Timothy Fielding Parkinson

Have you ever wondered why our ancestors gave up their homes in England and came to America where they had nothing, had to start life all over, learn new profession, and new people to live with.

Well, let us think of some of the conditions which were in England at that time.  How much of it had any effect on the life of Timothy and Ann Fielding.  Also, Timothy’s father and mother, John Parkinson and Mary Graham.

In their early nears, Napoleon fell heir to the French Revolution and the military struggles carried on by this ambitious tyrant threatened all the continent and England with them.  British forces were sent out to oppose him.  But they were badly led and plunged into one disaster after another.  There were many of their liberties taken away.  The right of free meetings and religion was limited.  Arbitrary imprisonment was practiced and hard sentences were meted out of innocent persons.  Never in the history of the Englishmen was their morale so low as at this time.  The people were getting very discouraged with the conditions they had to live under.  One of the worse financial panics in history is recorded at this time.  People of all levels found themselves wiped out financially.  Many of the men and women who had joined the church found themselves destitute and blamed the church and tried to discredit the Prophet Joseph Smith and the other church leaders.

The church learned what it means to preach the Gospel of Peace in a world largely dominated by Evil Persecution, Apostasy, and suffering was a constant companion to evil.

All of these things led up to many of the saints to leave their homes and all they had coming to America.  So our Great Grandfather, Timothy Parkinson, and his wife and family were among these groups.  It seemed to be that about this time that Timothy Parkinson (our Great Grandfather) met and married Ann Fielding.  Like all war-time marriages, it must have been an occasion tinged with a great deal of sadness.  They were both natives of Lancasterhire, England.

Timothy was born July 12, 1806, in Lancasterhire, England, and was the son of John Parkinson and Mary Graham.

Ann Fielding was born 1808 in Lancasterhire England, a daughter of John Maden Fielding and Mary Fielding.

They had a family of eight children.  Five boys and three girls.  John was born in 1830, Mary Ann 1831, Charles Graham, 1833, Sarah Ann 1835, Elizabeth 1836, timothy 1840, Henry F. 1842, and Amos in 1843.

Great Grandfather Timothy became a convert to the church in 1846, being the only member to embrace the church in a family of twelve, so he was cast out by his father and mother and family.  He was a printer on silks and fine clothes.  He owned many houses and rented them, but he sold all of his property, settled his affairs in England and immigrated to America.  His first wife, Ann, having died in 1843, he married Mary Haslem, and she, along with his sons, Charles, Graham, Timothy, and Henry F., his daughter, Sarah Ann, and his married daughter, May Ann (Mrs. Richard Walsch).  His John remained in England.  His son Amos and his daughter Elizabeth had died in England.

They set sail on the ship Ellen Maria on January 18, 1853, arriving in New Orleans.  They went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis and then to Iowa where they remained several weeks.  May Ann and husband settled in New York and their other daughter Sarah Ann passed away in Omaha.

Finally a train of immigrants was getting ready to leave for Utah, so the Parkinson family joined the group.  The family arrived in Salt Lake City October 11, 1853, and settled in Grantsville, Tooele County, Utah.  The father and older sons engaged in farming as there was no opportunity for him to follow his trade in Tooele or Grantsville.

Six weeks after settling in Grantsville, Tooele County, his second wife, Mary Haslam, a stepmother to his children, passed away and was buried in the Grantsville cemetery.  She was the first adult to be buried there.

Great Grandfather Parkinson came to Wellsville, Cache County, Utah, where he made his home.  This home was later purchased by my father, Daniel H. Maughn and became our home until 1942 when it was sold.  Great Grandfather Timothy passed away October 20, 1891 in Wellsville.

His son, Charles Graham, born February 11, 1833, was nineteen years-old when they came to Grantsville.  He received his education in England.  In England, he had worked in the field of engraving on metal, stone and hardwood.  There was no call for such work here, so he turned his attention to painting, which was his chief occupation.  Many buildings are still standing which he painted.  He established the first photograph gallery in Grantsville; these pictures can still be found in many homes.

