Alice Jeffery Pendleton

A Righteous Posterity

Alice Jeffery Pendleton

       

At age 14 Alice was baptized in Northampton, England.   Records show her father never consented to baptism even though her mother and the rest of the children embraced the restored gospel.   They were a family of not many means.  Their father was a shoemaker and taught his children the trade.  In 1860 the Immigration Fund supplied a way for Alice, Jane and their brother Thomas and his family to cross the ocean on the Ship “William Tapscott” and make their way to Salt Lake City.

     With only a few facts about Alice we rely on trail excerpts from others to pull the story together.  We can imagine a conversation between Alice and her sister.  

“Do you think there will be eligible, God fearing, good looking men when we reach Zion?” Jane asked her sister Alice, with a bit of a grin.  

“Oh Jane, you think too much about love and not enough about the tasks at hand” Alice responded as she hurried to pack the covered wagon.

“Well, men in the old country certainly were scarce and we are no spring chickens, you at 27 and me at 25.”  Jane replied as she placed the rest of their things in the assigned covered wagon.

In England Alice had enjoyed attention form men, just not the right kind,  “Well, me, Alice replied, “I am going to take the first offer of marriage I receive from an honorable man. I want to raise a righteous posterity. ”In mid July 1861 everything seemed so strange as they began traveling in covered wagons. Camping on the prairie was a new adventure: there was nothing to be seen but a treeless tract of land and no mountains in the distance. To sleep out in the open air with the stars overhead gave them a feeling of awe and reverence, also a feeling of safety and freedom. Now on the way west, hundreds of miles ahead lay the land God had chosen for his saints. There was danger ahead because of Indians and wild animals. Their dream of finally joining righteous people of one heart and one mind in Zion gave reprieve from their fears.   Alice traveled with her sister Jane and her brother’s family.  They were among the poor in material goods but counted themselves rich in blessings. (Trail excerpt Sixtus E. Johnson )

Sextus E. Johnson recorded “The Company was made up of many nationalities English, Scottish, Welch, Swiss & others, wagons loaded heavy, it took more than 9 weeks to cross.  We had to get up early and keep moving; some of the women gave the blackest looks as they came running along behind the wagon with their kettles in one hand and their biscuits in their aprons, but we know what it would mean for the poorly clad immigrants to be caught in the mountain snows, so we hurried them along. 

Brother Johnson continued, "There was a very large number of fine young marriageable women aged from 20 to 30 years in the Companies who were coming to find them husbands as men in the Country where they came from were scarce." (Johnson, Sixtus Ellis, [Autobiography], in A Voice From the Mountains: Life and Works of Joel Hills Johnson [1982], 247.)

 Christinna Johnson explained, ”There were two families to a wagon.  The wagon covers were made handy by having a section of pockets sewed on them which held combs, pins, needles, buttons and many other articles which were needed on the way. Barrels were fastened on the sides of the wagons to carry water, as there were times when camp was made before water could be reached. Those with dogs, cats and chickens were kept in pens and coops which were fastened to the backs of the wagons.
Some of the women and girls dressed very appropriately for the journey, wearing short skirts over long bloomers that came to the shoe tops and were gathered into bands fastened around the ankle. This garment was very handy when getting in and out of wagons.

Sometimes wild fruit was found close to the bank of the river. One of these was the buffalo berry. They were red and about the size of strawberries. Finding these meant a real treat."  (Johnson, Christianna Maria, Reminiscences, in Rufus David Johnson, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown [1961], 353-55.)

Alice and Jane endured the dust, heat, rain, wind, sand. They enjoyed the social life and evening singing and dancing along the trail.  They saw buffalo and Indians for the first time and rose to the sound of the bugle each morning at 5:00 am.

Finally, one day late in Sept. they were very near their destination. They started out early and walked over 12 miles. They were determined to make the city by night fall. When they reached the valley they set up camp on the Square in Salt Lake.  It seemed strange to camp in the middle of society. Their hearts were full and new thoughts of where to live and how to survive were in their minds.

Alice was so thankful and relieved when she was hired to work for the Pendleton Family. There were several small children and Sister Pendleton walked with a crutch.  Alice quickly came to love the children and was very proficient in managing the household. 

One day not long after their arrival Alice met her sister Jane on the streets of Salt Lake City. Alice and Jane were delighted to see each other.  Jane was bursting with excitement.  “Remember the teamster William Green?  He has asked to court me. Jane’s eyes sparkled.”

