Priscilla (née Clark) (Pickett) (Pickett) Wilford (1826-1869)

Version: 7 Apr 2021

The Life and Times of English Immigrant Priscilla (née Clark) (Pickett) (Pickett) Wilford (1826-1869)

Richard L. Tolman, Ph. D.

Note by the author (Aug 2020):

This manuscript is a revised, updated, and expanded version of the paper that appeared in theNational Genealogical Quarterly[ 94 (DECEMBER 2006): 267-286] and that was also the winner of the 2006 National Genealogical Society Family History Writing Contest.

Families can endure, and even prosper, despite tragedy, tribulation, and villains. Priscilla had determination and strength of character—willingness to face the unknown and follow through no matter the difficulty. Woven into the fabric of this courageous woman’s life were three husbands, six children, and changing views of a controversial religion, all defining a strong-willed and resolute Nevada pioneer.

Priscilla Wilford’s life ended with her murder near Carson City, Nevada. Misfortunes in some of her children’s lives echoed this young mother’s tragic death. Despite calamity the family prospered. The events that shaped them began not in the American West, however, but in Somerset County, England.

ENGLAND

Priscilla was born in Somersetshire, in the parish of Buckland-Dinham.¹ Teasel grown in the area for woolen manufacture made it a seat of good woolen trade.² Priscilla’s father, James Clark, however, an “agricultural labourer,” did not work in the textile industry.³ See the ‘Priscilla Clark Antecedents’ essays on this website www.29deadpeople.com for more information about her ancestry.

With few economic reserves, her father James undoubtedly encouraged his children to become self-sufficient as early as possible. Priscilla left home before age fourteen, probably for an apprenticeship in the garment trade in Frome, about two miles to the north.⁴ In nearby Bath she met Louisa Avelina Sleater, who became Priscilla’s lifelong friend and who would play a prominent role in Priscilla’s family life.⁵

Louisa’s maternal relatives, prominent tailors and woolen merchants in Bath, included Abraham Marant, a Mormon preacher and leader.⁶ Both girls joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon) in 1847.⁷

A charismatic Mormon missionary from Ireland, William Gill Mills, eloped with Louisa. The circumstances reportedly caused Louisa’s family to disown her and separate from the LDS religion.⁸ In 1855 the couple migrated to Utah. They disembarked from the ship Chimborazo in Philadelphia, before traveling west.⁹

Meanwhile, among the Mormons at Newbury Conference in Berkshire, England, Priscilla met a young widower, George Pickett, with three young children, and married him in 1853.¹⁰ They named their first child, daughter Louisa born the next year, probably after Louisa Sleater.¹¹ George and his family joined a Mormon emigrant company and set off for Utah in 1855 via the Emerald Isle from Liverpool to New York.¹² Priscilla’s stepchildren went on to Utah with their uncle William, while Priscilla (pregnant with her second child) and George broke their journey in St. Louis.¹³ There, probably before late Nov 1856, baby Louisa died, perhaps of smallpox.¹⁴ Priscilla delivered her second child in Nov 1856.¹⁵ George contracted smallpox and died the following Apr.¹⁶ Priscilla and the new baby (Maria Louisa) remained in St. Louis for another year until George’s brother William Armstrong Pickett journeyed from Utah to escort Priscilla and her family west.¹⁷

UTAH

Settled in Utah, Priscilla took part in two ceremonies in Brigham Young’s office in Mar 1860. First, her marriage to her deceased husband, George, was “sealed for eternity” (a Mormon temple ceremony). Second, she was married to her brother-in-law William Armstrong Pickett “for time.”¹⁸ This second union reflected a common practice in Utah to wed widows to churchmen who could protect and provide for them. In the levirate tradition, a brother of the deceased husband was a first choice.¹⁹ The marriage was polygamous–Pickett already had two wives, and he later took a fourth.²⁰

Three months after the ceremony, however, Priscilla was residing not with her new husband in Shambip County (present day Tooele County), but with Louisa and William Gill Mills in Salt Lake City.²¹ Why she separated from William Armstrong Pickett, her rescuer and supposed protector, is unclear. Perhaps she disliked being in a polygamous marriage, or possibly she didn’t like Pickett.

In the fall of 1860 William Gill Mills was called to serve as president of the LDS Birmingham District, in England.²² Mills later reported that Priscilla had lived there for twelve months.²³ Meanwhile, Priscilla, pregnant, left (or ran away) with her daughter Maria Louisa to the California goldfields, where Priscilla gave birth to a son George in Mar 1862.²⁴

CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA

In Hangtown (now Placerville), California, Priscilla met William Wilford, who may have prospered in Australia’s 1852 gold rush and converted to Mormonism there.²⁵ He filed land claims in Utah Territory’s Carson Valley in 1860.²⁶ The couple married on 30 Jun 1862.²⁷ With Priscilla’s two children they moved to the Carson Valley, where she soon had three more children.²⁸

The Comstock Lode was discovered in nearby Virginia City in Jun 1859, but the Carson Valley’s population in 1860 was only seven hundred in Carson City and another four hundred in the surrounding area. Carson City in 1862 had numerous saloons, frequent shootings (about six deaths a year), and few women. The Pony Express, begun in Apr 1860, was based there. Nevada Territory separated from Utah Territory in 1861, and Nevada became a state in 1864 with Carson City as capital.²⁹

The Wilford ranch, on the Carson valley’s west side, straddled Clear Creek where it exited the Sierras. To supply the Comstock’s demand for timber, three sawmills were built on Clear Creek in 1862.³⁰ Several flumes, constructed in the 1860s and 1870s, moved logs from the Sierra summit above Lake Tahoe to the Carson Valley; one of them, built in 1875, traversed the Wilford property.³¹

William Wilford had insured his life for five thousand dollars —a large sum in the 1860s. After he died of smallpox in Jan 1869, Priscilla collected the money and promptly insured her own life for the same amount. A few months later she traveled to Gilroy, California, where Louisa and William Gill Mills had settled after returning from England.³² The LDS Church had excommunicated Mills for adultery and released him from his Birmingham assignment.³³ He nevertheless was a man of many talents–an accomplished musician, composer, and poet.³⁴ He was also president of the Gilroy Board of Trustees in 1869³⁵ and the first mayor of Gilroy, in 1870.³⁶ Priscilla took two of her daughters by stagecoach to Gilroy–Maria Louisa Pickett on 26 Mar 1869 and Sarah Wilford on 1 Jun 1869. She left them, and money for their education, with Louisa and William Gill Mills.³⁷

On the evening of 5 Jul 1869, shortly after returning from her second trip to Gilroy, Priscilla was murdered in her sitting room. Her throat was cut with a razor, left beside her body. Her remaining insurance money, estimated at fifteen hundred dollars, had been taken.³⁸ Distant newspapers issued sensational reports. San Francisco’s Daily Morning Chronicle reported that “Destroying Angels” had killed Priscilla for denouncing Mormonism.³⁹ Responding to the journalistic enthusiasm of the Chronicle in invoking Mormon participation in Priscilla’s murder, Carson City’s Daily Appeal pointed out, “scarcely sufficient grounds [exist] for such a charge:⁴⁰ Priscilla’s Mormon tenant farmers, the Moss brothers, arraigned for the murder, were acquitted.⁴¹ The murderer or murderers were never identified.

Figure 1. Note: in addition to the charted relationships, William Gill Mills fathered a child with Priscilla’s daughter, Maria Louisa Pickett. He may also have fathered Priscilla’s son George Pickett. See text for details and sources.

Orphaned with a sizeable estate and important land holdings, Priscilla’s five children, the youngest only one year old, remained separated. Three became wards of the State of Nevada, but William Gill Mills refused to return the two girls in California to Nevada’s jurisdiction. The three Nevada orphans received several hundred dollars inheritance in the late 1880s, but their sisters in California seemingly received no benefits from their parents’ estate.⁴²

For a graphic depiction of Priscilla’s web.of family relationships, see Figure 1.

The paternity of Priscilla’s son George W. Pickett remains unclear; William Gill Mills is a possible father as is William Armstrong Pickett or William Wilford as well as persons unknown. A key to determining the paternity of George W. Pickett is his birthyear.

There are five known pieces of data from which a birthyear for George can be calculated: (1) the 1900 U.S. census cited above (b. Mar 1862)⁴³; [he cannot be found in the 1880 U.S. Census], (2) the 1870 U. S. Census of Carson City where George was living with the Ross family (George was age 9, therefore b. 1861),⁴⁴ (3) the 1875 Nevada State Census (George ‘Pickets’, age 13, therefore b. 1862),⁴⁵ (4) the Mills testimony⁴⁶ at the inquest into Priscilla Wilford’s death where he stated ‘George is near eight’ (therefore b. 1862) and (5) a letter⁴⁷ from John Elliot (filed 2 Mar 1882), petitioner, to the 2nd Judicial District Court of Nevada (the court-appointed guardian of Priscilla’s orphaned children, William Patterson, has died and Mr. Elliot wants to be appointed in his place)—the letter names the children and their ages ‘…that said Louisa Pickett is of the age of about 26 years, George Pickett is of the age of about 20 years, Sarah Willford is of about the age of 17 years, William Willford is of the age of about 15 years, and Lillie Willford is of about the age of 13 years.’ George’s birthyear is by this account 1862.