When Charles Graham and his father first came to Grantsville from England, they had a hard time getting in with the people and learning their ways of doing things.  Their manners were very different, as Charles Graham had spent his early manhood in school studying the finer arts.  Their style of dress was so different.  His father having been well-to-do could afford to dress all his family well.  Charles Graham was still wearing new trousers made of black or green velvet with bright buckles, long black stockings and low-cut shoes.  Some difference to the natives of Grantsville.

The first dance he went to he was really lost, but he spied a beautiful young girl with a wreath of flowers on her head.  He asked who she was and was told she was Hannah Clark, whose father was the big man of the town.  He said “I am going to dance with her”, they all laughed at him.  He then turned to them and said, “That girl is going to be my wife”, 18 of October 1854, he married Hannah Marie Clark, daughter of Thomas Clark and Charlotte Gailey.  Hannah was born July 18, 1832, in Herefordshire, England.  She was woman of high courage and lived a very simple home-like life.  They went through all the privations of early pioneer life.  She died young, yet she had an abundant life.  She was the mother of eight children.  All very young when she passed away on March 17, 1869, after a severe headache.  We would say today, she succumbed to a stroke.  She surely lived up to the full measure of her creation.

Her children were Timothy Henry, born August 18, 1856, Timothy Henry, March 3, 1858, Charlotte Ann, December 16, 1859, John William, December 9, 1861, Mary Ann, October 17, 1862, Hannah Marie, July 12, 1865, Ellen Ann, February 6, 1867, and Joseph Thomas, July 23, 1868.

In 1861 or 62, Charles purchased four acres of land from Thomas Clark.  He built a
two-room log house with a fireplace in both rooms.  The house had a wood floor, but a dirt roof.  In the spring of year it looked like a large green carpet.  Mary Ann was the first child born there and Allen was the last to be born in that house.  After the death of Grandmother Hannah Marie, Grandfather grieved very much.  Left with eight small children, the oldest being twelve years and the youngest eight months.  The baby, Joseph, was taken and raised by his Aunt Ellen Bryant, a sister to his mother and Ellen Ann, two years-old, was taken by another Aunt and Uncle, Timothy and Maria Parker Parkinson, he being a brother to Grandfather Charles Graham.  Aunt Ellen Bryant and Aunt Maria Parkinson had no children of their own so these babies were really welcomed in their household.  Charles Graham and the other children stayed in the home for two years.  In 1871, Sarah Hills came from England arriving Salt Lake.  President Young took her into his home and it as there that Charles Graham found here.  They were married October 22, 1871.  They had a large family, but Grandfather said there were no half brothers or half sisters in the family; he was the father of eighteen children, ten sons and eight daughters.

His second family was Louis, Sarah Ann, George Samuel, Alonzo Guy, Ann Caroline, Parley Quincy, Emma Ann, and James Allen.  At the time of this writing, two brothers are still living, namely Parley and James Allen.  Grandfather gave all the girls the name of Ann after his mother who died in England.

He was always an active church worker.  In 1863, he made a trip across the plains for the purpose of conducting emigrants to Utah.  On one trip he brought home the first stove they had ever had.  A funny little instance is told about him.  He went off to work one morning without chopping some wood, so Grandmother fixed the table and put the raw food on the table for him to eat.  Needless to say Grandfather never left the house without first seeing that there was wood for her cooking.  He was the first man to break ground in the old fort.  He took part in most of the Indian troubles, the coming of Johnson’s army. 

All his life he gave hearty support to developing both state and church and he commanded the respect and esteem of all who knew him for his honesty and integrity.  He and his son George traveled all over doing painting.  He did a lot in Wellsville and when there he stayed with his daughter Ellen Ann and her husband Daniel H. Maughn and family.  He died in Grantsville January 4, 1905, and was buried in Grantsville cemetery.  His wife, Sarah died April 18, 1936, in Grantsville.