Jane looked at Alice with an inquisitive look, “I heard that Benjamin Pendleton has been advised to take a younger wife. The rumor is that he has asked you. What are you going to tell him?  He already has a wife and large family.  The youngest is just a few months old.”

Jane squeezed Alice’s arm.

“I will do what ever the Lord wants me to do!” 

“You will marry him?” 

“He is a good man.  I am sure we will get used to each other over time. With him I will have a righteous posterity.  If the Lord needs me to help settle the Dixie Mission I will not turn down the call.”

Benjamin Franklin Pendleton and Alice Jeffery were married October, 26, 1861, one month after she arrived in Salt Lake City and just in time to make the trek south to the Dixie Country. 

The group of approximately 1,000 settlers left Salt Lake and after traveling 30 days arrived in December 1861. Life in Dixie was hard. While still living in temporary encampments, major rains began and continued for a month, causing major flooding that wiped out the village of Santa Clara. The great rainstorms almost destroyed the farmlands.

By the end of the first year they had laid out a town, formed a municipal government, and began to cultivate the land, both on town lots and at nearby small farms.

Alice endured many hardships; She aided her husband in his horticultural work and sustained his business and community enterprises. She loved her husband and she loved the faithful saints of the Dixie Mission especially Orson Pratt’s wife next door and Brigham Young’s wife Lucy B and her daughters Susie and Mable across the street. 

It was in the spring of 1863 when her first child came. She only lived a short while.  She was so beautiful and perfect.  Alice was heart broken, after all her hopes of being a mother; would she pass through life without that opportunity?  When she lost a second pregnancy Alice’s arms seemed empty and despair filled her heart.  Ben took Alice in his arms. Seeing her devastation he was more intensely aware of the unrelenting desire Alice had to raise a family.

Their third child came on Alice’s 31^st birthday. Little Violet was a strong feisty little girl that lived to give them much joy.  Five more babies over the next 10 years came into their home. 

Alice was a wonderful wife, mother and homemaker.  She was a fine seamstress.  She also did a tremendous amount of canning from their productive garden, orchard and vineyard.  Alice would often do the canning in used fruit cans brought to them by fruit vendors: she would prepare the cans and then take them to the shop where Benjamin would solder them.  Not only did she can produce for her own family, but also for Ben to take to Lavina’s family in Salt Lake City each autumn.

Lavina came to St. George at least twice with her two youngest daughters.  One of the times Ben was very ill with pneumonia and the two women held their hands tightly clasped as they knelt and prayed for the man they both loved and God answered their prayers. 

Ben was fond of hunting and fishing.  One evening in November 1881 he went to hunt in the foothills by Middleton with Israel Line.  Israel went to visit and spend the night with a daughter who lived in Middleton and Ben headed back to St. George.

When night fall came and Ben did not return home Alice was quite worried.  She asked Gus Hardy, the sheriff to go look for him.  Hardy said it was too late; he would go early in the morning.  It was a long night.  In the morning Hardy got an Indian who was a good scout, to accompany him.  They followed his tracks through the graveyard and found him.  He had laid down, probably to rest and had passed away.

Alice lost her husband at age 47. The youngest child was five, the oldest 15. Alice lived over 40 years after her husband died.   She raised a wonderful, faithful and cultured family.  Alice worked in the temple in her later years. She was ever faithful in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and raised a righteous posterity.

Alice Jeffrey Pendleton

            Clara M. Pinskston one of the youngest granddaughters of Benjamin F Pendleton from S.L.C. was passing through St. George and gives some light on this posterity.

In a small restaurant I saw a really old gentleman.

While waiting I questioned him. Did he know B.F. Pendleton?

“Golly, Yes, everyone knows Frank Pendleton.” 

I told him how I fit into the family…and said I didn’t know the family members in St. George very well.  He said, that I was the looser, as they were all very much worth knowing.  He told me that they were one of the most respected families in Southern Utah.  The Pendleton and Snows were like the Cabots and the Lodges in New England.  There were hundreds of them now and they were scattered all over Washington County.  They were the judges, doctors, school board members, educators and church officials, in short the highest type of good solid American citizens. 

He concluded with this “And lady, I don’t believe that a dogone one of the whole shebang has ever got as much as a traffic ticket.” 

Trees, people and institutions must be judged by their fruit.  From just one plural marriage, the highest type of people had been sprinkled and had influence for good, and there is no end in sight.

(Clara M. Pinkston Letter to Mr. Coates 1961 DUP Museum.)