For William Gill Mills to be the father, George’s birth year would have to be 1861 as Mills was in England in Jun 1861 (George’s conception date was in Jun 1861 or 1860 depending on his birthyear). Weighing on the balance in Mills’ favor are the facts that Priscilla was staying with the William Gill Mills family in Salt Lake City in Jun 1860⁴⁸; and he was excommunicated for adultery in 1863 (correspondent unknown)⁴⁹. In Mills’ testimony at the inquest into Priscilla’s death,⁵⁰ he described her son George as a son of ‘her former husband’ (George Pickett as the father is impossible; Wm Armstrong Pickett is difficultly plausible).

Her then husband William Armstrong Pickett is also a possibility as George’s father, but she didn’t spend much time with him—married to him in Mar 1860 and giving birth to George 12 or 24 months later, but then living with the Mills family for up to 12 months in the intervening time (see Figure 2). In Jun 1860, Wm Armstrong was farming in Clover Valley with another of his wives and Priscilla’s stepdaughter Jane (his niece).⁵¹ If George were William’s child, he would be the ONLY issue from any of Wm Armstrong’s four wives.⁵² William Wilford is also a possibility as George’s father, but a weak one; if the 1862 birth year is correct, they married only 3 months later. And if this were the case, the son would probably have been a ‘Wilford’, not a Pickett (‘George’ is not a ‘Wilford name’).

Figure 2.

The paternity question is one that in all probability could only be answered by Y chromosome DNA analysis of male descendants, if we knew of any.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

Generation One

1. Priscilla Clark was christened⁵³ 22 Sep 1826 at Buckland-¬Denham Parish, Somerset; murdered 5 Jul 1869 near Carson City, Nevada.⁵⁴ Priscilla married 4 Sep 1853 in Newbury, Berkshire, England, (1) George Pickett, a widower with three small children.⁵⁵ A son of James and Mary (Armstrong) Pickett, he was christened⁵⁶ 2 Sep 1821 at Chieveley, Berkshire. He died of smallpox on 2 Apr 1857 in St. Louis, Missouri.⁵⁷ George Pickett had married⁵⁸ (1) 11 Feb 1843 at Chieveley, Maria Jarvis.

Priscilla married⁵⁹ (2) William Armstrong Pickett, George’s elder brother, in Brigham Young’s office at Salt Lake City on 3 Mar 1860. William was christened 9 Nov 1818 at Chieveley, Berkshire, and died 11 Dec 1901 in Tooele, Utah.⁶⁰ At the time of his marriage to Priscilla he had two other Mormon wives: (1) Mary Castle,⁶¹ whom he married on 6 Nov 1841 and (2) Mary Brownjohn,⁶² whom he married on 11 Jun 1856. William took a fourth wife, Ann Todd,⁶³ on 10 Nov 1873. He had no children from any of these marriages.⁶⁴

Priscilla married⁶⁵ (3) William Wilford at Hangtown (now Placerville), California, on 30 Jun 1862. Son of Edward and Ann (Gutteridge) Wilford, he was christened 10 Jan 1825 at South Croxton, Leicestershire, England.⁶⁶ William died of smallpox 21 Jan 1869 at Carson City, Nevada.⁶⁷

Priscilla had a son George W. Pickett⁶⁸ in 1862 in Hangtown (Placerville), El Dorado, California (out of wedlock) probably fathered by (4) William Gill Mills. This was a probable cause of William’s excommunication from the Mormon Church in 1863 and Priscilla’s pregnancy was a likely cause for her fleeing Utah to Hangtown in 1862.

Priscilla and George Pickett had two children:

2 i. LOUISA PICKETT was born 25 Jul 1854, probably at Chieveley Parish, Berkshire, England;⁶⁹ died 1855-56, probably at St. Louis, Missouri.⁷⁰

+ 3 ii. MARIA LOUISA PICKETT was born 29 Nov 1856, at St. Louis; died 27 Mar 1930, at Twin Falls, Idaho. She married (1) 12 Dec 1878 Cyrus Ammon Tolman, and (2) 21 May 1891 George Franklin Read.

Priscilla had a child of unknown paternity born in California:

+ 4 iii. GEORGE W. PICKETT was born Mar 1862; died before 1910 at Verdi, Nevada. He married Capitola Lenwire Aldrich, 1 May 1890 at Carson City, Nevada.

Priscilla and William Wilford had three children, born at Carson City, Nevada:

+ 5 iv. SARAH WILFORD was born 26 Sep 1864; died by her own hand on 2 Nov 1918 at Salt Lake City. She married John Casper Lanno on 2 Oct1886 at Salt Lake City.

+ 6 v. WILLIAM M. WILFORD was born 9 Sep 1866; died 17 Feb 1949 in Sonoma County, California. He married Martha Jane “Mattie” or “Jennie” Grandbois on 2 Jul 1895 at Carson City.

+ 7 vi. LILLA ISABEL “LIL” WILFORD was born4 Oct 1868 near Carson City, Nevada; died 8 Feb 1954 at Medical Lake, Spokane, Washington. She married (1) at Carson City on 31 Oct 1886, Henry Heidenreich; (2), at Reno, Nevada on 22 Nov 1910, Jesse Allen Thomas; and (3), at Ely, Nevada on 26 Aug 1917 (div), Isaiah Sutherland.

Priscilla’ Clark had three stepchildren (born at Chieveley to her first husband, George Pickett, and his first wife, Maria Jarvis):

8 i. JAMES PIGGOT was born in 1844;⁷¹ died in Utah before 1860.⁷²

9 ii. MARY PIGGOT was born in 1846.⁷³ Like her brother James, she died apparently in Utah before 1860.

10 iii. JANE PICKETT was born 17 Nov 1848 and died 6 Jun 1907 at Saint Charles, Idaho. She married John Thompson Barker on 20 Jun 1870 at Salt Lake City.⁷⁴

Generation Two

3. Maria Louisa Pickett was born 28 Nov 1856 at St. Louis, Missouri;⁷⁵ died 28 Mar 1930 at Twin Falls, Idaho.⁷⁶ She was called Louisa all of her life.⁷⁷

Three months before Priscilla was murdered she placed twelve-year-old Louisa with Louisa and William Gill Mills in Gilroy, California, for schooling. Louisa and her sister Sarah accompanied Louisa and William to Salt Lake City about 1872. They had a house in the city and a store in the mining town of Alta.⁷⁸ On 4 Aug 1878 the town of Alta was destroyed by fire.⁷⁹

Louisa at age nineteen conceived a child with her foster father William G. Mills. Son of Thomas and Jane (Gill) Mills, William was born 18 Dec 1822 in Ardglass, County Down, Ireland, and died 24 May 1895 at Salt Lake City.⁸⁰ He married⁸¹ (1), in Berkshire on 1 Oct 1851, Louisa Avalina Sleater, born 22 Dec 1832 at Sligo, Ireland, daughter of Robert and Mary (née Marant) Sleater. Louisa died 30 Jan 1926 at Salt Lake City.⁸² They had no children.⁸³ William married⁸⁴ (2) 14 Jun 1857 at Salt Lake City Emily Hill as a plural wife. Emily (at age 20) was a survivor of the Willie Handcart Company, which was stranded and rescued in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming in the winter of 1856; William was one of the rescuers.⁸⁵ Emily’s only child with him was a daughter, Avelina. Emily was bitter after Wm Gill Mills ‘deserted’ (Emily’s word) her after his calling to Birmingham and subsequent excommunication. After a divorce and a remarriage in 1864, Emily became the noted poetess E. H. Woodmansee.⁸⁶

Louisa left Mill’s home to have the baby in Granite, a village south of Salt Lake City. She went back to Tooele County to seek out Pickett relatives, including William Armstrong Pickett, who had always acted as her family’s protector.⁸⁷ There she came to know Elizabeth (Pickett) Tolman (W. A. Pickett’s niece and Louisa’s cousin), with whom she was very close for the rest of her life.⁸⁸ Louisa married⁸⁹ (1) Elizabeth’s husband, Cyrus Ammon Tolman, as his third (plural) wife on 12 Dec 1878 at Salt Lake City. Son of Cyrus and Alice (Bracken) Tolman,⁹⁰ Cyrus was born 6 Sep 1848 at Fort Bridger, Wyoming,⁹¹ and died 24 May 1909 at Emmett, Idaho.⁹² His previous plural marriages were: (1), on 17 Oct 1870, Elizabeth Pickett, who was born 3 Aug 1850 at Chieveley, England;⁹³ and (2), on 7 Jun 1875, Karen Sophia Isaacson, who was born 17 Mar 1857 at Christiania, Norway.⁹⁴ He had no children with either wife.

