Wordless Wednesday/Cari Lyn

24 Jan 1967 - 25 Mar 2009

Charles Jr. had a Life Insurance Policy!

"S. L. City, June 4th, 1872

"I take pleasure in making known to the public that my husband, Charles Kidgell, Jr. deceased, had his life insured in the Mutual Life and Savings Society of the United States, organized in this city, Hon. Frank Fuller, President; and I desire to return my sincere thanks to the company for their promptness in paying the policy of $3,000 previous to its failing due.  

"Sarah A. KIDGELL."

One Lovely Blog Award

Two weeks ago I was given this award by Nancy My Ancestors and Me and I don't want anymore time to go by without saying Thank You!
There are rules to excepting this award and that's what's been slowing me up!  I am to send this award to 15 other bloggers that I find.  I am working on this.  But, in the mean time I do appreciate being noticed by another blogger.  Who learns more by doing a Genealogy Blog?  Me of course!

I love to do research and to help others to search out their Ancestors. Thank You again and Nancy I do enjoy reading your blog!

1872; A difficult year for Sarah Ann Kidgell.

1872 is a Leap Year.  President Ulysses S. Grant would be re-elected as President of the United States.  Yellowstone is established as the worlds first National Park, and 

the first color photograph is created. 

 The Kidgell family start the new year with a newborn son, Fred and their four other children; Ellen Maria, she is seventeen and in a year will marry Joseph Bithell. (30 Dec 1873), son William is twelve and will be thirteen in July, son James is ten, and daughter Sarah Ann (my great-grandmother) is seven and will be eight in March.  Charles and Sarah Ann are grateful, knowing they are very blessed to have these children and know how delicate life is after loosing four small children; such heartache.  

Charles's father Charles Sr. is no longer living in their neighborhood; he and his wife Ann have moved to Kansas to be with members of the Reorganized LDS Chruch. 

 Charles's sister Caroline Higson and family still live in the neighborhood, also 

Sarah Ann's mother and father,  Edward and Maria Cashmore are living next door.  Life in general is good but, oh how a 'moment in time' can change everything. 

( From Kidgell and Cashmore Histories sent to me 3 March 2011  from D. Gedge, descendant of Fred Kidgell) 

"Charles is brought home in great pain from being kicked in the chest by a horse. 

This wouldn't have been a quarter horse that did the kicking--this would have

 been a draft horse.  One must remember that there were

 no miracle drugs available to help fight pneumonia.  

It would only take a few days for the inflammation to have the upper hand."  Charles is only thirty eight years old!

One year before (24 April 1871)  Charles's death he received his Patriarchal Blessing, given by John Smith.  (Sarah Ann was also given a Blessing)  He was faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the very end. My feelings of great great grandfather Charles Kidgell Jr. are he was a loving and supportive husband to Sarah Ann and a great father to his children.  

Deseret News

Obituary

May 1, 1872

"Died ----In this city, on the 25th [22] instant, after one week's illness, of inflammation of the lungs, Charles Kidgell, Jr. Born Aug. 29 [21] in 1832 Birmingham, England.  Bap. Apr. 1852. Arrived in this city, Sept 5 1855.  Lived and died in the full faith of the Gospel." 

This isn't the end of Sarah Ann's grief.  Four months later a diphtheria epidemic broke out in the area.  Sarah's two sons William and James contracted the disease.  One can imagine how Sarah Ann with the help of her mother desperately cared for the young boys day and night fervently praying for their recovery.  I suspect, daughter Sarah Ann  was also very sick because written on the back of a picture I have of Great grandmother (Sarah Ann) states it was "taken after being sick for a year."     
The younger son James Edward will die first followed fourteen days later by William Henry. 

In my possession are two acrostic's written by Francis Tuft Whitney to help comfort Sarah Ann and Ellen Maria.  I have no idea how Brother Whitney knew the Kidgell family.  He lived in Parowan, Utah which is over two hundred miles from Salt Lake City.  

