Nancy Reeder Alexander

Nancy Reeder Walker was born December 8, 1817, in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, to Oliver Walker and Nancy Cressy Walker. They became early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. While living in Ohio, Nancy became acquainted with Horace Martin Alexander who was from Virginia. Through her influence, Horace was converted, and they were married when she was 17 years old on September 14, 1834, in Winchester, Randolph County, Indiana, by her father who was a Justice of the Peace. The family had migrated there from Ohio with the church. Later they were living in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa.

On September 1, 1836, when Nancy and Horace's first child, Frances Evelyn, was born they were living on a farm near Liberty in Clay County, Missouri. When after a series of persecutions in Clay and Jackson Counties, the saints realized that they could expect no protection from the state, and they petitioned the legislature to assign them a place where they might live. It was on this territory assigned them that the city of Far West was built.

There in 1837 and 1838 Horace kept a store according to a day book he kept at the time. Some of the charge accounts in his little book were interesting: Saleratus 2 lbs - 30 cents, Candles - 25 cents, Calico - 50 cents, flour 24 lbs. - $1.25, Molasses - 50 cents. These items were paid for by pork. Horace used to tell how The Prophet, Joseph Smith,Jr., an imposing figure on his big white horse, would ride right into the store, and the horse would paw for what it wanted.

The Saints soon became so numerous and so prosperous that the people of Missouri and even Governor Boggs feared that they would soon own Missouri, and since the Mormons were so united and thrifty, there was cause for alarm. The state militia, supposedly called to quell the mobs, actually joined the mobs in driving the Mormons from Missouri, and the saints had to pledge their property to defray the cost of the war. They had to leave the state before spring of 1839.

The expulsion began in February and by the middle of April no Mormons were left In Missouri. Homeless, almost destitute, they camped in tents and wagons on the banks of the frozen Missouri River. Some had been forced to flee without sufficient clothing and bedding to keep them warm.

Horace who had achieved property in Far West, had to leave everything behind, even his big trunk. His wife, Nancy, was in a delicate condition, and he needed to find a home for her and their two and one-half year old daughter. How he ever succeeded in traveling way down the river to Alton in lower Illinois (Madison County) is not known. But there at Alton, in March, 1839, his day book records, a baby girl, Nancy Maria, was born to them, but sadly, Nancy died while still a baby. The family lived there for about two years.

Most of the Saints on leaving Far West had gone up the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois, where they were treated with sympathy. They purchased a city of about twenty houses, called Commerce. Here they built the City of Nauvoo in a little over a year, a city of 15,000 people, 800 houses of stone, frame and logs. There in 1841 they began to build their temple. Joseph Smith, in a revelation, called all the Saints to bring their gold and come to Zion to help build the Temple. In answer to this call Horace, Nancy and their daughter, Frances, left Alton and joined the Saints at Nauvoo.

In the 1840 U.S. Federal Census for Bond County, Illinois, (next to Madison County, Illinois, and two families away from her brother William C. Walker and wife Rachel Wright), Horace and Nancy were living with their daughter, Frances. Another daughter, Sarah Malinda, was born to them on March 3, 1841. In April 1841 Horace, Nancy and their children were living at the home of a brother Ables. In Alton or earlier Horace seemed to have learned carpentry, for his day book recorded that he worked on the Temple beginning in March, 1842. Once more their family prospered and they were very happy. Their 4th child, Dionitia Emily, was born in Nauvoo on October 18, 1943. Horace and Nancy Alexander's Endowments were taken on January 24, 1846, in the Nauvoo Temple in Illinois.

Not long after this, began the persecution which ended int he killing of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, at the Carthage Jail on June 27, 1944, and the Mormon expulsion from the state of Illinois began in the spring of 1846. In the meantime war had been declared between the United States and Mexico and Brigham Young appealed to the government for work for his men, offering to help fight the U.S. battles there. The U.S. government called for 500 volunteers to go to the war, and when the Mormon Battalion began their march on July 19, 1846, from Council Bluffs, Horace began the march with the Battalion and they reached San Diego on January 29, 1847.

But back at Winter Quarters on January 1, 1847, Nancy, in the crudest of log huts, gave birth to a son, Horace Martin Alexander, Jr. The weather was bitter cold. There was not sufficient bedding to keep the mother and baby warm and dry. The little lady was lonely, and she called for her husband's riding boots, which was all she had of him, and would hug them to her and weep. On the 28th of January she died. Three days later the month old infant died too. They were both buried in the same grave.

According to Nancy's brother-in-law, James Henry Rollins, (husband of Nancy's sister Eveline Walker Rollins), Nancy's grave was opened and her little son was buried with her. With Nancy during her illness was Catherine Houston, then an orphan girl of fifteen years, who had been helping Nancy care for their three daughters. After Nancy's death, the children went to live with Nancy's sister, Eveline Walker Rollins and her husband James Henry, and Catherine was taken along to care for the Alexander children who loved her. Together they crossed the plains bound for Salt Lake City, Utah.