In 1880 the polygamous family was living in Ophir, Tooele County Louisa with a new daughter (Mary Elizabeth).⁹⁵ The grass in Tooele County gave out in the 1880s, and the Tolmans moved to the Goose Creek country of southern Idaho. When Mormon Church President Wilford Woodruff published the 1890 Manifesto abandoning polygamy as LDS doctrine and clearing the way for Utah statehood, Louisa quickly divorced Cyrus.⁹⁶ He subsequently married (4) Minnie Marie Mauchian or Menchon on 15 Mar 1896 at Emmett, Idaho,⁹⁷ and was excommunicated for “taking a plural after the Manifesto.” This is not quite correct; Cyrus became disaffected with the Church in 1888 when he refused to have his dau baptized in the Church and at the time of his excommunication he had NOT taken a plural (his 1st wife was dead and the 2nd and 3rd wives had divorced him years earlier).⁹⁸

Shortly after her divorce Louisa monogamously married⁹⁹ (2), 21 May 1891 at Marion, Idaho, George Franklin Read.¹⁰⁰ Born 23 Mar 1861 at Nephi, Utah, and died on 23 May 1951 at Burley, Idaho, George was son of Robert Locke Read and Ann Jane (McCowan) Read.¹⁰¹ Louisa’s children were not separated from her ex-husband, however; in 1900 the Reads and Tolmans were neighbors.¹⁰² Louisa taught school in Marion, worked in her church, and lived to see her children raise large families.¹⁰³

Figure 3. From Left: Mannie Pickett, George Orin Tolman, Maria Louisa (née Pickett) Tolman, Mary Elizabeth Tolman. The original portrait, made by C. R. Savage Pioneer Photography, Salt Lake City, Utah, about 1883 is owned by Patricia Ann Bates Miller, Corinne, Utah.

For a portrait of Louisa and her first three children, see figure 3.

Louisa Pickett and William Gill Mills had one child:

11 i. MANNY PICKETT was born 4 Jan 1876 in Granite, Utah;¹⁰⁴ died 5 Oct 1963 at Caliente, Nevada; buried at Burley, Idaho.¹⁰⁵ He married Dora Lenora Briggs 24 Dec 1896 at Marion, Idaho.¹⁰⁶

Louisa and Cyrus Tolman had two children:

12 ii. MARY ELIZABETH TOLMAN was born 7 Jan 1880 at Knowllen, Utah; died 27 Dec 1967 at Murtaugh, Idaho.¹⁰⁷ She married Andrew Glenn 2 Mar 1900 at Elba, Idaho.¹⁰⁸

13 iii. GEORGE ORIN TOLMAN was born 11 Jun 1882 at Knowllen, Utah; died 23 Jan 1939 in an automobile accident at Pacoima, California.¹⁰⁹ He married¹¹⁰ Katherine Loveland 7 Sep 1910 at Logan, Utah.

Louisa and George Read, had three children, all born at Marion, Idaho:

14 iv. ROBERT LOCKE READ was born 20 Aug 1895; died 29 Oct 1956, at West Los Angeles, California.¹¹¹ He married¹¹² Cora Lucille Hammond 6 May 1920at Salt Lake City.

15 v. WALDEMER PICKETT READ was born 19 Jul 1897;¹¹³ died 17 Mar 1975 at Salt Lake City.¹¹⁴ He married¹¹⁵ Ethel Elizabeth Olsen at Salt Lake City, 24 Oct 1924. He earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago and was for many years head of the Philosophy Department at the University of Utah, a much loved and respected man of wisdom and judgment and a contributor to his community.¹¹⁶

16 vi. ULEA JANE READ was born 26 Feb 1899; died 25 Feb 1985 at Seattle, Washington.¹¹⁷ She married¹¹⁸ (1) 24 Oct 1924 at Shoshone, Idaho Clarence “Don” Wharton, and (2), about 1930, Andrew F. Bozarth.¹¹⁹

4. George W. Pickett was born¹²⁰ in Feb 1861 probably at Hangtown (now Placerville), California;¹²¹ died before 1910 at Verdi, Nevada, perhaps in a mining accident or from illness.¹²² He married 1 May 1890 at Carson City, Nevada, Capitola “Allie” Lenwire Aldrich, daughter of Horton Uriah and Emma (née Mitchell) Aldrich.¹²³ She was born 3 Mar 1869 at Mason Valley, Nevada, and died 8 Jun 1946 at Stockton, California.¹²⁴ George traveled with his remarried mother from California to Carson City. After her murder the Henry Ross family raised George less than a mile from the Wilford ranch on Clear Creek.¹²⁵ After marrying in the Ross home,¹²⁶ he and Capitola moved to Verdi, Nevada, where George worked as a mine laborer.¹²⁷ By 1900 the couple had three children.¹²⁸ In 1910 the widowed Capitola was working as a cook near Stockton, California, not far from where son Walter (who called himself Andrew) and daughter Priscilla worked.¹²⁹

George and Capitola Pickett had three children:

17 i. WALTER aka ANDREW MARNI PICKETT was born 4 Feb 1891 at Verdi, Nevada; died 19 Feb 1956 at Tehama, California.¹³⁰ He married but she died before 1956.¹³¹

18 ii. PRISCILLA M. PICKETT was born 4 May 1894 at Carson City, Nevada; died 5 Feb 1920 at Stockton, California.¹³² She married Homer Alfred Clow,¹³³ 14 Oct 1913 at Stockton. They had two children.¹³⁴

19 iii. GEORGE FRANK PICKETT was born 26 Sep 1896 at Verdi, Nevada. He lived at Burlington and Palmyra, New Jersey, after serving in the Navy and died in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, 6 Apr 1970.¹³⁵ He married after 1930 Frances Robinson daughter of Thomas and Wilhelmina (Hause) Robinson.¹³⁶ She was born 1902 in Pennsylvania and married (1) abt 1918 Edward Bennett and had at least a daughter Wilma.¹³⁷ She had no children with George F. Pickett.

5. Sarah Wilford was born¹³⁸ 26 Sep 1864 at Carson City, Nevada; committed suicide on 2 Nov 1918 at Salt Lake City.¹³⁹ She married John Casper Lanno, 2 Oct 1886 at Salt Lake City.¹⁴⁰ He was born about 1849-50 in Germany,¹⁴¹ and died on 26 Apr 1899 at Truckee, California.¹⁴²

Figure 4. Sarah Wilford Lanno [about 1904] and children (clockwise fromSarah: Leo J. Lanno, George Henry Lanno, Edward Lanno, Henriette Frances Lanno, Wilford Lanno); original is owned by Gayle Minjarez, Santa Barbara, California

When Sarah was four years old, her widowed mother, Priscilla Wilford, placed her and her sister with William and Louisa Gill Mills in Gilroy, California. About 1872 the girls moved with the Mills to Utah. Sarah met her husband, a career soldier, at Fort Douglas, Utah. The couple lived at Fort Douglas for several years before moving to Eden, New York in the mid-1890s. Lanno served at several western outposts, including Fort Shaw, in Montana.¹⁴³ As part of the 13th Regiment of the U. S. Infantry he was posted to the Philippines to fight in the Spanish-American War. As his unit was traveling by train, he was serving on guard duty near Truckee, California, on 28 Apr 1899. His foot became stuck in a siding, and he was struck by a train. He is buried in the Military Cemetery in Benicia, California.¹⁴⁴

It is hard to imagine a harder or sadder life than Sarah’s for the next nearly twenty years. Until she received a pension she had no means to sustain her growing family. Charities were closed to her because she had a pension claim. In 1901 she placed the two youngest children in the St. John’s Orphan Asylum in West Seneca, New York, and paid two-thirds of their board. She put her middle child in St. John’s Protectory in West Seneca, where ‘kindness of the Superintendent’ supported him. The two oldest, twelve and thirteen years old, were ‘charitably maintained’ with farmers in Eden Center, New York. In delicate health as a result of exposure, Sarah was hospitalized.¹⁴⁵

