Charles Sreeve Peterson
Charles Sreeve Peterson | |
---|---|
Utah Territorial Legislature 1864–1866 | |
Personal details | |
Born | July 28, 1818 Mount Holly, New Jersey, US |
Died | September 26, 1889 Mesa, Arizona |
Resting place | City of Mesa Cemetery |
Spouse(s) | Ann Dennis Mary Ann Patten Ann Patten Margaret Crispin Mary Thompson |
Charles Sreeve Peterson (July 28, 1818 – September 26, 1889) was an early
Early life
Peterson was born to a poor family in Mount Holly, New Jersey. One of ten children, he went to work at age 10 to help support the family, hauling brick at a kiln during the summers and chopping wood with his father in the winters. At age 14, he apprenticed as a blacksmith.
On the night of November 12, 1833, one of the more spectacular Leonid meteor showers on record (dubbed the "Falling Stars Phenomenon") hit the East Coast of the United States. In the middle of the night, Peterson woke to mobs screaming the end of the world was at hand. Similar scenes played out up and down the Eastern Seaboard.[2] But instead of rushing to the nearest church like most people, Peterson, who was not religious at the time—he later described himself as "almost an infidel"—went back to bed.
At age 17, Peterson went to work on a farm, where he attended some school. While at school, he met his future wife, Ann Dennis.
Marriage and family
Peterson and his wife moved to
Conversion
The family determined to join the
Once in Nauvoo, Charles found work with
On September 12, 1844, Ann died at age 26, leaving him with 4 small children, six years and under. Charles was also 26. Stricken by grief, Peterson wondered how he could look after the children and continue to provide them a living, which included working most of the day and fishing at night. Brigham Young suggested something Peterson had not thought of: "Hunt another wife."[3]
On March 22, 1845, Charles married Mary Ann Patten, a 23-year-old from rural Pennsylvania. They eventually had three children together. In 1849, he began practicing
Settling Utah
The Petersons were driven from Nauvoo with the rest of the Mormons in 1846. Charles gave his team and wagon to the first company of pioneers and stayed behind to put his blacksmithing skills to work making more wagons. Finally, in 1849 Charles and his family crossed the plains. In 1852 they settled in Alpine, Utah, where he served as that settlement's first leader.
In 1855, Charles and his families moved to Morgan Valley in northern Utah. Unlike most other Utah settlements at the time, Charles wasn't sent by Brigham Young to begin a new community. Instead, he was persuaded by Thomas Jefferson Thurston, who had discovered the valley a short time earlier. Brigham Young later encouraged others to settle there as well.
The Petersons were the first settlers in the valley, which is surrounded on all sides by steep mountains. To get their wagons into the valley, Peterson and his sons dug and graded a new road through a narrow entrance to Weber Canyon known as "Devil's Gate". In 1846, early adopters of the
A few other families soon joined the Petersons, and the
When the Legislature made the valley its own county in 1862, Peterson organized the county court. He served as a representative in the Legislature from 1864 to 1866. In the Spring of 1870, he married another wife, Margaret Crispin, who bore him three children. Two years later, he married Mary Thompson, who bore him 10 children.
Settling Arizona
In his early sixties, Peterson moved to Fielding, Utah, in the hope of setting up a large farming operation for his families. When none of them liked the area, he joined two of his oldest sons in Mesa, Arizona, to scout for a new site. He moved his families to Mesa in August 1883.
In November 1881, Peterson was the first in a search party to spot David Patten Kimball, the head of the church in Arizona who had become lost near Seymour[8] in the Salt River Valley.[9]
Mormon colonies in Mexico
In 1884,
References
- ^ a b "The Settlements of Morgan County". Morgan County Utah Historical Society. [1]. Accessed 23 April 2007.
- ^ Jemison, T. Housel. A Prophet Among You. Pacific Press Publishing Association. Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. 1955. pp. 173–74. See also "A Prophet Among You-BACKGROUNDS OF THE ADVENT MOVEMENT". Archived from the original on 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2007-04-23..
- ^ a b c d "A Sketch of the Life and Labors of Charles Sreeve Peterson". familysearch.org. [2]. Accessed 19 September 2014.
- ^ Alexander, Thomas G. "The Hastings Cutoff". Utah, The Right Place. Utah History to Go. historytogo.Utah.gov. See [3] Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 25 April 2007.
- ^ "Interesting Facts". Morgan Historical Society. morganhistoricalsociety.com. See [4]. Accessed 25 April 2007.
- ^ The child was a boy, Charles Russell Stevens. The cabin was moved to Morgan City in 1931 and has been preserved by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. The cabin is at 48 South State Street in Morgan, Utah.
- ^ Papanikolas, Helen. Peoples of Utah. Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1976, p. 170.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-0843-8.
- ^ Whitney, Orson F. Life of Heber C. Kimball: An Apostle, the Father and Founder of the British Mission. Kimball Family, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1888, p. 518. Kimball was the son of Heber C. Kimball, uncle of Spencer W. Kimball, and great-grandfather of Quentin L. Cook. He was one of the young men who helped carry the Martin Handcart Company across the Sweetwater River.