| Notes |
- Ephraim's birth date on his gravestone is on 19 May 1803 in Dummerston, W indham, Vermont. This conflicts with his sister Maruah, who according t o her gravestone was born 20 April 1803. Family have asked is it possi ble that they were twins, although possible, it is highly unlikely bei ng a month apart. Perhaps it is more likely that there is an error of o ne year on one of the gravestones. Ephraim was the 9th child of 13 chil dren
In 1805 at the age of two, his family moved to Meigs County, OH, the re Ephraim grew to adulthood and married Phoebe Melissa Knight at the a ge of 21 years. Depending upon which records you look at, the couple h ad either 3 children or 5 children in OH before they moved on to McD onough County IL. However, the 1830 census records in Schuyler C ounty have Ephraim with his wife Phoebe and three children. He was app arently settled at Carter's Settlement near Industry at the time of th e census.
In 1831 Ephraim, along with two others became the first settlers of Spr ing Creek, McDonough County, IL. Brothers, William and Joshua soo n followed him to Spring Creek and then later his sisters Louisa, Marua h and Mary Polly arrived. In 1839, Ephraim is listed by the county comm issioner as a guardian of a pauper in the McDonough County. Again in Se pt 1843, Ephraim is listed in McDonough County associated with the wid ow of Alexander Mayfield to help settle her estate. These dates are of i mportance because Ephraim and Phoebe joined the Mormon Church in the s pring of 1842 according to Emily Hanks, Ephraim was baptized in July 1 842 in Nauvoo, Hancock, IL. It is not clear when the family move d to Nauvoo or if Ephraim went back to McDonough County to help settle t he Widow Mayfield's estate. Speculation is that as early as 1844, the d ate of the patriarchal blessing of Epraim's daughter is when the famil y moved to Nauvoo, IL but then that would not correlate to Ephra im's baptism. It is known that Celestia, his 18 year old daughter died i n Nauvoo and was buried there, shortly before his family's departure i n the spring of 1846 following the Mormons to Council Bluff, Iowa.
In 1847, while in Council Bluff, Ephraim planted a large acreage of go vernment land and harvested about 1000 bushels of corn. In 1848, the f amily joined the Ezra-Chase Company and left for Utah arriving on 27 S eptember 1848 as part of Heber C. Kimball's 2nd Division. Six months l ater they moved again this time to California to meet Anciel, Ephraim' s eldest son who was returning from service in the Mormon Battalion. Ep hraim and the Twitchell families settled in San Juan Batista in 1851. A l and record dated 14 November1853 states Ephraim Twitchell died on the 2 0th day of February last [1853] take up a preemption of piece of land i n the valley of San Juan... containing 160 acres of land. When Ephraim w as 54, Phebe died. Not quite two years after her death Ephraim married S arah Jane Hadden, daughter of Alfred Sidney Hadden and Julia Ann Hall. T his union lasted nearly 13 years until his death at the age of 69 years . It is not know with which wife, Ephraim raised an Indian boy left an o rphan due to a massacre. However, since the Indian child, Nephi Burton , later married his youngest daughter, Olive Twitchell, mothered by Sa rah Jane Hadden, it is assumed that Ephraim and Sarah raised Nephi, but r ecords have not been found as to whether they adopted him or not.
After they were married, Ephraim and Melissa lived in Bedford, Meigs Co unty, OH for at least six years. While they were living in Bedford, t hey heard of a place in Springcreek, IL that sounded good to them . Because Ephraim was a farmer and stockman, he bought the farm in Spri ngcreek, McDonnough County, IL and left the OH Valley. Some of J oshua and Ursula's children were now grown and married, but they all mo ved to IL also.
The family of Ephraim and Melissa had now heard of the Church of Jesus C hrist of Latter-day Saints from missionaries. In the spring of 1842, a bout JULY, they and all their children, joined this restored church and w ere baptized. Their son Anciel, and daughters Celestia Ursula and Eunic e Celinda were old enough to be baptized but James Ephraim was not eigh t years old until October of that year, so he had to wait.
As you may already know, the word "Mormon" excited people and made them v ery suspicious. When it was learned the Twitchells were Mormons, they w ere shunned by their
neighbors, and persecuted by renegades and others around the Springcree k area. They felt uncomfortable, so they decided to leave this place an d move to Nauvoo, Hancock
County, IL to be with the main body of the saints.
Although Joshua's family, and the other Twitchells, didn't belong to th e Church, they always stayed around close to each other and close to Ep hraim's family, and had close ties with church members. The Twitchell f amilies still loved each other and helped each other.
On January 19, 1841, the Lord commanded the saints to build a temple in N auvoo where He could reveal His sacred ordinances to those worthy to re ceive them. They worked with enthusiasm and had the basement finished w ith a font ready for baptisms for the dead. It was dedicated by Brigham Y oung, and on that same day 49 baptisms were done by Heber C. Kimball an d John Taylor, with Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. S mith performing the confirmations.
The saints called their wonderful city "Nauvoo the Beautiful." Traveler s came from the East just to see it. It was so well organized in every w ay--so clean and neatly cared for. When they first arrived there, it wa s just a plain and a swamp. With faith and much hard labor they built t his beautiful city with many thriving businesses.
The economy was very good and growing. At this time, the population of N auvoo was between 11,000 and 12,000. There were many new residences bui lt every few months--there had been a big building boom, and soon there w ere approximately 13,000 in the city of Nauvoo.