Was born August 31 1840, in Lancasterhire, England.  He came to Utah by ox team along with his father Timothy and two brothers, Charles Graham, and Henry F. in 1853.

He was baptized January 1854.  He married Maria Parker in the endowment house January 5, 1864.  She was born June 27, 1840, in Preston, Condoner, England.

She came by ox team to Utah in 1862.  After they were married , they settled in Wellsville, and it was this couple who took my mother and raised her as their own child.  When Timothy arrived in Utah, he worked on a farm.  At the age of eighteen he served as a minute man until the government passed a law prohibiting the Mormons from carrying arms.  He drove an ox team to Omaha Nebraska for emigrants.  It took six weary months to make the trip, but he was always cheerful and looked out for the comforts of others before giving any thought to himself.  He hauled rock for the Salt Lake Temple, having only bread and water for his lunch.  One day while eating his scanty meal on the bank of Parley’s Creek, Brother Heber C. Kimball passed by and said to him “My man, I prophesy that you will never apostize from the church.  A man who will live on bread and water while working for the church will never deny his God nor his church”.  He was always a stalwart Latter Day Saint.  In 1870, he married Jean Leishman Greer.  They were blessed with three sons and five daughters.  John, Henry, Timothy, Maria, Elizabeth, Edith, Violet, Maretta.  They were all born and raised in the home where Ethel M. Jones now lives in Wellsville, at this time.  Maria, Violet, Edith and Maretta are still living although in ill health.

The Edmond Tucker law came into effect in 1887, so Timothy and many other men who were living in polygamy were imprisoned for six months, and had to hide out for some time.

Timothy passed away October 20, 1898, after making a trip with his team and wagon to Logan and back to Wellsville.  He was buried in Wellsville cemetery. His wife, Maria Parker, passed away November 3, 1891.  Jean L. Greer passed away May 28, 1939.  They were both buried in Wellsville cemetery.

 HENRY FIELDING PARKINSON (Charles' brother)

Was born March 21, 1843.  He came across the plains with his father Timothy and two brothers, Charles Graham and Timothy Fielding.  He spent his early years in Grantsville.  In the spring of 1857, along with eight other families, he came to Cache Valley.  The Woodward family was one of this group.  There were not many families in Cache Valley at this time, so they were real pioneers.  Henry was one of the first ten students to go to school in Wellsville.  Francis Gunnell was the teacher.

The pioneers were wintering their stock at Promotory and the Indians had planned to kill the herders and steal the cattle.  One Indian named John was a friend of the pioneers and he warned the herders.  Henry F. rode all night to notify the settlers about their plans and men were sent out to bring in the cattle.  Henry also drove an ox team back to winter quarters to bring emigrants.  For many years he freighted to different parts of Montana.  There was no kind of frontier life that he was not acquainted with owing to his long experience as a freighter.

He married Betsy Barnes Woodward born May 23, 1844, in Nauvoo, Illinois.  A daughter of Joseph Haige and Margaret Barnes Woodward.  They were married January 1860, in the endowment house in Salt Lake City and had twelve children.  Henry W., Margaret Ann, Rosella, Julia, Mattie, Joseph, Timothy, Chauncey, Leroy, Pearl, Ross, and Bessie.  His wife, Betsy, suffered a long illness of Dropsy and passed away December 15, 1898, in Wellsville.

Henry F. also married Agnes Kerr in 1870, they had four children.  David, Amos, Charles and Sarah Ann, and then they parted.  She married Peter McBride.  Henry lived to be nearly eighty-one years-old.  He died January 30, 1924, and was buried by his wife Betsy in the Wellsville Cemetery.

As was stated before, John remained in England and Amy Barlow is his daughter.  We keep in touch with Amy and her family.