Pioneers Jonathan Earl & Jane Wright Earl

More Great-Grandparents of Grandma Verla Birt Barton to have traveled from England to the states after becoming members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The line goes as follows:

Verla Birt Barton-Josephine Lunn-Harriet W. Earl Lunn-Jonathan & Jane Earl.

This is a great history, unfortunately, I do not know who it was written by. It was possibly a direct grandchild of the Earls. There are so many heart-breaking trials they faced as they became members and traveled to Utah, including being disowned by family, being kicked out of their home, and losing a child. They must have known without a doubt that the gospel was true and the earthly trials were only temporary. Surely, the few trials I face do not stand up to their extreme losses and I can learn much from their faith.

Oh, and I had to look up the meaning of the word "Squaw," used in the account towrds the end. I was imagining some sort of animal and surprisingly it was an indian woman. Wow! I'm laughing out loud and feeling bad all at the same time! I really think I would have liked this feisty great-great-great grandomther of mine.

Sketch of the Lives of Jonathan Earl and his Wife, Jane Wright Earl

Jonathan Earl, son of Sarah Earl and Jonathan Bermingham, was born July 29, 1816, at Frayl, Hampshire, England. He was raised by his mother’s brother and assumed his name.
Of his early life very little is known. The first record I have been able to find is just prior to his marriage. He had just returned from France where he helped to build the first railroad in that county. He stopped at an inn where Jane Wright was working.

A very romantic incident occurred the night of his arrival. Jane was waiting on the table at which the men ate and Jonathan said to the landlady, “I am going to marry one of these girls and tomorrow morning I shall tie this handkerchief around her neck.” In the morning, he tied the handkerchief around Jane Wright’s neck. So we might say that our family began in a handkerchief. The handkerchief has been kept and I hope will always be treasured in our family.
Of Jane Wright we know a little more. She was the daughter of William and Maria Downing Wright and was born January 6, 1822, in Rugly, Staffordshire, England. Her parents were poor and it was necessary for her to earn her own living. She spent her childhood in the home of a wealthy maiden lady. This lady was blind and it was grandma’s duty to run errands and keep her company.

Early in life, grandma had a very bad sickness from which she was miraculously saved. She says that she was impressed not to take the medicine prescribed for her. When no one was around and watching, she poured it on her mother’s plants. They died.

About the time that grandma went to work at the inn where she met grandpa, a gypsy told her fortune, she told grandma that she was going to join a peculiar people and go to a new land. This was fulfilled sooner than expected. Grandpa and grandma were married on March 22, 1847. Shortly after this some people who were interested in Mormonism, invited them to a meeting held in their home. Our grandparents were very much impressed and procured a Book of Mormon and other literature and studied for themselves. Grandpa joined the church and was baptized on December 14, 1847, and grandma was baptized on January 24, 1848, when her son John was just a month old.

When grandma’s parents learned that she had joined the Mormons, they refused to have anything more to do with her. As soon as their landlord learned that they were Mormons, he turned them out. He wouldn’t even let grandma stay until grandpa returned from work that day.

By September 1848 they had saved enough money to take them to America. They left England in a sailing vessel on September 6, 1848, and landed in New Orleans for provisions before starting up the Mississippi. They landed in St. Louis on November 25, 1848.

Just think what it would have meant to us if they had stayed in England!

It was while they were living in St. Louis that their son John died on July 22, 1849. Grandma has told me stories of the terrible times she passed thru St. Louis. How they passed through the Cholera Plague when people died by the hundreds and there were not enough well ones to take care of the sick and dead. How rats were so terrible that it was often necessary to sit up nights to keep them from killing the baby.

About 1850 they went to Council Bluffs, Missouri, to live and it was here that Joseph was born on September 22, 1850. They spent two years here, saving money for the trip to Utah. Grandpa worked as a freighter on the Mississippi River.

They began the trip across the plains with an ox team on March 1, 1852, arriving in Salt Lake August 7, 1852—over five months on the road, a trip that can be made over night now, if you are brave enough to go in an aeroplane, or in two days by rail with perfect safety.

They settled in the old home on 9th East, Salt Lake City. A part of the land they got for a pair of boots and the rest at a very low price.

