The book "Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude" by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers has the following biography for Annie Pugh Welker, who is the wife of Elizabeth Stoker Welker's eldest living son, James Wilburn Welker. Elizabeth appears to have lived with them and their story gives additional insight into Elizabeth's life.

Annie married James Wilburn Welker on Feb. 17, 1845 in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. James Wilburn Welker's family had established themselves on a farm not far from the town of Carthage, Illinois, where the founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred by mobs while they were held captive in the Carthage Jail.

The Welker family in their histories recall this challenging time for members of the church. The Mormons were eventually driven out of the State of Illinois. They established several temporary communities within the State of Iowa. A major encampment of these refugees was at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. Annie and her husband, their three children, along with other members of the Welker family joined the Isaac Stewart Company for their pioneer trek to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.

Capt. Isaac Stewart's Company consisted of 245 souls, of which James Wilburn Welker was the captain of a group of ten wagons. They left Kanesville, Iowa in June, 1852, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on Aug. 28, 1852. Annie and her husband made their first home in Mountainville, Alpine, Utah, a little town about forty miles from Salt Lake City. Their first home was a dugout in the side of the mountain. They lived here only about one winter and then moved to Willard where Annie's husband built the first molasses mill in that town.

During the Summer of 1864, the family moved to Bloomington, Idaho in Bear Lake Valley. One of Annie's children recalls walking all the way, barefooted driving the sheep, cows, and pigs. They entered the valley on July 4, 1864. In order to spend the few remaining weeks of warm weather in planting and preparing food for the coming winter, the Welker family lived in a brush shanty made by driving four posts in the ground and covering the roof and sides with brush.

For the winter they built a two-room log home, 18' by 20' with a blacksmith shop in between. The house had a dirt roof and floor with no windows. Arriving as late as July 4th, their planting was done about six weeks late. Then an early and extremely severe winter set in so their wheat was frozen before it ripened. The flour brought from Utah gave out before the winter was over so their main article of diet was bread made from this frozen wheat which Annie ground in a coffee mill. For a change they cooked this ground wheat in milk.

The winter was so severe that all but one lamb from their small flock of sheep died. It had to be saved, otherwise there would be no food except the frozen wheat, so they raised this lamb in the house. Annie and her husband James lived a life of service to their family, their community, and their church and God. Family history indicates that they were very active in church responsibilities with James serving for some time as a Bishop and a High Councilman.