NOTE: Shown as father on marriage record of Elizabeth to Thomas HenryCotton

Jane

MARRIAGE: Paul parish records

Jane Rouffignack

CHRISTENING: Paul parish records; FHL film 0226179

John Sampson Rouffignack

CHRISTENING: Paul parish records; FHL film 0226179

Phillis Rouffignack

CHRISTENING: Paul parish records; FHL film 0226179; IGI

Grace Rouffignack

CHRISTENING: Paul parish records; FHL film 0226179; IGI

Stanley Franklin Earl

All details for this living person have been suppressed.

Hugh J. Earl

All details for this living person have been suppressed.

Leland Lester Prince

All details for this living person have been suppressed.

Warren Clifford Moore Prince

All details for this living person have been suppressed.

Thomas Brett Wright

(Research):Wright, Thomas, 1856, NA, Horizon, Ship roster on microfilm(s)25691
Wright, Thomas, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686
Wright, Thomas, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686

The Horizon Ship left Liverpool on 5/25/1856 and docked in Boston on 06/20/1856. There were 856 members of the church on-board under the leadership of Edward Martin.

WRIGHT, THOMAS D. (son of Andrew Wright and Sarah Ann Brett of Manchester, Eng.). Born Oct. 24, 1851. Came to Utah Nov. 30, 1856, Martin and Tyler handcart company.

Married Mary Jane Clough April 6, 1871, Nephi, Utah (daughter of Samuel Clough and Martha Carter), who was born Oct. 17, 1839, and came to Utah August, 1871. Their children: Sarah E., m. James Prince; Thomas C.; Rosebelle, m. Christian Petersen; Lillie M., m. Clarence Moier.

Member 138th quorum seventies; block teacher. Librarian at Cedar City, Utah. Expressman.

Sarah Ann Brett

(Research):Wright, Sarah Ann, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686
Wright, Sarah Ann, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686
Wright, Sarah Ann, 1856, NA, Horizon, Ship roster on microfilm(s)25691

The Horizon Ship left Liverpool on 5/25/1856 and docked in Boston on 06/20/1856. There were 856 members of the church on-board under the leadership of Edward Martin. Andrew was not listed on the ship's roster.
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The large backlog of needy LDS converts awaiting passage from Europe and reduced tithing receipts at home persuaded Brigham Young in 1855 to instruct that the "poor saints" sailing from Liverpool to New York and taking the train to Iowa City should thence "walk and draw their luggage" overland to Utah. In 1856 five such handcart companies were organized to make the 1,300-mile trip on foot from the western railroad terminus at Iowa City to Salt Lake City (see Immigration and Emigration; Mormon Trail).

Success seemed assured when the first two companies, totaling 486 immigrants pulling 96 handcarts, arrived safely in Salt Lake City on September 26, 1856. They accomplished the trek in under sixteen weeks. The third company, and presumably the last of the season, made up of 320 persons pulling 64 handcarts, arrived on October 2. But at that point the two remaining companies, totaling 980 people and 233 handcarts, were still on the way, having started dangerously late. One of these companies, under James G. Willie, left Iowa City on July 15, crossed Iowa to Florence (Omaha), Nebraska, then, after a week in Florence, headed out onto the plains. The last company, under Edward Martin, departed Florence on August 25. Three independent wagon companies, carrying 390 more immigrants, also started late.

A week after the departure of the Martin Company, Franklin D. Richards, an apostle who had organized the handcart effort as president of the European Mission, also departed Florence with sixteen other returning missionaries. This party, on horseback and in fast carriages, passed the Martin Company on September 7, the Willie Company on September 12, and arrived in Salt Lake City on October 4.

Richards's report that many more immigrants were coming was a shock: the late-starting immigrants would not be adequately clothed for the cold weather they would surely experience; they, like those in all previous lightly supplied handcart companies, would be perilously short of food; and, as they were unexpected, the last resupply wagons, which were routinely dispatched into the mountains to meet immigrant companies, had already returned.

Anticipating the worst, President Young mobilized men and women gathered for general conference and immediately ordered a massive rescue effort. A party of twenty-seven men, led by George D. Grant, left on October 7 with the first sixteen of what ultimately amounted to 200 wagons and teams. Several of the rescue party, including Grant, had been among the missionaries who had ridden in from the East five days before.

Two weeks later, one of the earliest blizzards on record struck just as both the handcart companies and the independent wagon companies were entering the Rocky Mountains in central Wyoming. After several days of being lashed by the fierce blizzard, people in the exposed handcart companies began to die.

Grant's rescue party found the Willie Company on October 21 in a blinding snowstorm one day after they had run out of food. But the worst still lay ahead, when, after a day of rest and replenishment, the company had to struggle over the long and steep eastern approach to South Pass in the teeth of a northerly gale. Beyond the pass, the company, now amply fed and free to climb aboard empty supply wagons as they became available, moved quickly, arriving in Salt Lake City on November 9. Of the 404 still with the company, 68 died and many others suffered from severe frostbite and near starvation.