By 1910 Sarah, with her children Leo and George, lived in Buffalo, New York, where she worked as a laundress.¹⁴⁶ By 1915 she had been joined by Henrietta and Wilford (in Buffalo), but then the family split asunder with Leo’s death and Henrietta’s marriage.¹⁴⁷ In 1917-18 she moved from Kansas City, where she had been working, to Salt Lake City, where she served as a maid for Mrs. J. L. Smith.¹⁴⁸ A few months later she took her life by drinking lye. She was buried in a pauper’s grave in the Salt Lake City Cemetery on 13 Nov 1918.¹⁴⁹

Sarah and John Casper Lanno had seven children:

20 i. EDWARD LANNO was born 14 Oct 1887 at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake, Utah.¹⁵⁰ He married about 1915 (1) Rosa Benz, born May 1890 in New York¹⁵¹ and died about 1916. They had a son raised by her parents, Martin and Emma Benz.¹⁵² Edward married (2) Dorthy [sic] Blatner about 1923. They raised three children in Buffalo, New York.¹⁵³

21 ii. LEO J. LANNO born 23 Nov 1888 at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake, Utah¹⁵⁴ and died¹⁵⁵ 28 Jan 1918 at Buffalo, Erie, New York. He was a sailor.¹⁵⁶ He probably never married.¹⁵⁷

22 iii. GEORGE HENRY LANNO was born 25 Dec 1889 at Fort Douglas;¹⁵⁸ died by his own hand in Los Angeles, 12 Jun 1956.¹⁵⁹

23 iv. WILLIAM LANNO was born 11 Nov 1891, at New York; died about 1900.¹⁶⁰

24 v. WALTER LANNO was born 1893 in New York; died in infancy.¹⁶¹

25 vi. HENRIETTE FRANCES LANNO was born 26 Jan 1897 at Eden, New York.¹⁶² She married¹⁶³ Newton Whiteley in Lucas County, Ohio, 24 May 1919. They raised one son.¹⁶⁴

26 vii. WILFORD LANNO born 26 Apr 1898 at Eden, New York¹⁶⁵,¹⁶⁶ and died¹⁶⁷ at Newark, Essex, New Jersey and was buried¹⁶⁸ Sep 1951 at Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, Bergen, New Jersey. He married Mary Clare ____. In 1942 he was living in Newark, Essex, New Jersey.¹⁶⁹

6. William Wilford was born 9 Sep 1866 at Carson City, Nevada;¹⁷⁰ died 17 Feb 1949 at Vallejo, California.¹⁷¹ On 2 Jul 1895 at Carson City he married¹⁷² Martha Jane “Mattie” or “Jennie” Grandbois, born in Jul 1877 at Sears, California, daughter of Louis and Isabel (née Johnson) Grandbois.¹⁷³ She died 17 Oct 1960 at Novato, Marin, California.¹⁷⁴

The Henry Ross family raised William after his parents’ deaths.¹⁷⁵ Following his marriage he lived and worked with his half-brother George Pickett in Verdi, Nevada. About 1900 he moved to Vallejo, California, and became a chicken farmer.¹⁷⁶

William and Jennie Wilford had three children:

27 i. FRANCIS WILLIAM WILFORD was born 20 Apr 1896 at Verdi, Nevada; died 5 Jan 1986 at Santa Rosa, California. He married after 1930 Ruth Kleinworth.¹⁷⁷

28 ii. SEVERA LOUIS WILFORD was born 17 Aug 1897 at Verdi; died 9 Jun 1976 at Petaluma, California.¹⁷⁸ He married in 1918 Anne Marguerite Lund. They had two children.¹⁷⁹

29 iii. ISABEL LILLIAN WILFORD was born 23 May 1903 at Sonoma, California; died in Marin County, California, 7 Jun 1987.¹⁸⁰ Named after her father’s younger sister and his mother-in-law, Isabel married Joseph Azevedo in 1927.¹⁸¹

7. Lilla Isabel ‘Lil’ Wilford was born 4 Oct 1868 at Carson City, Nevada;¹⁸² died 8 Feb 1954 near Spokane, Washington.¹⁸³ She married¹⁸⁴ (1) at Carson City, 31 Oct 1886, Henry Heidenreich, born Jan 1857 in Iowa.¹⁸⁵ They divorced before 1907.¹⁸⁶ She married¹⁸⁷ (2) at Reno, Nevada, 22 Nov 1910, Jesse Allen Thomas, who died 22 Nov 1912. Thomas was born 1865 in Tennessee.¹⁸⁸ She married¹⁸⁹ (3) at Ely, Nevada, 26 Aug 1917 (later divorced), Isaiah Sutherland. He was born abt 1875 and died at Salt Lake County, Utah 27 Dec 1942.¹⁹⁰

Orphaned at age ten months and a ward of the State of Nevada, “Lil” was raised by the Henry Ross family near Carson City. In 1930, after separating from her third husband, she worked as a servant for a Los Angeles family.¹⁹¹ She spent her final years in Spokane, Washington near her son Arthur.

Lilla and Henry Heidenreich had two children:

30 i. ARTHUR CARL HEIDENREICH was born 4 Sep 1887 at Carson City, Nevada.¹⁹² He married in 1916, Muzelle Powell, who was born in Iowa in 1893.¹⁹³

31 ii. ISABELLA HEIDENREICH was born in Jun 1890 in Nevada, probably at Carson City.¹⁹⁴

Lilla and Jesse Thomas had a daughter:

32 iii. ALICE J. THOMAS was born in Sep or Oct 1908 at Reno, Nevada.¹⁹⁵ She lived most of her adult life in Guam¹⁹⁶ and may never have married.

CONCLUSION

‘Aunt Lil’ [Lilla Isabel (née Wilford) (Heidenreich) (Thomas) Sutherland], the last surviving of her generation referred to her mother Priscilla’s family as “shipwrecked,”¹⁹⁷ but it was not clear to any of her family what she meant. This intriguing reference triggered efforts some forty years ago by this author to learn about Priscilla, her life and her family. The effort verified truths, exposed distortions, uncovered Priscilla’s motivations, and revealed that Lilla’s metaphorical description of her maternal family was a reflection of the hardships and tragedies of pioneer life and the building of a new nation in the American west.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author wishes to thank Kathleen Van Ausdal of Carson City, Nevada for introducing him to the vagaries and difficulties of genealogical research in Nevada. Thanks are due to the distant cousins Patricia A. Miller of Corinne, Utah, Gayle W. Minjarez of Santa Barbara, California, Kathleen Parkinson of Two Rivers, Wisconsin and David J. Ross of Woodhill Spa, Lincolnshire, England for their insight, encouragement and the use of family papers. Thanks are also due to Thomas W. Jones, Ph. D. (Editor, National Genealogical Quarterly) for editorial help and insight.

NOTES

1. Priscilla Clark baptismal record, Buckland-Denham Parish baptismal register 1813-63, p. 27, Somerset Record Office (SRO), Taunton, U.K.; microfilm 1,526,441, item 16, frame 16, Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, Utah.

2. Nicholas Esterhazy Stephen Armitage Hamilton, ed., The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1868), s.v. ‘Buckland Denham.’

3. James Clark household, 1851 English census, Somerset, Buckland Denham Parish, Frome Registration Dist., Nunney Subdist., p. 17, household 63, HO 107/1932, folio 783, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, Richmond, Surrey, U.K.; FHL microfilm 0,221,091.

4. James Clark household, 1841 English census, Somerset, Buckland Denham Parish, Frome Registration Dist., Kilmersdon Subdist., Kilmersdon Hundred, ED 7, p. 18, HO 107/948/4, folio 12, TNA; FHL microfilm, 0,474,600. Also, Priscilla Clark entry, 1841 English census, Somerset, Frome Selwood Parish, Frome Registration Dist. and Subdist., Frome Hundred, ED 19, p. 24, HO 107/942/12, folio 15, TNA; FHL microfilm 0,474,597. Priscilla fashioned an elaborate taffeta wedding dress for her 1862 wedding to William Wilford. See Mary Elizabeth Tolman Glenn, ‘Mariah Louise Pickett Biography,’ typescript, 1 p., copy in possession of Patricia Ann Bates Miller (Corinne, Utah); hereafter Mariah Louise Pickett Biography. Lisa B. Kent (Corinne, Utah) owns the dress. Priscilla’s skill in crafting it implies apprenticeship in the tailoring trade.

5. Lula Marant Allman and Hazel Marant Thomson, eds., Marant Family History (Orem, Utah: Abraham Marant—Mary Prankett Family Organization, 1991), 16-17.

6. Lila E M. Christiansen, ‘Abraham Marant History,’ typescript, 1995, pp. 1-3, Pioneer Memorial Museum, Salt Lake City.

7. Susan Ward Easton-Black, comp., Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848, 50 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1984-88), 10:204.

8. Allman and Thomson, Marant Family History, 18.

9. Emily Carlisle, ‘The Sailship `Chimborazo’ ‘ in Kate B. Carter, Treasures of Pioneer History, 6 vols. ( Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1952-57), 5:29-37.

