George Carson

Son of William Carson and Ruth Sherman. Married Ann Hough, 17 Feb 1817, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.

George Carson

Wife: Ann Hough

Children:

Eight children among whom was Elizabeth Carson

Father: William Carson

Mother: Ruth Sherman

George Carson was born on July 17, 1794, the youngest son of William Carson and Ruth Sherman, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. George married Ann Hough and they had eight children. George and Ann's family had six boys and two girls. The first three were born in Wayne, Mifflin Co., Pennsylvania: William in 1818, John in 1819, and Jonathan in 1820. Their fourth child, and our ancestor, Elizabeth was also born in Mifflin County in 1822. Then they moved and had twins George and David born in Greene, Wayne Co., Ohio, in 1827, where their son Washington was also born on Apr. 18, 1830.

George and his family werec onverted to Mormonism through the preaching of Elders David Whitmer and Harry Whitlock at Sugar Creek, Worcester County, Ohio. They joined the saints and moved to Independence, Missouri, where their youngest child Mary Ann was born on March 16, 1833. They were expelled with the other Mormons by mob violence from Jackson County, Missouri. For the next five years lived inClay County, then making their home for a brief period in Caldwell County. Whence they were drivenwith their people and went to Adams County, Illinois. In 1851 George migrated with the Mormons to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he died that year on Dec. 20, 1851.

The following account of some of his children was written by David H. Carson of Lehi, Utah, a great-grandson:

"It was in the spring of 1851 that George Carson and his family set out for Utah. In the family group were their children William Carson and family, John and family, Elizabeth and her husband Patison D. Griffith and family, the twins David and George, Washington, Mary Ann and her husband Thomas Bradford Ewings, who were married May 19, 1851.

"At Winter Quarters they were out fitted with the usual stock of supplies for the trip across the plains. The Mormon Emigrant Train in which they traveled was under the direction of Captain Harry Walton. There were sixty wagons in the train. William Huff Carson was the Captain of ten wagons. The journey was long but pleasant. Two deaths occurred on the way. Those were Mother Thompson and Miss Kingsley. She was killed by jumping from a runaway wagon. Thenthe oxen could smell the blood of slain buffalo they would get mad and this caused a stampede. William's team was the only one that did not run away. He controlled his oxen by means ofrope line which he had just put on them.

"The George Carson family arrived in Salt Lake Valley the latter part of September 1851. They went directly to Little Cottonwood. On December 14, 1851, George passed away and was buried in little Cotton Wood. William's wife died July 7,1854, leaving a family of five, the youngest was William Harrison Carson, who was born in a covered wagon at Loop Fork Nebraska. The stop over for the child was just one half day. Quoting from William Harrison in 1933 he said: 'Sula Goddard lived with us and before Mother died she asked Sula if she would care for us fivec hildren. She did and about a year later married father (William Huff)'.

"In 1855 the five Carson brothers, along with William Beardshall, John Clegg, Amos Fielding settled at Fairfield, Utah, and others came later. They established themselves a fort which they erected as a protection against the Indians. The fort was four rods square and was built in 1856-1857. In1856 Indian trouble started. On the 21st of February, 1856, George Jr. was fatally wounded by Indians on the south side of town. After the skirmish the Indians went over toward Utah Lake byway of Soldier Pass. On February 22, they met and killed Washington Carson and Henry Moran, who were caring for some cattle near the lake. On that same day George died, making three deaths by the Tintic Indians. The Indians headed for the Tintic District and were never over taken.

"I (David) do not personally remember anything about the Carson brothers who were killed by Indians except what was told me in later years by my father, William F. Carson and my grandfather John Carson and Uncle William Huff Carson. I assume they worked hard as they could the next two years trying to raise things to eat. Improve their farms, build homes, and keep from being killed by the Indians was their challenge.

"In the summer of 1858 twenty-five hundred men of the United States Army moved through Salt Lake City. President Brigham Young had the promise from General Albert Sidney Johnston that the army would not camp nearer than forty miles of Salt Lake City. Camping first near the mouth of West Canyon (the north end of Cedar Valley). After discovering that the water in the creek dried up late in summer they moved on down to Fairfield and camped south of the creek running from the Fairfield Spring. This creek became the dividing line between the military and civilian population which soon after that time numbered about seven thousand. As soon as the army was settled they named the army camp Camp Floyd in honor of the Secretary of War.

