John Telford Birth: 2 March 1802 Place: Armagh, Province of Ulster, Ireland Death: 19 January 1896 Place: Richmond, Cache, Utah, United States Father: George Telford Mother: Jane Dodds
John Telford is my 3 times great grandfather. He came from Ireland to Canada, then to Kirtland, Ohio, then Nauvoo, Illinois, to Bountiful, Utah and finally ended in Richmond, Utah. He had two wives and seventeen children. He lived a full live of 94 years.
The black and white photo of John Telford as a young man
And here is the colorized version of same photo
What follows is some highlights of John’s life. I have pulled some extracts from his life history. For the full history of the man and his family, click on the following link: “History of John Telford – Utah Pioneer”.
The Telfords were members of the Episcopal Church and according to tradition their politics and affiliations were with the old order of Fianna, the Champions of Erin. Although loyal to England, their sympathies were with the oppressed and liberty-loving Irish people.
An event in proof of this tradition occurred one evening when John Telford was about seven years of age. He and is cousin, Doctor Willis, were returning home when they found their street closed and barricaded with fires and in possession of the Orangemen, a secret society in opposition to the Fenians. As it was late John and his cousin decided to take a chance and pass the fires, rather than take the long and tiresome way home. They were attacked by the Orangemen who fought with burning torches. John was beaten and severely burned. Doctor Willis fought the men off and they were able to run to safety. John was burned so severely across his shoulders that he carried the scars to his grave.
John’s family had been in Ireland for many years and were somewhat well to do people for their day and very fastidious in their dress. They affected canary colored buckskin trousers. They were soldiers and land holders, having been given grants of land in Ireland by the King of England.
John’s father and two older brothers left from America when John was nine years old. His father died while he was there and his mother went over to take care of the her two sons, but she contacted the sickness and died also. The two older sons were now left alone in America and John and his younger sister, Eliza, were still in Ireland with their 3 older sisters and other relatives.
After the death of his parents, John was apprenticed to a weaver and was now forced to make his own living, which he did from that time on. He became an expert weaver of the finest linens, but he did not like the work as he was more interested in agriculture and wanted to be a landowner.
John was married in March 1825 to his first cousin Jane Telford, who was his senior by seven years. They were married in Scotland, where they remained for about two years and then moved back to Ireland.
Jane Telford Birth: 17 December 1795 Place: Diocese of Armagh, Ulster, Ireland Death: 5 September 1886 Place: Richmond, Cache, Utah, United States Father: Robert Telford Mother: Ann Dodds
In 1830, John, Jane and their three children set sail from Belfast for Quebec in search for better opportunities in America. They were part of a company of Irish colonists sent by the English government to settle in Canada.
This was a long and trying voyage and nearly proved disastrous. There were incidents causing excitement and thrills as well as dread and tragedy. When Smallpox broke out on board, everyone was desperately afraid as it was considered sure death to all who contracted it. So, when John’s small daughter, Anna (2.5 years old), contracted the disease, her mother hid her in one of their large linen chests as she feared some of the panic stricken people would throw the child overboard.
At sea they were caught in a violent storm and huge waves washed overboard causing much damage. In the darkness, they collided with another ship, became entangled and spun like tops in the storm and nearly sunk. So much damage was done to the ship, that they had to work desperately for days, pumping water to keep the ship from sinking while repairs could be made. A lot of damage was also done to the effects of the passengers by the salt water. John lost all his family records and other valuable articles.
When entering the Quebec harbor, they were attacked by another ship, which attempted to ram their vessel and sink them in the harbor. But due to the captain’s presence of mind and the quick work of the helmsman, they escaped injury and no harm was done to the ship.
Soon after arriving in Canada, John and his family sailed up the St. Lawrence River and lived for a short time in Toronto. They then moved on to Ontario where John started a maple sugar orchard of all new trees. He became prosperous in the short time he had been in this new land and was soon able to build a new house with new furnishing throughout. During his residence in Canada, John also ran a logging crew and had quite a number of men working for him in timber as well as on his land.
It was eight years after the Telford family arrived in Canada that they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Immediately after joining the church, John began preparations for a speedy departure for the United States to join the main body of the saints in Kirtland, Ohio.
Then came their first real sacrifice, when they willingly gave up their home and prosperity for the sake of their religion. Because of the opposition and the prejudice of the people against his unpopular belief, John did not try to sell any of his property. He just locked up his house and left everything intact. John and Jane left for the United States packed into their wagon with five small children and only what the U.S. Government would allow them to bring. They arrived in Kirtland in the early part of 1838.