10. ‘Piggot’-Clark certification of marriage, Newbury Dist., Third Quarter 1853, 2c:355, England and Wales Civil Registration, General Register Office, London, U.K.

11. Louisa ‘Piggot’ certification of birth, Newbury Dist., Third Quarter 1854, 2c:200, England and Wales Civil Registration. George Picket family listing (17 November 1855), ship Emerald Isle, Liverpool Office of the European Mission Emigration Register 1045:5, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Historical Department, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0,025,691. The listing gives Louisa’s age as one year.

12. Ibid.

13. ‘Biography of Jane Pickett,’ typescript, 3 pp., in possession of Patricia A. Miller (Corinne, Utah). Written about 1951, undocumented, and containing errors, the paper is attributed to Annie Pearl (Barker) Merkley, daughter of Jane (Pickett) Barker; hereafter Jane Pickett Biography. Also, Matthew Pickett household, 1856 Utah territorial census, Great Salt Lake City, Ward 6, p. 252, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Historical Department, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0,505,913.

14. Mariah Louise Pickett Biography reports erroneously that Louisa died on shipboard. For her arrival in New York at age one, see Louisa Pickett entry, ‘Emerald Isle‘ (arrived from Liverpool,) passenger manifest, 31 Dec 1855, unnumbered p. 11, line 41; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York 1820-97 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives), microfilm M237, roll 159. The list identifies passengers who died enroute, but Louisa’s entry is not annotated. She died probably before the birth of her sister, also called Louisa, in Nov 1856. See Maria Louisa Pickett Read, ‘Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch,’ in L.D.S. Individual Histories, Idaho, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: S. I. Publishing, 1918), 2:258-59, hereafter Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch.

15. Mariah Louise Pickett Biography and Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch.

16. George Pickett entry, St. Louis Register of Deaths E:167, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Jefferson City, Mo.; FHL microfilm 2,308,255.

17. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

18. Priscilla Pickett entry, 3 Mar 1860, no. 2671, Endowment House ‘Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851-1869,’ unpaginated, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0,183,395.

19. Leonard Arrington and Davis Bitton, ‘Marriage and Family Patterns,’ in The Mormon Experience (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 185-205. Deut. 25:5 succinctly describes this teaching.

20. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

21. ‘Wm A Picket’ household, 1860 U.S. census, Shambip Co., Utah Territory, population schedule, Clover Settlement, p. 45, dwelling 4032, family 3008; National Archives (NA) microfilm publication M653, roll 1314. William Mills household, 1860 U.S. census, Great Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, pop. sch., Great Salt Lake City, Ward 13, p. 191, dwell. 133, fam. 134; NA microfilm M653, roll 1313.

22. ‘Of the Death of Mrs. Wilford,’ Daily Appeal, Carson City, Nev., Jul 20, 1869, page 1.

23. Elwood I. Barker, ‘Biographical Sketch of William Gill Mills,’ typescript, 1977, ms A2229, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City; digital transcription by Roger Porter, ‘William Gill Mills, father of Mannie Pickett,’ Maria Louisa Pickett Family Website: (http://marialouisapickett.homestead.com/files/william_g._mills_history.htm : accessed 23 October 2006).

24. George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch., Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31; NA microfilm T623, roll 943 (George is age 38, b. Mar 1862).

25. William went to Australia on the ‘Sophia’– ’Passengers Arriving in Western Australia on the Sophia 27 Jul 1850’, ‘William Wilford, age 25, labourer of Leicestershire’, online at www.perthdps.com, p. 7 (accessed Feb 2009); joined the Mormons–Marjorie Newton, comp., in Australian Mission: List of 19th Century Members (Bass, New South Wales, Australia: privately printed, 1988), 262, reports that William Wilford, who converted in 1853, was part of the ‘Gold Diggers Unit’–immigrated to California: Corlyn L. H. Adams, in The Jose Family: Utah by Way of Australia (Wolfe City, Tex.: C. H. Adams, 1995), 2-3, reports that Wilford departed on the Tarquinia, which sank in Honolulu, and the voyage resumed on the Williamatic, which arrived in San Francisco in 1855. Neither compiler identified William by age, parentage, or origin; exhaustive attempts have not yielded an immigration record elsewhere for an individual matching the name, age, and occupation of Priscilla’s last husband.

26. Marion Ellison, An Inventory and Index of Records of Carson County, Utah and Nevada Territories, 1855-1861 (Reno, Nev.: Grace Dangberg Foundation, 1984), 39-40.

27. Pickett-Wilford marriage record, El Dorado Co. Marriage Records A:213, County Recorder’s Office, Placerville, Calif. The bride’s and groom’s ages differ from those in other records. Also, Priscilla Wilford Family Bible, in possession of Lisa B. Kent (Corinne, Utah), hereafter Priscilla Wilford Family Bible; digital image, ‘Historical Notations in Bible of Priscilla Clark Pickett Wilford: Names and Birthdates of Wilford Children (Below) and Marriage Date to William Wilford (Right),’ Maria Louisa Pickett Website (http://marialouisapickett.homestead.com/ : accessed 23 October 2006).

28. Priscilla Wilford Family Bible.

29. Myron Angel, ed., History of Nevada (Oakland, Calif.: Thompson and West, 1881), 55-75 and 527¬65; and Phyllis Zauner, Carson City: Capital of Nevada (Sonoma, Calif.: Zanel, 1984), 5-28.

30. Nancy Miluck, ed., The Genoa-Carson Valley Book (Genoa, Nev.: Dragon Enterprises, 2001), 20-39.

31. Eliot Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners (1883; reprint, Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North, 1959), 244-62.

32. Estate and Guardianship of Heirs of Priscilla Wilford, Deceased, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files, docket 1779, County Clerk, Carson City, Nev. The file includes a handwritten petition for guardianship from William Gill Mills that recounts events preceding Priscilla’s death.

33. ‘Notice—,’ Millennial Star: Official Organ of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain, Manchester, England, 16 May 1863, 25:314; FHL microfilm 1,402,731.

34. Barker, ‘Biographical Sketch of William Gill Mills.’

35. History of Santa Clara County, California (San Francisco: Alley, Bowen, 1881), 285.

36. Patricia Baldwin Escamilla, A Short History of Gilroy California (Gilroy: City of Gilroy Historical Museum, 1997 ), 17.

37. Estate and Guardianship of Heirs of Priscilla Wilford, Deceased, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files, docket 1779. Also, ‘Wm Gill Mills’ household, 1870 U.S. census, Santa Clara Co., Calif., pop. sch., ‘City and Township of Gilroy,’ p. 81, dwell./fam. 262; NA microfilm M593, roll 88.

38. ‘Of the Death of Mrs. Wilford,’ Daily Appeal, 20 Jul 1869, page 1, summarizes the testimony and sworn statements of witnesses: Mrs. Lucy Bryant (neighbor), Peter and Edward Moss (Mormon tenant farmers who lived in the back of the ranch house), and Mr. Mills (friend, merchant from Gilroy, Calif.).

39. ‘Was It the Work of the `Destroying Angels’?’ and ‘Carson: The Late Mysterious Murder Probably the Work of Mormons—The `Destroying Angels’—Abroad,’ Daily Morning Chronicle, San Francisco, 10 Jul 1869, both on page 2.

40. ‘A Startling Suggestion,’ Daily Appeal, 20 Jul 1869, page 1.

41. ‘Discharged,’ Reno Crescent, Reno, Nev., 18 December 1869, page 2.

42. Estate and Guardianship of Heirs of Priscilla Wilford, Deceased, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files, docket 1779.

43. George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch., Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31; NA microfilm T623, roll 943 (George is age 38, b. Mar 1862).

44. Henry Ross household, 1870 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City Twp. and post office, p. 10, dwell. 97, fam. 90.

45 Henry Ross household, 1875 Nev. state census, vol. 2, part 1, Douglas Co., pp. 32-3, dwell. 79.

46. ‘Of the Death of Mrs. Wilford,’ Daily Appeal, Jul 20, 1869, page 1, summarizes the testimony and sworn statements of witnesses: Mrs. Lucy Bryant (neighbor), Peter and Edward Moss (Mormon tenant farmers who lived in the back of the ranch house), and Mr. Mills (friend, merchant from Gilroy, Calif.).

47. Estate and Guardianship of Heirs of Priscilla Wilford, Deceased, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files, docket 1779, County Clerk, Carson City, Nevada.

48. William G. Mills household, 1860 U.S. census, Great Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, pop. sch., Great Salt Lake City, Ward 13, p. 191, dwell. 133, fam. 134. The official enumeration date for the 1860 census was 1 Jun 1860. See Anne Bruner Eales and Robert M. Kvasnicka, Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives (Washington, D.C.: National Archives), 26.