The Pony Express:"On April 7,1880 there was great excitement. It was a horse-man riding on the run. In his saddle were two pouches. The first mail from California by Pong Express. At Fort Floyd a fresh horse was waiting and the mail was transferred and the rider quickly disappeared in the direction ofSalt Lake City. A few hours later another rider coming from the opposite direction passed through with mail on his way to Sacramento, California. These trips made exciting days for the camp.

The Civil War:

"The Civil War broke out and as suddenly as the camp sprung to life, it began to vanish. Wagons were again loaded and the soldiers prepared to move. There were many supplies to be sold. Buyers came from Salt Lake and other Utah towns for the sale. It had been reported that about four million dollars worth of goods were sold for a hundred thousand dollars. The commissary building erected in 1858 was sold to a local farmer Mr. William Beardshaw. Part of it still stands across from the John Carson Hotel." (End of quote from David Carson.)

This history was rewritten by Margaret G. Dallof 2 Nov 1982 of Murray, Utah.

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via daughter Elizabeth Ann Griffeth (born Carson) by SmartCopy: Feb 2 2015, 18:41:39 UTC

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Birth: Jul. 17, 1794 Derry Township Mifflin County Pennsylvania, USA Death: Dec. 20, 1851 Holladay Salt Lake County Utah, USA

Son of William Carson and Ruth Sherman

Married Ann Hough, 17 Feb 1817, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania

Biography of Ann Hough, taken from the Lemmon Family History, as recorded by Hortence Hovey

Ann Hough, was born June 27, 1794 in Milford, Tuscarora Valley, Mifflin, Pennsylvania. From information on the endowment house record, created by Ann herself, on March 29, 1862, she recorded that her parents names were Jonathan and Ann Hough. The Hough families that were the ancestors of Ann Hough originated in Hough, Wilmslow Parish, Cheshire, England. It is believed that John Hough was married to Hannah about 1680 in England, in near Cheshire. Their first son, John Hough II, was born about 1682. On or about September 4, 1683, the family of three boarded the ‘Friendship' in Liverpool and arrived at the Delaware River on November 21, 1683. John and his family were Quakers, and undoubtedly came to Pennsylvania to escape the persecution in England, and to take advantage of the hospitality of William Penn. John Hough II married Eleanor Sands, daughter of Stephen Sands, in 1714. John Hough the 3rd married Hannah Townsend, daughter of their neighbor, Stephed, in 1742. They had four children: John, born about 1740; Mary, born about 1743; Eleanor, born about 1745 and Jonathan*, born 1747 (father of Ann).

Jonathan Hough was married about 1769 to Elizabeth Pugh, daughter of David and Sarah (Morgan) Pugh, Welsh Quakers of New Britain Township. Jonathan's first wife, Elizabeth, died of the flu in August 1777. About 1778, Jonathan married Ann Barton, apparently also of New Britain Township. Mifflin county was formed in 1789, and Jonathan was listed in the 1790 and 1800 censuses in Milford Township. Ann, and Elizabeth Hough, the twin daughters of Jonathan, were born in 1794. Some time prior to 1808, Jonathan moved his family to Derry Township, Mifflin County, as he is listed as a "supervisor" of the Township in that year. This was the same township in which most of William Carson's children were living.

About 1817, George Carson and Ann Hough were married, probably in Mifflin County. George was Presbyterian; Ann was Quaker they were parents of eight children, six boys and two girls: William Huff Carson, born 8 Jan 1818, John Carson, born 13 Nov 1819, Jonathan, about 1820, Elizabeth, 7 July 1822, George, 2 Oct 1827, David, 2 Oct 1827, Washington, 18 April 1830 and Mary Ann, 16 Mar 1833.

In the middle of June, 1831, George and Ann, on leaving church services one Sunday afternoon, saw two men teaching under a tree. They listened and found they were two Mormon Missionaries, David Whitmer and Harvey Whitlock. They had been commanded to travel to Missouri, preaching along the way. Ann joined the Mormon church that same month; George joined late it in August, 1831.

Joseph Smith dedicated the temple site in Independence, Missouri, and designated the surrounding area as Zion. He called all the Saints to gather to Zion, instructing those returning to Ohio to inform all Saints they contacted of the call to Zion. In 1832 George and Ann, along with David and Elizabeth Frampton, respond to the call, and traveled some 900 miles, probably mostly by flat boat down the Ohio River, then up the Mississippi River to St. Louis and the Missouri River to Independence.

