DAVIS, ELIZABETH (GOLDSMITH BRACKENBURY DURFEE SMITH LOTT)
I have excerpted the following from Ron Romig's Missouri History web page (see my links section). It provides added background on Elizabeth's expulsion from Missouri and return to the Missouri area.
The late Arthur J. Brackenbury of Independence recalled that his grandmother, Elizabeth Brackenbury, lived there at the time of the expulsion.
"She lived on a 10-acre tract on the Blue, where Centropolis now is," Mr. Brackenbury said. "It was in November when she was driven from her home, and she and a son spent their first night with only a corn-shock as shelter."
With several other families, they went out the old river road north of Independence and crossed the river at the Wayne City landing. On the Clay County side, shelters were prepared by propping willows against a sycamore log, and the exiles remained there the rest of the winter.
FATHER IN EXPULSION
Mr. Brackenbury's father, John W. Brackenbury, was 6 years old at the time of the expulsion. He later moved to California, where Mr. Brackenbury was born in 1861.
The idea always was to return to Independence, Mr Brackenbury said. We came back in 1876, by covered wagon from San Bernardino to Salt Lake City. We waited there a year for the Union Pacific railroad to be finished, and we chartered the first boxcar that ran from Ogden to Omaha. It cost father $1,000 to move his family and household goods.
Brackenbury recalled that the rail trip was delayed two days at Cheyenne when the wood-burning locomotive ran out of fuel. The trip was made by river boat from Omaha to White Cloud, Kans., and by covered wagon from White Cloud to Independence.
[Further information on the return of RLDS Saints to Independence, starting in 1867, at the abovementioned site.]
The Kansas City Sunday Star November 20, 1938, page 10 A, col. 1
Editor's [Ron Romig's] Note: The Union Pacific Railroad was completed to Promontory Point north of Salt Lake in 1869. The Brackenbury family stayed in White Cloud, Kansas for several years before going on to Independence, Missouri in 1877. [William J. Curtis family research - John Brackenbury's letters to the Herald]
HUNTINGTON, ZINA DIANTHA (Jacobs Smith Young)
I would like to thank Lorin Hansen and Clark Goble for sharing the following with me:
Diary of Caroline Barnes Crosby.
Utah Historical Society Library (Pages 17-30, Dec. 1852 -
March 1853)
Saturday [Dec. 25th, 1852] Christmas day. Tolerably
pleasant in the forenoon. Br. Naile went to the
mission. Br. Henry Jacobs stayed with us overnight,
with whom we had a very agreeable visit. We talked
over olden times, he spoke of his trials in the
gospel, and seemed rather to murmur at his fortune.
He said I reminded him so much of his first wife
that it revived all his past trials on her account.
Sunday [Jan.] 2nd. [1853] Tolerably pleasant. Afternoon all
of us went to meeting, quite a general attendance.
Elder Green spoke to the people.
Monday 3rd. I washed and cleaned up the house.
Towards evening Br. Henry Jacobs called on us, and
informed us of his intentions of marrying the widow
Clawson,
January 11th. There were two couples married in our
chamber. Mr. John M. Horner officiated. Henry B.
Jacobs to Mary Clawson, and Horatio Stanley to Edna
Stuart. The party passed of in very good style.
Sunday [March] 20th day. This morning he called in
company with Hiram Clark and Ammon Greene, informed us
of his success in getting business. It is a beautiful
day. Frances took a little ride on horseback,
returned in season to let Jona [?] have the horse to
ride to church. We neither of us attended today on
account of colds. Towards evening Mary Clawson called.
She looked very sad, said she had been weeping, gave us
an account of her late husband Henry B. Jacobs leaving
her in consequence of his old wife coming and claiming
her previous right.
See ISL p. 103. This must be Henry's third wife, whom I did not have a name for. The December 25th entry is affecting, as Henry remembers Zina. The March 20th entry is interesting. It doesn't sound like polygamy to me. Aseneth apparently returned to him, so he left Mary.
