History of Michael Wheatley
Michael Wheatley, son of John and Sarah Moore Wheatley, was born 19 August 1835 at Dale Abby, Derbyshire, England.
My great-grandfather, John Wheatley, was born 18 August 1806. My great-grandmother, Sara Moore Wheatley, was born 16 July 1798.
The Wheatleys were real coal miners and had been for generations. My great-grandfather, John Wheatley, worked underground in the coal pits for 60 years. My grandfather (Michael) worked in the pits also. His brother Thomas started working in the pits when he was 6 years old and worked there for 25 years before coming to America.
My grandfather’s brother, Richard, was killed in the Birchil pit by a blast 12 October 1852 at the age of 24. They all had many narrow escapes from losing their lives, and when they left England their backs were scared [sic] from falling coal.
Great-grandfather John had 7 children, 5 sons and 2 daughters. Two of the children died at an early age. Three of the children, 2 boys and o [sic] girl were converted with their marriage partners to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Grandfather Michael Wheatley married Martha Ann Varley 24 February 1851.
On April 19, 1861, Michael with his wife Martha, his brother Thomas Wheatley Sr, his wife Catherine Varley and a sister and her husband, Mary and George Whitworth and their families, sailed from Liverpool, England, on a vessel named “The Underwriter.” This was the same boat President Charles W. Penrose came to America on. (This was the Milo Andrews Co.) They were 30 days on the water before reaching land. The officers on the ship were very cruel to the sailors, and would lash them. The women could not stand to see this, so they went to see the Captain and begged him to intercept, but the captain told them that was their custom and the only way the sailors could be controlled.
While on the ocean, the food consisted mainly of salt pork, very salty dry crackers and split peas.
There were 624 Saints under the presidency of Milo Andrews, Homer Duncan, and Charles W. Penrose, coming to America.
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They arrived in New York City May 22, 1861. From there they sailed to New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They traveled up the river to Florence, Nebraska. While there, grandfather’s sister Mary gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Florence after the city which is just out of Omaha. She was born on the banks of the Mississippi River in a tent. They remained there long enough for Mary to get her strength. While there, the men took a walk along the river bank and came upon a camp of Indians. They (the white men) made a hasty retrest, [sic] as they had heard of Indians in America, but these were the first they had ever seen and they were frightened.
At Omaha they bought a yoke of oxen and a wagon each, and provisions for the trip to the west. After a few days journey on the plains, some of the oxen died and they had to change the new wagons for old ones, and cows to pull the wagons.
Coming thru [sic] the states they were enlisting men for the army, that being the year the Civil War began and all was excitement. Food was surely
cheap. Eggs were three cents a dozen, and “we enjoyed the different food very much after faring so poorly on the boat.”
Some of the children walked most of the way to the valley. “We saw many Indians and buffalo but we were never molested by them. We arrived at Salt Lake City, Sept. 12, 1861.”
They settled in Bountiful, Utah, where Thomas’ wife Catherine gave birth to a baby boy named Abraham, October 16 1861/ [sic] The first winter was hard, they took some of their best clothes to buy hay for the livestock. They built log cabins near where the Bountiful Tabernacle now stands. They had boxes for tables and sawed logs for chairs.
In 1863 the oldest boy, Thomas, and his family left for Dayton, Nevada, with a company of Saints, and Michael’s sister, Mary Whitworth and family and Michael and family left for Honeyville, Box Elder County, where they bought farms.
After nine years, Brother Thomas returned from Nevada and bought a farm nearby in Honeyville and that is where they raised their families and prospered very well.
Grandfather Michael and Grandmother Martha Ann had two children. Both
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were born in England. The first was a boy (Heber Kimball) and the second a girl (Catherine). Catherine died the same year she was born (1867).
Heber taught school in Box Elder County towns, and married Isabelle Nish, from Plymouth, Utah. This marriage was blessed with seven children, three boys and four girls. The
family lived on a farm in Clarkston, Utah. Later Izabelle and Heber separated, and Heber married Sarah Alice Nye of Honeyville, Utah.
Two children were born of this marriage, Vera (who died at the age of 21) and Athalia, who now resides in Ogden, Utah. Athalia married Eldred L. Wight, of Brigham City, Utah and to this union were born 5 daughters. Mrs. Clyde (Marion) Demler, Providence, Utah; Mrs. Carlisle (Beth) Gibson, Ogden, Utah; Mrs. Parley Smith (Charleen) of Livermore, California: Mrs. Ronald D. Hales (Loraine) of Ogden; and Mrs. Robert (Janet) Taylor of Ogden, Utah.
Michael Wheatley died December 28, 1916 at Honeyville, Utah and Heber died April 3, 1919, at Salt Lake City, Utah.
[Handwritten note]
Michael Wheatley
Born Aug 19, 1835
Buried in the
Calls Fort Cemetery
3 miles So of
Honeyville
East of Road
& up a lane