Their first home consisted mainly of the covered wagon in which they had crossed the plains. Later a dug-out was added. Several of grandmas children were born here. Quite a difference from our modern hospitals! Their first real house was a one house made logs, to which later was added an adobe room.

Grandpa worked as a brick mason and before his death in 1873 (a matter of 21 years time since their arrival in Salt Lake) he built a good three room brick house. It was a good house for it still stands in good condition after fifty years usage.

George was their first child born in Salt Lake-June 1, 1853.

Bearing children and raising them in this new county was a somewhat larger problem then than now. The roof leaked and it was often necessary during storms to place pans on the bed to catch the water to save the mother from a soaking. All the cooking, even baking, had to be done on an open fire.

Judge Laney told me not long ago that never in his life had he eaten such good meals as grandma Earl cooked, all in one big kettle-meat, vegetables, and puddings. Each was tied in a separate cloth and placed on above the other in the kettle. Cabbage and the like always went on top so as not to harm the others.

In early days at dances a meal was deemed necessary. Grandma’s place was the usual scene of the supper for the 10th ward dances. Great crowds would gather and eat in her large kitchen.
Later, when the grandchildren grew up, it was their special delight to run to grandma’s after school for a piece of pie. On fast days they always went there for dinner. There was no crying over fasting for they wanted plenty of room in their stomachs for grandma’s dinner.

Fifty-one years ago (the summer after grandpa died) they had heat like we have had a couple of weeks ago (The summer of 1925) Screens were not to be had but flies were plentiful. I’ve heard grandma tell how she had to stand over the table and beat flies off with a branch of a tree, so that the other could eat. While she was doing this one day, an old squaw walked in and grabbed a handful of vegetables from a dish on the table. Grandma snatched the dish and threw the whole thing in the face of the squaw. I think the squaw got enough for she didn’t come back.

Josephine was born April 1, 1855-the first girl and grandma was glad to be fooled.

Edwin came next on March 22, 1857. When he was scarcely a year old, grandma had to take her small children and what provisions they could load in a wagon and go with the rest of the saints, south. She went as far as Springville, where they camped until fall. This was when Johnston’s army was coming to Utah. The people suffered so much at the hands of the easterners that they were determined to have no more of it. They had left good homes behind them many times before, but this was to be the last. When the army arrived they were to find the valley desolate as the pioneers had found it ten years before. Every garden was to be destroyed and every house burned. Two men were selected from the 10th ward. So grandma went alone with the children, leaving behind all they had gained, not knowing even that she would ever see her husband again.

Fortunately, the army came in peaceably and so they are allowed to pass thru the valley and later when the troubles were adjusted, the people returned to their homes. Grandma has often told us how shakily grandpa had watched the soldiers march by and how the house was filled with straw all ready to be burned.

Alfred was born the next spring, May 7th 1859, and then Jesse on March 2, 1861. He lived only a few days over Eight years.

The twins, Harry and Harriet, were born April 10, 1867; Andy, January 24, 1870; and Adam, September 29, 1872.

Grandma was passed fifty years old when her last child was born. She passed thru hardships we can’t imagine. She has told me of winters so cold that bread froze and had to be chopped off with an axe and then thawed before the fire to be eaten; of going to a spring a block away for water, then the water would freeze solid in the buckets before she reached the house.

Grandpa died September 11, 1873. The oldest living child was then 23 years and the youngest scarcely a year old. With eleven children to raise under those trying conditions, is it any wonder that we think grandma wonderful? She raised all of these children and saw them all married and with families of their own before she died at the age of 91 years and 10 months on October 20, 1913. Besides raising her family, grandma acted as president of the 10th ward relief society of many years, during the time when Relief Society was more than just a name. She spent many days and night working for the sick and poor.

Her children all have large families. Joseph had ten children, George eight, Edwin eleven, Alfred six, Harry four, Harriet nine, Frank ten, Andy twelve, Alice ten, and Adam three. Before grandma died sh lost three more of her children: Harriet died August 20, 1906; Joseph died August 29, 1906; Harry died March 30, 1911; and since that three more have gone: Edwin died August 18, 1915; Josephine died August 30, 1920; and Alfred died on January 31, 1923.
Today, 78 years after the marriage of grandpa and grandma Earl, there are 225 living members of the family.

Grandma Earl died October 20, 1913.