49. ‘Notice—,’ Millennial Star: Official Organ of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain, Manchester, England, 16 May 1863, 25:314; FHL microfilm 1,402,731.

50. ‘Of the Death of Mrs. Wilford,’ Daily Appeal, 20 Jul 1869, page 1, summarizes the testimony and sworn statements of witnesses: Mrs. Lucy Bryant (neighbor), Peter and Edward Moss (Mormon tenant farmers who lived in the back of the ranch house), and Mr. Mills (friend, merchant from Gilroy, Calif.).

51. ‘Wm A Picket’ household, 1860 U.S. census, Shambip Co., Utah Territory, pop. sch., Clover Settlement, p. 45, dwell. 4032, fam. 3008.

52. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

53. Priscilla Clark baptismal record, Buckland-Denham Parish baptismal register 1813-63, p. 27.

54. ‘Carson: A Lady Found Dead with Her Throat Gashed From Ear to Ear—a Tragic Affair,’ Daily Morning Chronicle, San Francisco, 7 Jul 1869, page 1. ‘Shocking Murder or Suicide,’ Daily Appeal: The Territorial Enterprise, Virginia City, Nev., 8 Jul 1869, page 2. ‘News of the Week,’ Reno Crescent, 10 Jul 1869, page 1.

55. ‘Piggot’-Clark certification of marriage, Newbury Dist., Third Quarter 1853, 2c:355, England and Wales Civil Registration.

56. George Pickett baptismal record, Chieveley Parish baptismal register, 1560-1865, p. 37, Berkshire Records Office, Reading, U.K.; FHL microfilm 0,254,496, item 1. Also, George Pickett household, 1851 English census, Berkshire, Chieveley Parish, Newbury Registration Dist., Thatcham Subdist., ED 3b, Courage village, p. 18, H0107/1685, folio, 601, TNA.

57. George Pickett entry, St. Louis Register of Deaths E:167.

58. Pickett/Jarvis marriage: Chieveley Parish marriage register, 1560-1865, p. 5, Berkshire Records Office; FHL microfilm 1,849,236.

59. Priscilla Pickett entry, 3 Mar 1860, no. 2671, Endowment House ‘Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851-1869,’ unpaginated.

60. William Pickett baptismal record, Chieveley Parish baptismal register, 1560-1865, p. 26. ‘Tooele Cemetery Records,’ in History of Tooele County (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1961), 561.

61. Pigot/Castle certification of marriage, Newbury District, Berkshire, Fourth Quarter 1841, England and Wales Civil Registration, General Register Office, London, U. K .

62. LDS Temple Records, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah 1856-1866, chronological, FHL Film 183395.

63. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

64. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

For the practice of Mormon polygamy, see Arrington and Bitton, ‘Marriage and Family Patterns,’ in The Mormon Experience, 185-205.

65 Wilford/Pickett marriage: 30 Jun 1862, El Dorado Co. Marriage Records A:213.

66. William Wilford baptismal record, Bishop’s transcripts of South Croxton Parish baptismal register 1812-57, p. 19, City Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester, U.K.; FHL microfilm 0,592,696. Records of William’s brother Frederick, whose baptismal record appears in ibid., p. 14, identify William as Priscilla’s future husband. In 1870 Frederick Wilford, a farmer from Wisconsin, petitioned for guardianship of his brother William’s minor children. See Estate and Guardianship of Heirs of Priscilla Wilford, Deceased, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files, docket 1779. Frederick’s age matches that of the South Croxton child. See Frederick Wilford household, 1870 U.S. census, Waukesha Co., WI., pop. sch., Eagle Twp. and post office, p. 4, dwell. 29/fam. 28; NA microfilm M593, roll 192. For the Waukesha Co. family’s Leicestershire origins, see Wilford-Wilford marriage record, Waukesha Co. Marriages, 1860-75, unpaginated, Wisc. Department of Vital Statistics, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,275,597, frame 17.

67. For the cause of death, see ‘News of the Week,’ Reno Crescent, 10 Jul 1869, page 1. For the date, see ‘In the matter of the estate of William Willford [sic], deceased…,’ Estate of William and Priscilla Willford, docket 137, Ormsby Co. Estate and Guardianship Files. For the place, see Priscilla Wilford Family Bible.

68. Henry Ross household, 1870 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City Twp. and post office, p. 10, dwell. 97, fain. 90; and George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch., Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31.

69. Louisa ‘Piggot’ certification of birth, Newbury Dist., Third Quarter 1854, 2c:200, England and Wales Civil Registration.

70. Mariah Louise Pickett Biography

71. George Pickett household, 1851 English census, Berkshire, Chieveley Parish, Newbury Registration Dist., Thatcham Subdist., ED 3b, Courage village, p. 18; and ‘Biography of Jane Pickett.’ The family joined the LDS Church apparently after Feb 1843 and before the 1844 birth of James Pickett, because the Pickett-Jarvis marriage record (cited above) is found in Church of England records, but no later Pickett family records are found in Chieveley Parish records. English LDS records of that period are not extant.

72. Jane Pickett Biography, 1 reports that James and Mary died in Utah in 1862. They are found in 1856 but not in 1860 with their sister Jane. See Matthew Pickett household, 1856 Utah Territorial Census, Great Salt Lake City, Ward 6, p. 252; and ‘Wm A Picket’ household, 1860 U.S. census, Shambip Co., Utah Territory, pop. sch., Clover Settlement, p. 45, dwell. 4032, fam. 3008.

73. George Pickett household, 1851 English census, Berkshire, Chieveley Parish, Newbury Registration Dist., Thatcham Subdist., ED 3b, Courage village, p. 18. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

74. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

75. George Read household, 1900 U.S. census, Cassia Co., Idaho, pop. sch., Marion precinct, ED 35, sheet 13B, dwell. 213, fam. 216.

76. Louisa Read death certificate, no. 70,024 (1930), Idaho Vital Statistics Unit.

77. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch

78. E. L. Sloan, comp., Gazetteer of Utah and Salt Lake City Directory (Salt Lake City: Salt Lake Herald, 1874), 252.

79. Hubert H. Bancroft, History of Utah (San Francisco: History Company, 1890), 699.

80. For his birth, see William Gill Mills entry, 14 Jun 1857, no. 1233, Endowment House ‘Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851-1869,’ unpaginated. For his death, see Barker, ‘Biographical Sketch of William Gill Mills.’

81. Mills-Sleater certification of marriage, Clifton Dist., Third Quarter, 1851,11:453, England and Wales Civil Registration.

82. Louisa Mills obituary, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, 30 Jan 1926, section 2, page 26, col. 5.

83. Ibid.

84. William Gill Mills entry, 14 Jun 1857, no. 1233, Endowment House ‘Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851-1869,’ unpaginated.

85. Riverton Wyoming Stake, Remember the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies and Their Rescuers—Past and Present (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1998), 4 and 16.

86. Emily Hill entry, 14 Jun 1857, no. 1232, Endowment House ‘Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851-1869,’ unpaginated. Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret: A Book of Biographical Sketches to Accompany the Picture Bearing the Same Title (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 82-90. Carter, Treasures of Pioneer History, 6:37-8.

87. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

88. Mariah Louise Pickett Biography

89. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch

90. Leonidas Devon Mecham, [Tolman] Family Book of Remembrance (Bountiful, Utah: Tolman Family Organization, 1953), 207.

91. Ibid.

92. Archie England (Sexton, Emmett [Idaho] City Cemetery), in letter to Kristi Tolman Pitts, 2002, describes Cyrus Ammon Tolman’s tombstone inscription. Also, ‘Cyrus A. Tolman,’ Index, Emmett, Idaho, 29 Apr 1909, page 3.

93. Tolman-Pickett entry, Endowment Index, 1846-1969, G:210, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple Records Index Bureau; FHL microfilm 1,263,468. For Elizabeth’s birth date, see Elizabeth ‘Piggot,’ certification of birth, Newbury Dist., Third Quarter 1850, 6:230, England and Wales Civil Registration.

94. Tolman-Isaacson entry, 7 Jun 1875, no. 3515, Endowment House, ‘Sealings of couples, living and by proxy, 1851-1889’; FHL microfilm 0,183,400.

95. C. A. Tolman household, 1880 U.S. census, Tooele Co., Utah Territory, pop. sch., East Canyon Creek, Ophir Precinct, ED 77, sheet 8, dwell./fam. 19; NA microfilm T9, roll 1338.

96. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch No confirmation of this divorce has been found.

97. Tolman-Mauchian marriage record, Lincoln Co. Marriage Book 1:14, County Court, Shoshone, Idaho; FHL microfilm 1,533,016.

98. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch Because LDS excommunication records are inaccessible, exactly when Tolman was excommunicated can be narrowed only to the politically likely period, 1896-98. See D. Michael Quinn, ‘LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904,’ Dialogue 18 (Spring 1985): 9-105. Also personal communication and research of Glen L. Tolman.

99. Read-Pickett marriage record, Cassia Co. Marriage Records 1:74, County Recorder, Burley, Idaho.

100. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch; Read-Pickett marriage record, Cassia Co. Marriage Records 1:74.

101. George Franklin Read death certificate, no. 001,728 (1951), Idaho Vital Statistics Unit.

102. George Read household, 1900 U.S. census, Cassia Co., Idaho, pop. sch., Marion precinct, ED 35, sheet 13, dwell. 213, fam. 216. Also, Cyrus Tolman household, 1900 U.S. census, Cassia Co., Idaho, pop. sch., Marion precinct, ED 35, sheet 13, dwell. 211, fam. 214.

103. Louisa Read Autobiographical Sketch

104. Manny Picket card, Missionary Record Index, 1830-1971, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Historical Department; FHL microfilm 1,913,095. Also, Violet Exeter Pickett, compiler, Mannie Pickett–Dora Lenora Briggs family group sheet, ‘Family Group Records Collection, Patrons Section, 1962-1979,’ alphabetical by husband, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; FHL microfilm 0,598,891.

105. Mannie Picket death certificate, no. 63-2451 (1963), Nev. Office of Vital Statistics, Carson City.

106. Pickett/Briggs marriage: (1967), Cassia Co. Marriage Records 1A:22.

107. Mary Elizabeth Glenn death certificate, no. 005675, Idaho Vital Statistics Unit.

108. Glenn/Tolman marriage: Cassia Co. Marriage Records 1A:70.

109. George ‘Orian’ Tolman death certificate, no. 39-002833 (1939), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

110. Tolman/Loveland marriage: Cache Co. Record Book 7:347, County Clerk, Logan, Utah; FHL microfilm 0,430,308.

111. Robert L. Read death certificate, no. 56-098851 (1956), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

112. Read-Hammond marriage record, Salt Lake Co. Marriage Licenses 87, no. 34,505, County Clerk, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0,034,505.

113. Read-Olsen application, Salt Lake Co. Marriage Licenses 115, no. 45,883; FHL microfilm 0,429,119.

114. Waldemer P. Read death certificate, no. 18-1037, Utah Department of Health.

115. Read-Olsen application, Salt Lake Co. Marriage Licenses 115, no. 45,883.

116. See for example, Waldemer P. Read, ‘What Freedom is Found in the Local Culture?’ in Great Issues Concerning Freedom (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1962), 113-29.

117. Ulea J. Bozarth death certificate, no. 005303 (1985), Wash. Department of Health, Olympia.

118. Wharton-Read marriage record, Lincoln Co. Marriage Book 3:395; FHL microfilm 1,533,016.

119. Andrew Bozarth household, 1930 U.S. census, Salt Lake Co., Utah, pop. sch., Salt Lake City, Ward 4, ED 18-63, sheet 6A, dwell. 10, fam. 41; NA microfilm T626, roll 2421.

120. Henry Ross household, 1870 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City Twp. and post office, p. 10, dwell. 97, fam. 90; and George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch., Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31.

121. George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch.,Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31.

122. Capitola Pickett entry, 1910 U.S. census, San Joaquin Co., Calif., pop. sch., Tulare Twp., ED 147, sheet 15A, dwell. 311, fam. 318. The Parkin Collection of miscellaneous Nevada vital records at the Reno Family History Center has some ‘Pickett’ records of the Nevada State Hospital and Cemetery that are tantalizingly close to a death record for George Pickett, but not close enough to be persuasive.

123. Pickett-Aldrich marriage, 1 May 1890, Ormsby Co. Marriages H:343. For Capitola’s nickname, see Andrew Pickett death certificate, no. 56-012458 (1956), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

124. Capitola Aldrich Pickett death certificate, no. 778069 (1946), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

125. Henry Ross household, 1870 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City Twp. and post office, p. 10, dwell. 97, fam. 90. Henry Ross household, 1875 Nev. state census, vol. 2, part 1, Douglas Co., pp. 32-33, dwelling 79; Nevada Historical Society, Reno.

126. Pickett-Aldrich marriage announcement, Daily Appeal, 3 May 1890, page 2. The item reports that the Ross home is close to the Indian School, one mile down Clear Creek from the Wilford ranch.

127. George W. Pickett household, 1900 U.S. census, Washoe Co., Nev., pop. sch., Verdi Precinct, ED 45, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 31.

128. Ibid.

129. Capitola Pickett entry, 1910 U.S. census, San Joaquin Co., CA., pop. sch., Tulare Twp., ED 147, sheet 15A, dwell. 311, fam. 318.

130. Andrew Pickett death certificate, no. 56-012458 (1956), CA. Office of Vital Records (listed as widower).

131. Andrew M. Pickett entry, 1930 U.S. census, Rio Blanco Co., Colo., pop. sch., Miller Creek, Precinct 15, ED 52-17, sheet 2A, dwell. 32, fam. 52; NA microfilm T626, roll 250.

132. Priscilla Clow death certificate, no. 778970 (1920), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

133. Clow-Pickett marriage record, San Joaquin Co. Marriage Certificate 19:574, Recorder’s Office, Stockton, Calif.

134. Homer Clow household, 1920 U.S. census, San Joaquin Co., Calif., pop. sch., Tulare Twp., ED 186, sheet 2A, dwell. 29, fam. 31; NA microfilm T625, roll 143.

135. George Frank Pickett death certificate, no. 3966807 (1970), Pa. Division of Vital Records, New Castle. George F. Pickett entry, 1920 U.S. census, ‘Military and Naval Population, Etc., Abroad,’ pop. sch., U.S.S. Ballard, Chatham, England, sheet 2A, line 11; NA microfilm T625, roll 2041 and U.S.WW II Draft Registration Card, 1942 database online at ancestry.com (accessed Aug 2011).

136. Robinson family household, 1920 U. S. Census of Cinnaminson, Burlington, New Jersey, pop. sch., Roll T625_1020, E.D. 79, p. 12B.

137. 1940 U. S. Census of Palmyra, Burlington, New Jersey, pop. sch., Roll T627_2319, E.D. 3-74, p. 5B and 1930 U. S. Census of Palmyra, Burlington, New Jersey, pop. sch., Roll T626_1319. E. D. 59, p. 9A and Family Trees at Ancestry.com, ‘Sherral Jackson Hancock Tree’ (owner: Sherral72) tree 5286232 (accessed 29 May 2014).

138. Priscilla Wilford Family Bible.

139. Sarah ‘Lamo’ death certificate, no. LL01525004, Utah Department of Health.

140. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, 11 Jan 1901, John C. Lanno alias Casper Lanno (Private, Co. A, 13th U.S. Infantry), widow’s certificate WC 525,011; Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of Veterans of the Army and Navy who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain (‘Civil War and Later Widows’ Certificates’), 1861-1934; Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group (RG) 15, National Archives, Washington D.C.

141. Ibid.; Caspar Lanno entry, 1880 U.S. census, Lewis and Clark Co., Montana, pop. sch., Fort Shaw, ED 20, p. 18, dwell. 133, fam. 250.

142. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

143. Caspar Lanno entry, 1880 U.S. census, Lewis and Clark Co., Mont., pop. sch., Fort Shaw, ED 20, p. 18, dwell. 133, fam. 250; NA microfilm T9, roll 742.

144. Sarah Lanno, statements in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives. Harry Wassmann (Curator, Benicia Historical Museum), e-mail to Susan C. Stone, 7 Jun 2005.

145. Ibid.

146. Sarah Lanno household, 1910 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., Buffalo, Ward 22, ED 213, sheet 2A, dwell. 21, fam. 25; NA microfilm T624, roll 947. Henrietta Frances Lanno and Wilford Lanno entries, 1910 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., West Seneca, St. John’s Orphan Home, ED 308, sheet 17A, dwell. 12, fam. 13; NA microfilm T624, roll 940.

147. 1915 New York State Census, Election District 07, Assembly District 1, Buffalo Ward 24, Erie County, Page 40 (online at Ancestry) and J. B. Beatty (Acting Commissioner, Bureau of Pensions), letter to Bureau of Vital Statistics, Salt Lake City, 24 November 1919, in John C. Lanno pension appl’n file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

148. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives. ‘Sarah Lamo’ death certificate, no. LL01525004, Utah Department of Health. The informant, Mrs. J. H. Smith of Salt Lake City, reported that Sarah was a household servant.

