It being Pioneer Day I figured I might as well share with my viewers (all 2 of you) the real reason I don't blog much anymore. It is family history. I spend so much of my very limited computer time researching dead and forgotten ancestors that I have let it take up almost all of my spare time. A lot of my spare time has also been traveling around Utah to meet with cousins, very distant cousins, grandparents, cemeteries and libraries and old pioneer places trying to track down as much info as I can. My children are tired of our family history trips but they still manage to drudge along with me. I figure they will look back and laugh about it one day.
Pioneer Day makes me think of all my wonderful pioneer ancestors. My favorite pioneers are my Great great grandfather Amos Maycock and his wife Mary Huphris (Humphreys, Humphries, Humphrys, or any other way you can think to spell it). So here is a shortened story of their journeys.
Amos started his journey in England. He was the son of James and Esther Maycock and born in the New Bold Pacey Parish area of England. Which is Ashton, right next to Stratford of Avon. I like to think way back on the line someone knew Shakespeare but no proof has surfaced as of this date. Esther passed away in England and James took their children to America. 2 daughters died on the ship. 2 sons decided to stay in St. Louis. But James and Amos, and John (Amos's brother) continued on their journey to Salt Lake City. Amos was 16-17 when they crossed the plains in 1850. James remarried in Winter Quarters, and the new wife came along with them. I know they had a wagon with oxen pulling it and a cow traveled with them so I assume they were not destitute. They settled in Springville and then during the great fleeing panic when everyone moved from northern utah to the south to escape the army, they traded their land for land in Pleasant View and moved up there.
Mary Humphries' father George had been disowned when he joined the church so he and his wife Harriet and their 8 children boarded a ship to America. George was promised in a blessing before he left England that if they chose to go to Zion that their family would all make it alive. With this faith they decided to come. Mary was 14 when her family joined the Willie Handcart Company. Mary at times would have to pull the handcart as they all became weak from their ill fated journey. Her brothers would shoot game (mostly fowl) to add to their meager diet of 1 tablespoon of flour a day. Even with their 8 kids, Harriet often shared their food with a widow woman and her two sickly boys who were also in the company. Despite all their hardships, the family walked out of that disaster with only a few frost bitten toes. Mary had to have a few of her toes removed. She never shared much about their journey. The Humphries settled in Pleasant View after coming to Utah.
When Brigham Young sent round the call to have volunteers go rescue the saints on the plains, Amos Maycock was one of the first volunteers and traveled with the first round of rescuers. It is family legend that Amos and Mary met on the plains, but it is more likely that their families met by becoming neighbors in Pleasant View. Amos and Mary married in 1861 and had 4 children.
Amos became one of the first Bishops in the North Ogden area. He helped dig the aqueduct that still carries water from the mountains into Ogden. He served a mission to the Eastern states in 1876. He was also a volunteer in the Black Hawk War. He helped people plant orchards and develop the land, his family had the first apple orchard in the Ogden area. The Maycocks also raised horses and began a dairy farm which provided milk and butter to some of the local schools. He built a large home with 2 "apartments" in it to accommodate his family. Amos also had the burden of living a polygamist life. He was later imprisoned for this action. He passed away in 1889, 2 years after his release and everyone says he was never the same as healthy after he spent time in prison. Mary passed away in her home "suddenly after a big breakfast" as her obituary says in 1907.
Their house still stands in Pleasant View today as does their legacy. Amos and Mary have truly become some of my ancestral heroes over the years. I am very grateful to be their descendant.
Pioneer Day makes me think of all my wonderful pioneer ancestors. My favorite pioneers are my Great great grandfather Amos Maycock and his wife Mary Huphris (Humphreys, Humphries, Humphrys, or any other way you can think to spell it). So here is a shortened story of their journeys.
Mary Humphries' father George had been disowned when he joined the church so he and his wife Harriet and their 8 children boarded a ship to America. George was promised in a blessing before he left England that if they chose to go to Zion that their family would all make it alive. With this faith they decided to come. Mary was 14 when her family joined the Willie Handcart Company. Mary at times would have to pull the handcart as they all became weak from their ill fated journey. Her brothers would shoot game (mostly fowl) to add to their meager diet of 1 tablespoon of flour a day. Even with their 8 kids, Harriet often shared their food with a widow woman and her two sickly boys who were also in the company. Despite all their hardships, the family walked out of that disaster with only a few frost bitten toes. Mary had to have a few of her toes removed. She never shared much about their journey. The Humphries settled in Pleasant View after coming to Utah.
When Brigham Young sent round the call to have volunteers go rescue the saints on the plains, Amos Maycock was one of the first volunteers and traveled with the first round of rescuers. It is family legend that Amos and Mary met on the plains, but it is more likely that their families met by becoming neighbors in Pleasant View. Amos and Mary married in 1861 and had 4 children.
Amos became one of the first Bishops in the North Ogden area. He helped dig the aqueduct that still carries water from the mountains into Ogden. He served a mission to the Eastern states in 1876. He was also a volunteer in the Black Hawk War. He helped people plant orchards and develop the land, his family had the first apple orchard in the Ogden area. The Maycocks also raised horses and began a dairy farm which provided milk and butter to some of the local schools. He built a large home with 2 "apartments" in it to accommodate his family. Amos also had the burden of living a polygamist life. He was later imprisoned for this action. He passed away in 1889, 2 years after his release and everyone says he was never the same as healthy after he spent time in prison. Mary passed away in her home "suddenly after a big breakfast" as her obituary says in 1907.
Their house still stands in Pleasant View today as does their legacy. Amos and Mary have truly become some of my ancestral heroes over the years. I am very grateful to be their descendant.
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