Those of the Martin Company, three-fourths of them women, children, and the elderly, suffered even more. When the storm hit on October 19, they made camp and spent nine days on reduced rations waiting out the storm. Grant's party, after leaving men and supplies with the Willie Company, plunged farther east through the snow with eight wagons in search of the Martin Company. A scouting party sent out ahead of the wagons found them 150 miles east of South Pass.

The company, already in a desperate condition, was ordered to break camp immediately. The supply wagons met them on the trail, but the provisions were not nearly enough and, after struggling 55 miles farther, the company once again went into camp near Devil's Gate to await the arrival of supplies.

In the meantime, the rescue effort began to disintegrate. Rescue teams held up several days by the raging storm turned back, fearing to go on and rationalizing that the immigrant trains and Grant's advance party had either decided to winter over or had perished in the storm.

The Martin Company remained in camp for five days. When no supplies came, the company, now deplorably weakened, was again forced out on the trail. It had suffered fifty-six dead before being found, and it was now losing people at an appalling rate.

Relief came barely in time. A messenger ordered back west by Grant reached and turned around some of the teams that had abandoned the rescue. At least thirty wagons reached the Martin Company just as it was about to attempt the same climb to South Pass that had so sorely tested the Willie Company. Starved, frozen, spent, their spirits crushed, and many unable to walk, the people had reached the breaking point.

But now warmed and fed, with those unable to walk riding in the wagons, the company moved rapidly on. The Martin Company, in a train of 104 wagons, finally arrived in Salt Lake City on November 30. Out of 576, at least 145 had died and, like the Willie Company, many were severely afflicted by frostbite and starvation.

Elements of the three independent wagon companies and the rescue effort straggled into Salt Lake City until mid-December except for twenty men, under Daniel W. Jones, who remained for the winter at Devil's Gate to guard freight unloaded there by the independent wagon companies, in part to make room for exhausted members of the Martin Company. The Jones party suffered misery and starvation at Devil's Gate. At one point they were reduced to eating rawhide until friendly Indians gave them some buffalo meat.

The decision to send out the Willie and Martin companies so late in the season was extremely reckless. In mid-November President Brigham Young angrily reproved those who had authorized the late start or who had not ordered the several parties back to Florence when they still had the opportunity, charging "ignorance," "mismanagement," and "misconduct." Though terrible, the suffering could have been far worse. Had the rescue effort not been launched immediately well before the storm struck the handcart companies would probably have been totally destroyed.

Six more handcart companies crossed the plains after 1856. To demonstrate that the idea was still viable, seventy missionaries made the trip in the opposite direction in the spring of 1857. Five companies, totaling 1,076 immigrants with 223 handcarts, crossed west with little difficulty: two in 1857, one in 1859, and two in 1860. In all, 2,962 immigrants walked to Utah with handcarts. About 250 died along the way all but about 30 of those in the Willie and Martin companies.

For Latter-day Saints, the handcart story, particularly the account of the Willie and Martin companies, has darkened the collective memory of the westering saga. But that episode is also remembered for the unparalleled gallantry exhibited by so many, immigrants and rescuers alike. Of particular note is the superb performance of the women; their courage and mettle contributed enormously to the eventual survival of both companies. It was at once the most ill-advised and tragic, the most heroic, and arguably the proudest single event in the Mormon pioneer experience.

by Howard A. Christy
http://www.mormons.org/daily/history/1844_1877/handcart_eom. htm

James Brigham Wright

(Research):Wright, James B., 1856, NA, Horizon, Ship roster on microfilm(s)25691
Wright, James B., 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686
Wright, James B., 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686

The Horizon Ship left Liverpool on 5/25/1856 and docked in Boston on 06/20/1856. There were 856 members of the church on-board under the leadership of Edward Martin.

(see notes for Sarah Ann Brett for more deatils about the Martin Handcart Co.)
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From 1901 Census Alberta Canada:
Leavitt 7 50 WRIGHT James head 1845 56 ENG
Leavitt 8 1 WRIGHT Sarah J wife 1844 56 ENG
Leavitt 8 2 WRIGHT Brigham son 1879 22 USA
Leavitt 8 3 WRIGHT May dau 1885 16 USA
Leavitt 8 4 WRIGHT John son 1888 13 USA
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THE COMMUNITY OF BEAZER
by Elva Beazer
"Chief Mountain Country" pages 56-59
The first known white man to live here was William Lee, a fur trapper who came here about 1867 from Fort Benton, Montana. He built trapper's cabins on land owned today by Charles W. Ivins. lt was for him that Lee Creek was named.

Next came W. S. Shirley from Oregon where he was known as the "Cattle King of Oregon". He started a cattle ranch on section 11, and branded his cattle with a big
"44". For years the ranch was called the "44 Ranch" by the early pioneers. When he left he sold out to the Cochrane Ranch Co. who operated the ranch for several years. When they left, the house was sold to George E. Peterson who moved it to his homestead where it is still standing (1977), and has the distinction of being the first house built in Beazer.

Mark E. Beazer from Kaysville, Utah, was the first perminent homesteader, arriving in Cardston with his wife and four children by "prairie schooner", June 7, 1890 after seven weeks of travel.