   To refresh your memory; an acrostic is a composition usually in verse in which sets of letters (as the initial or final letters of the lines) taken in order form a word or phrase.  In this case the acrostic's begins with letters;

   S A R A H  A N N  K I D G E L L                    J O S E P H  J A M E S  K I D G E L L   

This is my great grandmother Sarah Ann Kidgell Hepworth  b1864-d1947

I will close this post with the words of great great grandfather Charles from his letter dated 17 June 1853 (posted earlier) " I feel to praise my God that he rose up a prophet and established his church and kingdom and I have had the opportunity of embracing the gospel and I know that it is the Church and Kingdom of God and besides it  there is no other."   

Ninth child Fredrick Cashmore Kidgell

My favorite cake is coconut!

     Is it Fredrick or just plain Fred I ask myself.  All the records I have seen (minus a birth record) is just 'Fred' but, for some reason you think he must have been given the more 'formal' name.  Fred is the ninth child of Sarah Ann and Charles born just before Christmas day.  My great-grandmother Sarah Ann would be seven years old and I'm sure she felt this newborn to be a wonderful Christmas gift for their family.   

When he was a young boy, it really made him happy when his mother or sisters made a coconut layer cake.  At school one day they were going to have a picnic, and each child was to bring something for the lunch, then put the food altogether. [A potluck lunch]  His sisters [Ellen and Sarah Ann] made him a coconut layer cake.  They dressed him in a little velvet suit with short pants and sent him on his way with the coconut layer cake.  When he arrived at the party he just didn't want to put his cake with the rest of the food, so he climbed up a tree and sat there and ate the cake.  No one could get him to come down.  (Story written my his daughters, Melba K Gedge and Stella Lily K. Olsen)

Charles KIDGELL Sr. Life in England, Utah and Kansas.

Before continuing on with the life of Sarah Ann and Charles I decided this is a good time to write about father Kidgell, Charles Sr..   Charles Sr. was born 5 Aug 1806 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England to Joseph Kidgell Jr. and Ann Platts. He has one older brother, Henry.

  Charles Sr.'s ancestral  lines end at about  1732-35.  

This is not because of my efforts of research but, of a second cousin once removed, Lily Jane Miller, who lives in Manti, Utah.  Our common ancestor is Sarah Ann and Charles Jr., they are her first Great- grandparents and, as a reminder, they are my second Great-grandparents.  Lily Jane has done considerable  research on the Kidgell's for many years back when it wasn't so easy and has done a wonderful job of sourcing.  I am very grateful for her willingness 

to share information with me.

When father Charles Sr. came to Utah in 1859 at the age of fifty three he had

 been married twice. 

At age twenty one Charles married Marie Vale on 13 August 1827 in the parish of Wolverhampton, Stafford, England.  In my minds eye she was beautiful!  Marie died just a month before their third wedding anniversary. I do not know of any children.

  Charles met another beauty Caroline Loftus who was just eighteen years old when he married her on 31 May 1831 in Aston Juxta Parish, Birmingham, Warwick, England.  Six children were born to them, Charles Jr. being the oldest and only boy, Henrietta Elizabeth b 1835, Caroline b 1836, Ann Maria b 1838, Martha b 1841, and Helen b 1844.

Mother Caroline died just before baby Helen's first birthday, 2 Oct 1845 of Pleuropneumonia, Emphysema, at St. George, Birmingham, England.  

Baby Helen died at seventeen months of pneumonia at Aston, Warwick, England in 1846.

Charles joins the Church of Jesus Christ-of-latter-day-Saints in 1853.

Daughter Henrietta married William Procter in 1855 and sadly she died in 1857, no children.

Daughter Ann Maria marries after father Charles leaves England to a John Leigh in 1861.

They would have four children which I'm thinking never see's their grandfather Kidgell. 

The only information I have on daughter Martha Harriet is she died at age eighteen in 1859 and I'm guessing this happened before father Charles left for Zion in May 1859.

