Emeline Elmer

Emeline Elmer

            Emeline was born on 12 July 1828 in Underhill, Chittenden, Vermont. Her parents were Esquire and Lucy Elmer. She was the youngest of 11 children. Her mother died in 1843 when Emeline was only 15 years old, her father passed away one year later in 1844.  Two years later we find Emeline in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where she is married to Myron Barber Child on 14 February 1846. She was 17 years old at the time. Myron was 19 years old.

Myron Barber Child

            
            They were later sealed in the endowment house in Salt Lake City on 10 October 1863.  Just one month later in the same town, Emeline's cousin William Elmer was married to Myron Child's sister Hannah Child.


            From this other marriage we learn that Emeline must have been traveling with her uncle, John Elmer's family.  Because of this it is assumed that after the death of her parents, 16 year old Emeline was taken in and looked after by her uncle.  Emeline's other siblings must have been old enough to live on their own as they did not make the trek West with her.  John Elmer's family had been visited by missionaries 8 years before the death of Emelin's parents.  They were quickly converted and baptised.

Hannah Polina Child
Emeline's sister-in-law

William Warren Elmer
Emeline's cousin

            There is very little written about Emeline Elmer, most of the information that we can gather about her life is from the history of her sister-in-law Hannah Child.  It appears that Myron Child and Emeline Elmer lived together with William Elmer and Hannah Child for some time and crossed the plains together.  The following is from the history of Hannah Child:


            The two couples rented a house and lived together and saved to continue on to the west. Mr. Child, with his family, and the rest of the Saint’s left for Council Bluffs. The parting was hard for Hannah, as her little brother Asa tried to stay with her. She worked so hard and worried till she had brain fever and was sick again for two months. There was no help to be had, except a small boy to run errands. All were sick or afraid of the fever. They had to haul water three miles from the river and endured many hardships. William went to Keokuk, twelve miles to get medicine. He took sick on the way and had to be brought home. He lay beside her on the bed for three days burning with fever before help came. An over-dose of medicine nearly ended his life at this time. The year was a very trying one and they were not able to save enough to start west, but in September, John, Hannah’s brother, came back and she was so happy to see him. Her first baby was born in three weeks and was named John after him. There was no help to be had so John and a neighbor lady took care of her. She got along splendidly and in two weeks took in two boarders to cook for at one dollar per week apiece.

Emeline Elmer

            William was making fifty cents a day and they were able to save enough to buy a wagon and the things they needed to start west. In the spring of 1848 the two couples, each with a baby, started out. It was very stormy and muddy traveling and the Indians were hostile, but there was plenty of grass for the horses. It took three weeks to go from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, where the folks had stopped to recruit before starting for Salt Lake. A neighbor met them three miles out and said the folks were well, but little Asa had died. Both John and Hannah were heart-broken, for they had looked forward to this reunion. It took some time before she could be reconciled and enjoy herself. Little Johnnie was seven months old and the first grand child – so much was made over him. The following spring the two couples returned to Des Moines to please John Elmer to get the rest of his children, who had stayed behind. The trip was full of hardships and privations but they managed to persuade the rest of the brothers and sisters to go back with them. John (William’s father) was overjoyed.


            They remained at the Bluffs until 1852, when they all started for Salt Lake – about three hundred families in all. When they got to the Platt River, cholera broke out. A great many died and many more were sick. Hannah did much to ease the suffering and help bury the dead. She finally contracted cholera herself and was unable to do anything until they reached the mountains. The high dry air seemed to revive her. When they got to Salt Lake the company was divided – part going south, and the others north. The Elmers and part of the Child family (including Myron and Emeline) went north to where Ogden is now. There were just two houses, a patch of oak and wild cherry bushes. They took up a farm at Harrisville, lived in their wagons until houses could be built. Hannah’s father ran Brother Farr’s saw mill day and night to get lumber cut for their homes. During this time he contracted Brain fever from which he died.


            They managed, someway, to get through that terrible winter, the cold and lack of food caused much sickness.  In the spring they put in a crop and things looked better for a while but soon the grasshoppers came and destroyed most of it. They saved just enough to see them through the fall and winter.  The Indians were so bad they had to build a twelve foot wall and made a Fort and all move in for protection.

Bingham's Fort

            The history of Hannah Child was taken from http://stagge-parker.blogspot.com/2009/05/hannah-polina-child.html


            In 1856 Myron and Emeline purchased 80 acres of land and built a two room log house on the north side of the road in Riverdale.  Myron later married a much younger second wife, Serepta Jane Cole. The two wives lived on separate farms and Myron would divide his time between the two families.  

Myron Barber Home in Riverdale

            In the fall of 1875 he built a small brick house in Riverdale and from then on both families resided there.  Myron's second wife passed away seven years later in 1882.  In the year 1868 he hired Neils C. Flaygare to build the house, which was in those days, one of the fine old houses of Weber County.  The lumber for this house was native red pine.  Being constructed the year before the railroad came through, the hardware was very expensive.  The nails, six kegs, at fifty dollars per keg, cost three hundred dollars.  This house at the present writing, January 1933, is still in a good state of preservation.  It was for many years one of the conspicuous landmarks of this part of the County.


            Myron and Emeline had 11 children: William Warren, Asa Lonson, Alfred Bosworth, Myron Barber, Mark Anthony, Emeline Lucinda, Cynthia Louisa, John Squire, Chauncey, Polly, and Henry Increase Child.

            Myron passed away on 16 June 1896, and Emeline passed three years later on 10 May 1899. They both died in Riverdale, Weber, Utah and are buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.

            The following is the history of Emeline's Uncle John Elmer who introduced her to the gospel and brought her to Utah:

John Elmer

            John Elmer arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, October 3, 1852, after a hard trip across the plains. He moved to Payson, Utah county, Utah, where he did much to help settle that valley, which was then inhabited by the Indians. He died at the age of 92 years at Payson and was buried in the Payson City Cemetery. His wife, Sarah (Sally) Peake Elmer, died in Indiana. He married 2nd Hariet Gould Brunson, widow of Seymour Brunson, by whom he had two children, Lucretia Elmer and Jerusha Kibbe, who married John Spencer. John Elmer was a shoemaker by trade.


            John was a timber man who cut and hewed logs to build homes. He floated logs down the river and was known as the best shingle maker. He was also a farmer and shoe maker. He always took time to study the Bible with his family so when the missionaries came in 1836, they were ready to accept the gospel. They started their preparations to join the saints and, in the spring of 1838, they left with others. His wife and their oldest son developed typhoid fever and died in Indiana. The family went on to Adams County, Illinois, where they built a cabin for the winter. John and his sons went out to find work. While they were gone, their cabin and all their possessions burned to the ground. They found work and lived through the winter. In the spring John remarried and they lived in Harriet's home. In 1843 they moved to Lee County, Iowa, and later to Council Bluffs, Iowa. They crossed the plains in 1852. John and his family settled in Ogden and later moved to Payson. He remained a farmer but also made shingles and shoes. He was a large man, six feet tall, and of great physical strength due to early life as a lumberman. He had a pleasant temperament and a sense of humor; he was honest and a reliable citizen and member of the church. He lost his eyesight a short time before his death. He died as a result of teaching some men how to properly fell a tree. The tree fell on him because he couldn't see to get out of the way. He was 95 years old when he died.



BIOGRAPHY:  Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers, volume 2

Ogden City Cemetery