Joseph W. Wadsworth

Joseph's parents joined the Church in 1839. They left the state of Maine for Illinois in 1841. Joseph was baptized in 1845 in Nauvoo. In 1846, Brigham Young called for help to get the first company of saints to the far west. Joseph's father turned over his only horse, wagon, and harness to him. they moved across the river to Montrose and then his father went back to Nauvoo to help guard the temple. They went on to Salem where they lived for one year before moving to Council Bluffs. In 1851, they left for Salt Lake. Joseph drove three y oke of oxen, his mother drove a span of ponies and his father drove two yoke of oxen and two cows. After arriving in the Valley, they were sent on to help settle East Weber. At conference in 1852, Brigham Young called for volunteers to take a wagon and team back to help some emigrants. Joseph went. Most companies needed very little help, but the very last company would not have made it without their help.

When Joseph returned, his father sold his farm and built a house on another farm. His father and his boys worked the farm until they had trouble with some Indians and then went to the fort for protection. In the fall of 1853, Joseph sold his farm and bought another farm and raised some wheat. He married Abigail in the Spring of 1855. That winter was a difficult one for everyone. The next spring they hauled wood until November. He was called to go out to help a handcart company who was in trouble. He never forgot the sigh of them.

He helped haul stone and material for the Salt Lake Temple and tabernacle. He married Lydia in 1857. He helped guard Echo Canyon during the Utah War. Indians were a big problem for a long time. Joseph served six months for polygamy but slept and ate outside the prison because he farmed for the prison. He sold his home in Mountain Green and bought a farm in Hooper where he lived out his life.

Children of first wife:

Joseph Warren, Olive Abigail, William Myron, Edwin Alonzo, Mary Rosetta Garner (twin), Hyrum Spencer (twin), Annie Priscilla Simpson, Samuel W., Orson (twin), Orlin (twin), Alice W. Simpson, Elnora W. Cunningham.

Children of second wife:

Elizabeth Elmira, W. Garner, Frank ABiah, Eli Amos, George Martin, Eliza Jane W. Manning, Elsa Pamela W. Parker, Henry, Lucinda Adeline, Laura Josephhine McKibben, Charles, Archie Warren.

Submitted by: Clair Kilts

SOURCE: Conquerors of the West, Volume 4, found on Ancestry.com