149. ‘Sarah Lamo’ death certificate, no. LL01525004, Utah Department of Health. ‘Sarah Lamo’ entry, ‘Cemetery Burials Database,’ Utah History Research Center: Archives and History (http://history.utah.gov/apps/burials/execute/viewburial?cemeteryid=SL2105).

150. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

151. Martin Benz household, 1900 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., East Hamburgh Twp., Orchard Park, ED 237, sheet 13A, dwell. 245, fam. 248; NA microfilm T623, roll 1023.

152. Martin Benz household, 1920 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., East Hamburgh Twp., ED 288, sheet 7A, dwell. 169, fam. 179; NA microfilm T625, roll 1110.

153. Edward Lanno household, 1930 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., Buffalo, Ward 17, Block 1715, ED 15-209, sheet 26B, dwell. 517, fam. 559; NA microfilm T626, roll 1431. Joseph Blatner household, 1920 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., Dist. 10, Buffalo, Ward 24, ED 237, sheet 12B, dwell. 220, fam. 288; NA microfilm T625, roll 1108.

154. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

155. New York, Death Index 1852-1956, cert. 1347; online at Ancestry.

156. U. S. City Directories, 1915 Buffalo, NY, occ. Sailor; online at Ancestry.

157. U. S. WW I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918-1947, single, b. Utah, residence Buffalo, NY; online at Ancestry.

158. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

159. ‘Visitor Ends Life in Home of Woman,’ Los Angeles Times, 13 Jun 1956, page A7.

160. Sarah Lanno, statements in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives. William is listed as a living child on 5 May 1899, but not in papers signed in 1901. See also Sarah Lanno household, 1900 U.S. census, Erie Co., N.Y., pop. sch., Buffalo, ED 180, sheet 13B, dwell. 271, fam. 279; NA microfilm T623, roll 1031.

161. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

162. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

163. Whitely/Lanno marriage: Lucas Co. Marriage Records 37:78, Probate Court, Toledo, Ohio.

164. Newton Whiteley household, 1930 U.S. census, Wayne Co., Mich., pop. sch., Lockmoor Village, ED 82-934, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 28; NA microfilm T626, roll 1072.

165. Sarah Lanno, declaration for pension, in John C. Lanno pension application file, widow’s certificate WC 698,117, National Archives.

166. 1910 U. S. Census of West Seneca, Erie, New York, Roll: T624_940, Page 17A, E. D. 308, FHL Film 1374953, Wilfred, age 11 and his sister Henrietta Frances are inmates at the St. Johns Orphan Home, mother b. California, father b. Germany; online at Ancestry.

167. New Jersey Death Index 1901-2017; online at Ancestry.

168. Findagrave #98358983.

169. U. S. WWII Draft Card Young Men, 1940-1947; online at Ancestry.

170. Priscilla Wilford Family Bible

171. William Wilford death certificate, no. 49-016821 (1949), Calif. Office of Vital Records and ‘William Wilford succumbs at 82’, obituary (Feb 18, 1949, unidentified newspaper, ‘a resident of Cotati died yesterday in a Santa Rosa hospital’; names 3 surviving children, a sister Lillian Sutherland, San Francisco, a nephew Arthur ‘Herdenreich’, Washington and niece Alice Thomas, Guam (copy in possession of the author).

172. Wilford-Grandbois marriage record, Ormsby Co. Marriage Certificates H:411.

173. Louis ‘Grambois’ household, 1880 U.S. census, Sierra Co., Calif., pop. sch., Sears Twp., ED 100, sheet 2, dwell./fam. 10; NA microfilm T9, roll 83.

174. Mattie J. Wilford death record, California Death Index 1940-1997, online at Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jun 2011).

175. Henry Ross household, 1870 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City Twp. and post office, p. 10, dwell. 97, fam. 90. Henry Ross household, 1875 Nev. state census, vol. 2, part 1, Douglas Co., pp. 32-3, dwell. 79.

176. William ‘Welford’ household, 1910 U.S. census Sonoma Co., Calif., pop. sch., Vallejo Twp., ED 165, sheet 5A, dwell./fam. 71; NA microfilm T624, roll 109.

177. Francis William Wilford death certificate, no. 86-012088 (1986), Calif. Office of Vital Records and William Wilford family group: 1930 U.S. Census of Vallejo, Sonoma, Calif., p. 8A, dwell. 207, fam. 207, NA T626_222.

178. Severa Wilford death certificate, no. 78-083188 (1976), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

179. Anne Marguerite Wilford death certificate, no. 87-199720 (1987), Calif. Office of Vital Records; Severa Wilford household, 1930 U.S. census, Sonoma Co., Calif., pop. sch., Vallejo Twp., ED 49-74, sheet 4B, dwell./fam. 108; NA T626_222.

180. Isabel Lillian Azevedo death certificate, no. 87-000748 (1987), Calif. Office of Vital Records.

181. Joseph Azevedo household, 1930 U.S. census, Marin Co., Calif., pop. sch., Novato Twp., ED 21-4, sheet 2A, dwell./fam. 28; NA microfilm T626, roll 17.

182. Priscilla Wilford Family Bible.

183. Lillie ‘V.’ Sutherland death certificate, state file no. 3522, Washington State Department of Health, Spokane.

184. Heidenreich/Wilford marriage: 31 October 1886, Ormsby Co. Marriage Book 20:638, entry 1840N.

185. Henry Heidenreich household, 1900 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson Twp., Carson City, ED 36, sheet 6B, dwell./fam. 154; NA microfilm T623, roll 943.

186. Henry Heidenreich household, 1910 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson City, Ward 1, ED 60, sheet 4A, dwell. 12, fam. 13; NA microfilm T624, roll 859. Henry was living with his second wife, Louisa Berning, born about 1883.

187. Thomas-‘Thomas’ marriage record, Washoe Co. Marriages A, entry 4174; Lillie is listed as Lillie V. ‘Thomas’. Jesse Allen Thomas death certificate, no. 12-000883 (1912), Nev. Office of Vital Statistics.

188. J.A. Thomas family group: 1910 U. S. Census, pop. sch. of Reno Ward 2, Washoe, Nevada, p. 14B, dwell. 341, fam. 341; NA microfilm T624_859.

189. Sutherland/Thomas marriage: White Pine Co. Marriages 80:11.

190. Utah Death Index 1905-1951, State file no. 1942004897, age 76; online at ancestry.com (accessed Jul 2006).

191. Lillian Sutherland entry, 1930 U.S. census, Los Angeles Co., Calif., pop. sch., Los Angeles, Assembly Dist. 56, ED 19-74, sheet 13A, dwell. 149, fam. 154; NA microfilm T626, roll 134.

192. Arthur Carl Heidenreich card, group H, draft board 2, Des Moines City, Iowa, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, n.d.), microfilm M1509, roll IA13. Arthur was sole support of his wife, mother, and sister.

193. Lucretia Powell household, 1910 U.S. census, Shelby Co., Iowa, pop. sch., Union Twp., ED 177, sheet 3A, dwell. 58, fam. 61; NA microfilm T624, roll 423. Arthur C. Heidenreich household, 1920 U.S. census, Polk Co., Iowa, pop. sch., Des Moines, Ward 3, ED 114, sheet 11A, dwell. 76, fam. 157; NA microfilm T625, roll 508. Arthur ‘Heidenriech’ household, 1930 U.S. census, Polk Co., Iowa, pop. sch., Des Moines, Ward 5, ED 77-52, sheet 2A, dwell. 28, fam. 30; NA microfilm T626, roll 675.

194. Henry Heidenreich household, 1900 U.S. census, Ormsby Co., Nev., pop. sch., Carson Twp., Carson City, ED 36, sheet 6B, dwell./fam. 154.

195. J. A. Thomas household, 1910 U.S. census, pop. sch., Washoe Co., Nev., Reno, Ward 2, ED 69, sheet 14B, dwell./fam. 339; NA microfilm T624, roll 859. The Thomases reported that they had been married for four years, the age of their daughter Alice was ‘1 6/12,’ and ‘Lily’ had three children, all living. The family was visited on 2 May and the official enumeration date was 15 Apr. See Eales and Kvasnicka, Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives, 29. Also, Isaiah Sutherland household, 1920 U.S. census, White Pine Co., Nev., pop. sch., East Ely, ED 62, sheet 4A, dwell. 97, fam. 125; NA microfilm T625, roll 1005.

196. ‘William Wilford succumbs at 82’, obituary (Feb 18, 1949, unidentified newspaper, ‘a resident of Cotati died yesterday in a Santa Rosa hospital’; names 3 surviving children, a sister Lillian Sutherland, San Francisco, a nephew Arthur ‘Herdenreich’, Washington and niece Alice Thomas, Guam (copy in possession of the author).

197. Jane Pickett Biography, 1.

Priscilla (née Clark) (Pickett) (Pickett) Wilford (1826-1869)

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