Almost all families had an acre where they built their house, and in th eir yard were gardens, fruit trees, vegetables, and grapevines. On the o utskirts of the city were big fields of wheat, oats, rye, corn and pota toes. Many kept cattle, sheep and hogs there also. Many learned good ho use building, and construction became Nauvoo's principal industry.
For recreation, there were theaters with live actors on the stage. Ther e were lectures, there were balls and dancing schools and brass bands. T hey played ball, had wood cutting contests, quilting bees, classes in b raiding and weaving, and house construction.
They had good schools for small children as well as the older children. S ome were home taught, and then there was the University of the City of N auvoo. There were over 1800 students enrolled in school. The largest pu blic school (taught and directed by Eli Kelsey) was more than l00 stude nts. About 81 men and women made their living teaching in Nauvoo.
Ephraim and Melissa and their family spent time in Nauvoo helping in th e Church all they could, all the while believing and hoping that this c ould be their home forever. They hoped to have the beautiful Temple so c lose by, that they could see it and some day work in it at any time.
The other Twitchells were close around, although they had not joined th e Church yet. But it seemed this good life was not to be, for their ene mies grew, and things got harder to endure. As they suffered persecutio n with the other saints, their faith grew stronger, and made them more d etermined than ever. Freedom was harder to come by all the time, but th ey remembered their quest for freedom and knew they would never give up . They never did.
Peace was hard to gain in those times and soon those who disagreed with t he "Mormons" living in that place began to persecute and drive them out . Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred at this time, and th e saints were forced to leave their homes and head west.
The trek all across Iowa was the hardest of the whole journey. However, f errying across the Mississippi River, breaking a trail to Sugar Creek a nd setting up camp was almost hopeless. There was toil, sacrifice and d eath. Delays, miserable weather, difficult terrain, untrained guides a nd inadequate preparation made it almost impossible. It is almost unbel ievable how they suffered from the extremely cold weather, with ice and f reezing rain, and 4 inches of new snow.
There was much suffering--so many had left unprepared. Those with tent s had it hard because their tents kept blowing down. Those, and there w ere many, who had no tents were still worse off. Many became ill and d ied. Several mothers had to give birth under these conditions out in t he open in this makeshift camp. Their clothes were wet and their beddi ng drenched. How sad was their plight. They all suffered, but think o f those women who had to give birth in that cold wet bed with no protec tion.
During these hard times was when Ephraim and Melissa's oldest daughter, C elestia Ursula Twitchell, died on February 20, 1846, just 4 days before h er 19th birthday. This was while the Saints were leaving Nauvoo. Reme mber, the first group left on February 4, 1846, and the next group with B righam Young left the middle of February 1846. It was during all this u nrest that Ephraim and Melissa had to bury their grown daughter in Nauv oo the last part of February. We have no exact record of how Celestia U rsula died, or exactly when they left Nauvoo, but it was said the Twitc hells left with some of the very first pioneers.
They left Nauvoo without knowing where they were going, only that they w ould arrive at a place to settle. They had been told a refuge would be f ound somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
It was so hard to leave their wonderful Temple and the city of Nauvoo. I t had grown from a small plain and swamp to a beautiful thriving city o f such economic growth. Nauvoo was a place where they had hoped for su ch happiness. But now they had hopes that in a far distant place in th e West, they could grow without interference and oppression. They help ed each other all they could; there were many prayers that were said, a nd many prayers were answered. They went on with faith in their hearts .
In spite of all these harsh conditions there were some who tried to enc ourage and motivate those who were so downcast. William Pitt's brass b and played and there was dancing. Around the campfire they sang songs o f faith, and other songs. They made up one song, "Upper California." U pper California referred to a large undefined area (by the Mexicans) wh ich comprised Utah, California, Nevada, and Colorado.
Upper California, oh, that's the land for me
It lies between the mountains and the great Pacific sea.
The saints can be supported there
And taste the sweets of liberty.
In Upper California, oh, that's the land for me.
Everywhere they were, the main body of saints was called the Camp of Is rael. Chariton Camp was where Brigham Young regrouped them into three c ompanies. The melting snows, the constant rain, high creeks and mud, w ith a violent wind, made it very hard to travel.
Brigham Young described it well when he said, "We passed through only o ne mud hole today, and it was 6 miles long." They were so mired in the m ud that they would become stuck going downhill. They could travel only o ne-half mile each day.
With this determination they pressed on. It is a little hard for us to i magine how they suffered, and when we do it brings tears to our eyes. A re we grateful they did not give up? Many of them died, of course, befo re their journey was through--several thousand souls. I wonder if we c ould have that much faith.
It seems the saints planted and raised crops every place they could for t hose who would follow. Ephraim Twitchell and his son, Anciel, planted a nd raised many acres of potatoes and corn. Ephraim made several trips b ack to other camps to take food to those without.
Many saints were running out of food. William Pitt's brass band would g ive concerts for the local people for money to buy food. Some of the m en were able to get work in the various vicinities to provide food. Man y saints who thought they could bring some of their valuables and thing s they would need, had to sell them for food.
(Editors note: this story in its entirety can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/valley/6368/Almond/EphraimTwitchell h istory.html)
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Puffer Genealogy
1803 - 1872 (69 years)
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