse

“It is by the power of the Holy Ghost that we may know the truth of all things.  Should we not then adjust our lives, prepare our minds and ponder in our hearts the things we wish to accomplish, so that God, our Heavenly Father may find us prepared to receive his divine messages and help us advance properly.  I believe father received more joy and satisfaction through recognizing God as his guide than he could have received in any other way.” – Jesse William Knight

see Knight Family Website