Daughter Caroline who married John Higson  is the one who traveled with her father Charles Sr. just eleven months after marriage (1858) and has her first baby just as they sail out of Liverpool for America. They had six boys and one girl!   They joined the LDS Church in 1854.

Researching the Newspaper I found this ad taken out by Charles Sr., of two stray cows that came visiting and wouldn't go home.    So simple so fun to find! 

Charles married again.  I only know her by her first name, Harriet and she is twelve years younger than Charles.   I am guessing that 1861 is the year they married.    A record on 

Utah Deaths and Burials, 1888-1946  https://www.familysearch.org/

gave me her birth year and place; Blockswitch, Stafford, England and of course

 the day she died.  The following article I found in the Newspaper explains her death. 

This says a lot.  At age sixty and forty eight, Charles Sr. and Harriet desire to adopt a child. An orphan boy.  Capt. Holladay had a stage line company and travels between Salt Lake City and Virginia City, Montana which carried much of the newly discovered gold from the Montana mines.  (Researched by me)  He would be the contact of any news about the boy.  I'm thinking she is walking down the street when she sees Capt. Holladay driving the stage coach and she is  anxious to get the latest information thinking she could climb onto the coach which is going very slow and falls.  She would be wearing a long dress and could very well catch

 her footing in the hem.

 Harriet suffered a week before she died from her injuries.  Just breaks your heart.

Deseret News  27 March 1868


It's now 1868 and Charles places an add in the Newspaper to sell two house
 in the ninth ward.
 Sounds like really nice places!
He has married again, to Ann Jenkinson (or Jennings) Barson.  Charles is now sixty two years old he is twenty eight years older than Ann who is a widow and has two children Martha age ten and John William age 7.
Ann lived in the ninth ward with  her husband Samuel Barson
 who died 25 Aug. 1865.
Charles Sr. and Ann were married on 24 Sep 1867. 
By 1870 Charles and Ann have moved to
 Pleasant View, Cherokee, Kansas.  (1870 US Census)
Charles has joined the Reorganized LDS Church and I'm guessing
 Ann is a member too. 
Five years later Charles dies on 23 March 1875.
He is buried next to Harriet in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Ann dies on 3 October 1875  and is buried in Pleasant View. 

At this writing I have no idea what happened to Ann's children Martha age 15
and John age 12. 

   

Utah War 1857-1858

An artist's sketch of the army marching past the Lion House on its way through Salt Lake City  (DUP photo Collection)

     In two and a half years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Charles and Sarah Ann will have to evacuate  their home, moving south.
  My  second Great -Grandparents Thomas and Mary Hepworth who came into the Valley in 1852 would also be among the great evacuation in 1858.
   I am just realizing the significance of the Utah War or (aka) The Buchanan Blunder, (or in my mind should be titled The Utah War Stand-off)  had on my Great Great-Grandparents  lives; the sacrifices they would have to make but, there are no stories written or orally handed down by any of them.  Oh, how I would love to know their feelings about this event.
      In 1857 the Johnston Army was given orders by President Buchanan to go out west and "put down a supposed Mormon rebellion and replace Young as territorial governor"
  "President Young announced on March 23, 1858,  that all settlements in northern Utah must be abandoned and prepared for burning if the army came in.  The evacuation started immediately...........about 30,000 people moved to Provo and other towns in central and southern Utah.    There they remained in shared and improvised housing until the Utah War  was over."
   (Source; Encyclopedia of Mormonism,p 1500) 
Historians [Mr.] Allen and [Mr.] Leonard write:
     "It was an extraordinary operation.  As the Saints moved south they cached all the stone cut for the Salt Lake Temple and covered the foundations to make it resemble a plowed field.  They boxed and carried with them twenty thousand bushels of 'tithing' grain, as well as machinery, equipment, and all the Church records and books.  The sight of thirty thousand people moving south was awesome, and the amazed Governor Cummings did all he could to persuade them to return to their homes.  Bringham Young replied that if the troops were withdrawn from the territory, the people would stop moving......"
The history of this event is worth reading about.
Below is the link to more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War#December_1857-March_1858:_winter_intermission