The first week of November, 1833, mobs attacked the Mormons, forcing them to flee to Jackson County. It was very cold; the ground was frozen and it was raining. The Carsons' and Framptons' fled into the nearby woods. The women tied the tops of some bushes together and spread blankets over them. The children huddled under the blankets all through the night while Ann and Elizabeth stood watch. Ann was holding 7 month old Mary Ann and Elizabeth held three year old Elizabeth Ann. The men stayed near the edge of the woods and watched their houses. They returned the next morning to retrieve what possessions they could, and headed for the river bottoms.

"The shore of the Missouri River began to be lined on both sides of the ferry with men, women and children, goods, wagons, boxes, provisions, etc., while the ferry was constantly employed hundreds of people were seen in every direction. Some in tents and some in the open air around their fires, while the rain descended in torrents. Husbands were inquiring for their wives, wives for their husbands; parents for their children, and children for their parents."

On November 13, 1833, "About two o'clock on the morning of the 13th, we were called by the signs in the heavens. We arose, and to our great astonishment all the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if every star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course, and spent lawless through the wilds of ether. Thousands of bright meteors were shooting through space in every direction, with long trains of light following in their course. This lasted for several hours, and was only closed by the dawn of the rising sun."

Elizabeth Carson later described this phenomenon: "As flakes of fire, falling like flakes of snow in a snowstorm, remaining light until a few feet from the ground." In August. 1836, Far West was founded; John Whitmer and W.W. Phelps selected the site. During the fall of 1836 to spring, 1838, the growth of Far West was rapid, reaching a population of 5,000 by 1838. The Carsons', Framptons', and Egberts' all located in Far West. There were as many as 15,000 Mormons in the northern counties of Missouri. On March 14, 1838, Joseph Smith arrived at Far West from Kirtland to direct the affairs of the church. In April, 1838 Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were excommunicated from the church. This was probably a very trying time for the Carsons', as David Whitmer was one of the missionaries that converted them. In addition, John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, Lyman Johnson. John Boynton, and William McClellan were excommunicated, comprising the presidency of the church in Missouri, and four of the twelve apostles.

In 1843, the Carsons' apparently kept their farm in Adams County, but moved their family and some of their possessions to the Nauvoo area for protection from the mobs. On June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed by a mob at the Carthage Jail. David Carson recalls that the Carson brothers got on their horses and rode to Carthage after the bodies had been removed. They saw the blood on the floor, the bullet hole through the door, and the raised window through which Joseph fell. In the summer of 1845, the Carsons' were "sharing the fortunes of the saints and doing their share on the temple and other public works, and in making preparation for the move to the Rocky Mountains that had been decided on as a new gathering place."

The summer of 1846, the Carson family left from Nauvoo, returned to Adams County to gather their belongings, and started their journey through Iowa. In November, 1846, between five and six hundred saints gathered at Garden Grove, about 170 miles west of Nauvoo. This camp was the first stopping place of the first group of saints, most of whom had moved further west.

As the Carsons' did not have the provisions required by Brigham Young to continue the journey, they were forced to remain in Garden Grove. On May 17, 1851, the Garden Grove company left for the Salt Lake Valley. In the company were the Carsons', Egberts', Ewings', and Griffiths'. They procured the service of Harry Walton at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

William Huff Carson was a captain of ten, comprising the Carson family. There were 60 wagons in the company. William Huff Carson had two yoke of oxen and two yoke of cows; he traded the cows for oxen en route. Patison Griffith had two wagons. One drawn by oxen, one by cows. They used the cows for fresh milk. On September 24, 1851, the company arrived in Salt Lake Valley. The Carsons' moved to South Cottonwood, about 10 miles south of the city, where the pioneers had made preparations for the Garden Grove Company. On November 9, 1851, George Carson and Ann Carson were re-baptized at South Cottonwood. On February 1, 1869, Ann Hough Carson died at the home of her daughter, Elizabeth Griffith, in Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah, as the result of ruptured blood vessel caused by coughing. She was 74 years old at the time of her death, and was buried in the Hyde Park Cemetery.

This history was rewritten by Margaret G. Dallof 2 Nov 1982 of Murray, Utah.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Ann Hough Carson (1794 - 1869)*

Children:

 William Huff Carson (1818 - 1901)*

 John Carson (1819 - 1895)*

 Elizabeth Ann Carson Griffeth (1822 - 1899)*

 George Carson (1827 - 1856)*

 David Carson (1827 - 1905)*

 Washington Carson (1830 - 1856)*

 Mary Ann Carson Ewing (1833 - 1914)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Union Cemetery Cottonwood Heights Salt Lake County Utah, USA