Kirtland was a beautiful town with its hills, vales and clear streams of water and with their far famed Temple built on the highest bluff and overlooking the shimmering waters of Lake Erie in the distance.
Due to persecution, on July 6, 1838, nearly all the Saints left Kirtland and move in a body to Missouri. It is believed that John was not a part of that body of saints, but he and his family went some distance away from that vicinity, where he got work in a farming district for the summer and joined the Saints later in Missouri. The family suffered persecution at the hands of the mobs, as did most saints (see pages 5 and 6 of the John Telford History above).
John and his family were in Nauvoo when the cornerstone of the Temple was laid on April 6, 1841. He worked on the Temple until the building was completed. Here in Nauvoo, John built a good one and a half story brick house, with lovely flower gardens, just a half block from the temple. He also owned two city lots in Nauvoo.
Soon after, persecutions began again. After the death of Joseph Smith, the saints completed the Temple and John and Jane, with their three oldest children, had the opportunity of receiving their endowments on December 24, 1845.
John and his family left Nauvoo in February 1846. The majority of the Saints who left Nauvoo during the extremely cold and stormy winter, camped on the open prairie across the river from their beautiful city where their comfortable homes were empty and their property unsold.
In 1851, they started for Utah with the Harry Walton Company. John was well equipped for this journey into the wilderness. He had three wagons packed with flour and provisions, seeds for planting and other necessities. One of the wagons, an extra large one, was loaded with bolts of cloth, fine linen and other materials which lasted the family for years after they reached their destination, all of which he divided with poorer families after they reached the valley. When John began the journey he had horses enough for all his wagons, but on the plains the Indians stole or shot his horses so he was forced to use cows or oxen for the remainder of the journey.
They arrived in Salt Lake City in September 1851. There were only four of his seven children left to make the journey, since three had died during the distressing period of persecution. John settled in Bountiful, Utah. John’s foresight had enabled him to provide his family with plenty of material for clothing in the coming years, which were difficult in the new land.
There are a lot of interesting stories of John and his family after arriving in Utah, but I will let you read the full history for all that information.
The last bit of information I would like to highlight about John Telford is regarding his second marriage to Elizabeth Robinson in 1857.
Elizabeth Robinson Birth: 17 May 1836 Place: Beauvale, Nottinghamshire, England Death: 22 February 1910 Place: Richmond, Cache, Utah, United States Father: Samuel Robinson Mother: Mary Ann Price
Elizabeth Robinson (click to read her story) was 21 years old when they married, John being 55. I am not sure why Beth (as she was known) would marry a man 34 years her senior, but since there is no information the whys, I have to believe that it was good for both. At the date of their marriage, John’s youngest at the time Eliza Telford (age 22 years). She was also married that same year to John McCarthy, who was 11 years older than her.
John and Elizabeth started a family at this time and ended up having nine children. Their last child was born in 1876, which means that John was 76 years old at the time. What is even more amazing is that John lived to see this daughter reach her 20th birthday.
In his history I found the following paragraph inspiring:
“John Telford was a man of fine character and a natural leader. He was honest, industrious, straightforward, truthful and with a high sense of justice and honor. He was broad minded, kind, understanding and generous to a fault. He despised hypocrisy, vulgarity and unfair dealing. He was a man of exceptionally good judgement and was held in high esteem by his townspeople. He was always called to act as a mediator in all the disasters in the community and his judgement was never questioned. Whatever his decision all parties were satisfied that justice had been rendered. ”
John was a student of the law and as such was qualified to fill the need of the early pioneer community in the capacity of legal advisor, investigator and judge. In his office of Justice of the Peace and as a member of the Bishopric, he was called to act in this capacity for many years, both in temporal and spiritual affairs.
He love music and had a good tenor voice and enjoyed singing. He also loved poetry and all good books. He knew and often repeated appropriate quotations from poetry, fiction or the scriptures to fit every situation or occasion.
John Telford was a great reader and a student all his life. He was educated and a true gentleman. He always retained his keen, active mind and was a straight as a soldier when he died.
At his death, he was survived by his wife, Elizabeth and eight of his seventeen children. He also had forty-four grandchildren and one hundred and eleven great grandchildren and on second great grandchild. Before his death, there were five generations in the family.
Ancestral Lineage:
- John Telford and Jane Telford
- John Dodds Telford
- William Henry Telford
- Zoie Telford Denning
- Richard (Dick) Telford Denning
- Richard Rigby Denning
That is awesome stuff. I enjoyed it. I just cannot figure out what happened to those great voices, aren’t they supposed to passed down?