At the time of Nancy's death and that of her son, Horace was serving as a Corporal in the Mormon Battalion and knew nothing of the birth their son, nor the death of his wife and their son. He did not learn of their deaths until months later when he was at San Diego, California. He could not go to his children until the term of his enlistment expired on July 15, 1847. When he was mustered out of service he did not wait for his company to march, but with a companion or two, set forth at once on horseback for the Great Salt Lake. They arrived in Salt Lake about October 16, 1847. Horace, who had bartered the shirt off his back to get a pint of beans to keep himself and his companions from starving, had to half bury himself in the straw of Brother Hamilton's stable, while his companion went to the house of Hamilton's to explain his plight. That night Sister Hamilton made grandfather a shirt out of an old skirt.

There Horace received word that his children, with one of the Parley Pratt Companies, was well on its way to the Valley. So with a few other brothers he hurried forth again on horseback to meet them. It is thought that he sighted the emigrant train somewhere in Wyoming. It was touching, this meeting of the father and his motherless girls. It is small wonder that Horace learned to love this young Catherine when he first met her thus mothering his children. The party reached Utah early in November. On November 6th Horace began to work for Madison Hamilton. Catherine still continued to live with the James Henry Rollins family and to take care of the Alexander children.

On February 15, 1849, Horace and Catherine were married. At the same time, in obedience to the advice of Brigham Young, he also married Martha Burwell the same day in Salt Lake City, and had they at least twelve children. In 1853 Horace was called to help settle Parowan, Utah. Carpenters were sorely needed there. It was hard to have to leave their good, comfortable home to go again into a new country. But they did and lived there eight years. In 1854 Horace also married Julia Owens in Salt Lake City and they had five children. Horace and his family came back to settle in Springville in November of 1861. He died in Provo, Utah, on September 18, 1881, and was buried in Springville, Utah.

Horace and Nancy's daughter, Frances, married Jessie Pierce Steele on October 3, 1853, in Salt Lake City, Utah. They had eleven children: Horace Alexander Steele, born September 9, 1854, Jesse Fielding Steele, born October 2, 1856, Louisa Dionicia Steele, born November 8, 1858, Nancy Evaline Steele, born September 25, 1861, Sarah Catherine Steele, born February 2, 1864, Daniel Wells Steele, born July 5, 1866, Adam Leonidas Steele, born February 7, 1869, Mary Jane Steele, born March 1, 1871, Joseph William Steele, born July 6, 1866, John Pierce Steele, born September 13, 1876, and Cora Jensine Steele born February 3,1879. Frances passed away November 13, 1906.

Their daughter, Sarah Malinda, married John Green on May 27, 1856, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. They had eleven children: John Martin Green, born November 25, 1858, Eveline Dionitia Green, born May 12, 1860, Clarissa Louise Green, born August 6, 1861, Mary Melissa Green, born April 2, 1863, Amasa Lyman Green, born September 6, 1865, Horace Alexander Green, born May 7, 1866, Sarah Helen Green, born August 23, 1869, Nancy Lewella Green, born November 7, 1871, William Hanson Green, born January 25, 1873, Franklin Green, born September 29, 1875, and James Samuel Green, born November 3, 1879. After Sarah divorced John Green she married Hans Jorgen Pedersen Mortensen in 1893. Mortensen had also been the husband of Sarah's sister, Dionitia Emily Alexander, as shown below, before Dionitia passed away at a fairly young age in 1879. Sarah Malinda Alexander Green Mortensen died October 7, 1914, in Parowan, Utah. Mortensen died two years before Sarah in 1912.

Dionitia Emily Alexander married Hans Jorgen Pedersen Mortensen on May 16, 1859, in Parowan, Iron, Utah. They had eleven children: Hans Lyman Mortensen, born February 16, 1860, Nancy Dionitia Mortensen, born and died August 16, 1861, William Henry Mortensen, born September 16, 1862, Francis Marion Mortensen, born December 19, 1863, Lena Losana Mortensen, born February 25, 1866, Sarah Eveline Mortensen, born December 8,1867, Horace Martin Mortensen, born March 21, 1870, Jesse Leonidas Mortensen, born April 21, 1873, William Wallace Mortensen, born April 23, 1875, Junius Denton Mortensen, born August 12, 1877, and James Peter Mortensen, born October 24, 1879. Dionetta Emily Alexander Mortensen, passed away October 24, 1879, in Parowan, Utah.

From Find A Grave.com:

Birth: December 8, 1816, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, USA

Death: January 28, 1847, Winter Quarters / Florence (defunct), Douglas County, Nebraska, USA

Daughter of Oliver Walker and Nancy Cressy

Married Horace Martin Alexander, September 14, 1834, Winchester,

Randolph, Indiana. Horace was born 1812 and died 1881.

Children: Frances Evaline Alexander, Nancy Maria Alexander, Sarah Malinda Alexander, Dionetia Emily Alexander, and Horace Martin Alexander, Jr.

Note: Nancy Reeder Walker Alexander was age 29 yrs., 1 mo., 20 days old when she died.

Burial: Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, USA, Plot: Grave #66

Created by: S M Smith

Record added: Mar 20, 2009

Find A Grave Memorial# 35005175

Married Horace Martin Alexander, 14 Sep 1834, Winchester, Randolph, Indiana

Children: Frances Evaline Alexander, Nancy Maria Alexander, Sarah Malinda Alexander, Dionetia Emily Alexander, Horace Martin Alexander, Jr.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 10 2017, 4:44:54 UTC