My Utah Pioneers

Many states in the United States have established their own state holidays. These holidays usually commemorate an important event or person that is significant to the state. Examples of such holidays are Mardi Gras in Louisiana, Cesar Chavez Day in California, Kamehameha Day in Hawaii, and Alaska Day in Alaska. 

Utah’s state holiday, Pioneer Day, is celebrated every year on 24 July. It commemorates the arrival of the first group of Latter-day Saint settlers to the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847. It is a time to celebrate all people who contributed to building the state, regardless of religion or background. 

Oxford English Dictionary defines a pioneer as “one who goes before to prepare or open up the way for others to follow.”1  For me, Pioneer Day is a time to remember the courage, sacrifice, devotion, and perseverance of those in my family who entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and beyond. On this Pioneer Day, I honor my own Utah pioneers - the firsts in each line to enter the Salt Lake Valley. 

1. Stephen Chipman and Amanda Washburn were born in 1805 and 1804, respectively, in Ontario, Canada. They married in 1825. After converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they moved their family to the United States in about 1838 to join others of their new faith. They crossed the plains in 1847 as part of the Abraham O. Smooth – Samuel Russell Company. They lived in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake City, Utah, for a short time before moving a little further south in 1853. Stephen was the co-founder of American Fork and ran Chipman Mercantile, which did not close until 1979. They are my Grandpa Chipman’s paternal great-grandparents. Stephen Chipman is also my Mayflower line. 

2. Alphonzo Green was born in 1810 in Brookfield, New York, and Betsy Bonney Murdock was born in 1810 in Hamilton, New York, both small communities east of Syracuse about twenty miles apart. They married in 1838. Betsy converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836, and Alphonzo was baptized in 1840. They left New York in 1841 and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. They migrated to Utah in 1847 as part of the Daniel Spencer-Ira Eldredge Company. They lived in the Fort while they built their home in the First Ward in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alphonzo and Betsy moved their family south to American Fork, Utah, in 1853 where they ran a boarding house. They are my Grandpa Chipman’s paternal great-grandparents. 

3. Joseph Dilworth and Fanny Davis were born in 1835 and 1839, respectively, in Worcestershire, England. They married in 1861 in Bishops Frome, Herefordshire. It is believed both converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before they married. They immigrated to the United States aboard the steamship Minnesota with their three young daughters, arriving through Castle Garden in New York on 31 October 1869. The Dilworth family continued on to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they spent their first winter living with relatives in the Millcreek area. Fanny contracted typhoid fever and died 8 November 1870. Joseph later moved to American Fork, Utah. They are my Grandpa Chipman’s maternal grandparents, and his mother, their oldest daughter, immigrated with them. 

4. Josiah Crane Saville was born in 1816 in Essex, England, and Mary Ann Wright was born in 1816 in London, England. They married in 1840. Mary Ann converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in about 1850. They immigrated to Utah with their youngest daughter in 1871 aboard the Nevada. Their other children had all made the journey ahead of them. Josiah converted in 1872, after they had settled in Salt Lake City. They are my Grandma Chipman’s paternal great-grandparents. 

5. Jacob Stevens and Eliza Symons were born in 1809 and 1815, respectively, in Cornwall, England. They married in 1831. They converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1861 in Bristol, England. Later, they immigrated to Utah, first aboard the Hudson to New York, then by train to Wyoming, and finally by ox team, arriving in Salt Lake City in November 1864. They are my Grandma Chipman’s paternal and maternal great-great-grandparents (yes, both lines - see below). 

a. Their daughter, Eleanor Stevens, born in 1832, is my Grandma Chipman’s paternal great-grandmother. She and her first husband, John Trewhela, converted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before they married in 1853. He died in 1856 leaving Eleanor with their two-year-old daughter. Eleanor married Robert Francis Neslen, a missionary from Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1859 and immigrated to the United States with him and her daughter the same year aboard the William Topscott. They traveled to Utah with the Robert Francis Neslen Company in 1859, with Robert as Captain. They settled in Salt Lake City.   

b. Their son, Abraham Stevens, born in 1840, is my Grandma Chipman’s maternal great-grandfather. In 1863, he married Eliza Edwards, born in 1840 in Gloucestershire, England. They converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and immigrated to United States before 1866. They lived in Wyoming for a few years before settling in Ogden, Utah, about 1870. 

6. Walter Eli Wilcox was born in 1821 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, six months after his father died. His mother joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1835, when he was fourteen. They moved to Kirtland, Ohio, shortly after her conversion. They later moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, where Walter converted in 1844. Walter left Nauvoo, along with his mother and first wife, in 1846. They spent some time in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where his mother died. Walter later moved his family to Missouri and worked for several years to save money to move to Utah. Having sufficient means, Walter migrated west with his family in 1852. Elizabeth Ann Hawkins was born in 1829 in London, England. She converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1849. Elizabeth immigrated to the United States in 1852 aboard the Kennebec through New Orleans, arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, the same year. Walter and Elizabeth married in 1853 and remained in Salt Lake City. They are my Grandma Chipman’s maternal great-grandparents. 

7. Beryl Mary Lisle was born in 1914 in Wolverhampton, England. She married Thomas Holloway Postans, born in Wolverhampton, in 1939. He died young leaving her to raise their young son (my dad). She married Wilfrid Hampden Wheatley in early 1948 and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1949. Mary immigrated with her second husband and children in 1949 on the final voyage of the Aquitania. The family traveled by train from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, where they settled for a few years. They moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1957. She is my paternal grandma.

1 John Simpson and Edmond Weiner, editors, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), "Pioneer."