The next two settlers were Jasper Head and Samuel Buck. These three families had the country to themselves until 1899 and 1900 when over sixty land-hungry homesteaders swarmed in and took up all the remaining homesteads.

Mr. Beazer requested the Territorial Land Department to survey a townsite on his property, which they did. He offered lots for sale, but donated one for a church and another for a school.

On July 8, 1900 an L.D.S. Branch was organized with Mark E. Beazer as the Branch President and Elizer Chapman as the Superintendent of the Sunday School. Six months later, due to increased membership, a Ward was organized on December 9, 1900. Mark E. Beazer was chosen Bishop, with James M. Broadhead and James B. Wright as Counselors. James Prince was the Ward Clerk, and May Wright Wynder the Ward Organist. In effecting the organization, Stake President Charles Ora Card announced that the ward would be named "Beazer" after the first permanent settler. A Relief Society was organized August 25, 1901 with Sarah Jane Wright as President, Ellen Beazer and Amelia Chapman as Counselors, and Fanny Peterson, Secretary.

In 1902 a church house was erected by a building committee headed by carpenter James B. Wright. It was built of logs brought from the mountains, and served the religious and social needs of the community for upwards of sixty-five years. Previous to 1902, meetings, dances and socials were held in the homes of members of the community.

Dance music was furnished by James M. Broadhead on the organ; later by Victor Wynder on the violin, and John Wright chording; and still later with the Broadhead brothers-Parley Broadhead on the violin, Grant- Broadhead brothers furnished music for dances for years at all surrounding communities.

When the church house was extended to provide a stage, Samuel Cox organized the Beazer Dramatic Co. that produced one and three-act plays each year, and exchanged these with other wards that did likewise.

The school district was established in 1903, and school was held in the church house for four years until a school house was built. W. A. Day from Owen Sound, Ontario, was the first teacher. He was still living at Fort Macleod in 1976. After Mr. W. A. Day, the following teachers taught in Beazer until 1928:
-George Chipman, J. C. Campbell, J. H. Weatherilt, Charlie Ring, D. R. Redmond, Robert McNish, William A. Davis, Mr. McDonald, A. E. Langley, Mary Smith, Sarah Spence Hilda Peterson, Miss Hartley, Orson Daines.

Baseball and basketball teams were organized in the early days, and games played against teams from the surrounding districts. Players included such prominent names as the Wrights, Olsens, Ockeys, Broadheads Wynders, Princes, and Beazers, to name a few. Del Beazer was perhaps the outstanding baseball pitcher produced in southern Alberta.

Celebration days included May Day, Dominion Day Pioneer Day, Christmas and New Years. Dances were held nearly every Friday night; and in winter time, sleighriding parties were popular any time.

The Beazer Post Office was established in 1903 with Mark E. Beazer the first Post Master. W. O. Lee of Cardston brought the mail to Beazer by team and buggy if roads permitted; otherwise he came with pack horses. Succeeding Post Masters were George Duce, Richard Bradshaw, and Roy Beazer who held this position for 38 years.

For fuel, the first settlers all burned wood, which was plentiful after the green trees were killed by a forest fire in the mountains. But a good quality of coal was found on the Frank May ranch about 1918. The succeeding owners of the ranch continued to operate the mine for several years. The softer veins were used by the power houses in Cardston; but the harder grades of coal were used by the ranchers of Beazer, Leavitt and Mountain View.

Saw mills were eventually set up to provide lumber for the roofs and floors of houses and other buildings. The first of these was called the "Card Mill". Others were operated by Joseph Wray, and Johnny Archibald.

Besides raising livestock, ranchers also grew oats, barley, and fall wheat. The "Lagoda W" variety of soft fall wheat, if planted in July or August, would ripen before the first frosts the following fall.

The first plowing was done with a hand plow. Later the four-horse sulky with a single bottom and a seat for the driver took over. Home-made harrows served at first, then the disk harrow came into use. At first the seed was broadcast by hand and harrowed to cover it up. But in time the horse-drawn grain drill was used.

The first threshing machines were the horse-powered rigs. Usually two or more farmers would share the cost of these, and then do custom work after their own grain was
threshed. Mark Beazer, George Peterson, and Ernest Wynder owned such an outfit; as did also Ellsworth Shipley and Mid Rose. Charles B. Ockey and Sons owned the last one of these, before the steam engine and the gasoline engine replaced the horse-powered threshers.

Prairie grass for winter feed was cut with a mower, raked into bunches, hauled to stacks, and fenced for protection. It was mostly handled with pitch forks.

Vegetables were stored in a "root cellar" at some distance from the house, since basements were literally unknown in the early days. But the ingenuity of the pioneers overcame most all obstacles, and people lived happily together in spite of their lack of modern conveniences.

Emma Maria Wright

(Research):Wright, Emma, 1856, NA, Horizon, Ship roster on microfilm(s)25691
Wright, Emma, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686
Wright, Emma, 1856, NA, NA, Perpetual Emigration Fund (Book)-Microfilm 25686

The Horizon Ship left Liverpool on 5/25/1856 and docked in Boston on 06/20/1856. There were 856 members of the chuirch on-board under the leadership of Edward Martin.