52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 16 - My Mormon Pioneer - Joseph Rich (1786-1866)

Today I would like to introduce you to  my first cousin seven times removed, Joseph Rich. Joseph was born April 16, 1786 in Cecil, Washington County, Pennsylvania to Thomas Rich (1763-1818) and Ann Pool (1761-1836). Joseph married Nancy O'Neal on June 3, 1808 in Boone County, Kentucky. Nancy is the daughter of Charles James O'Neal (1750-1814) and Jane Shaw (1750-Unknown) Joseph was raised in the Quaker faith. I am not sure what the circumstances were that lead him to join The Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. 

Joseph migrated with his parents Thomas and Ann Rich from Pennsylvania to Ohio around 1794. Then the family moved again to the counties of Boone and Campbell in Kentucky. They likely traveled by river in these early migrations of Joseph's family. The family would likely have had a journey with rough traveling conditions, facing a hostile environment with large forests, heavy underbrush, wild animals and Indians who were dissatisfied with the government for occupying their lands and the dangerous waters of the Ohio River.

Joseph, Nancy and their son Charles Coulson Rich would leave Kentucky behind and migrate to Switzerland County, Indiana around 1810.  Joseph and Nancy had four more children: Artemisia Rich (1811-1880), Jane Ann Rich (1813-1895), Minerva Rich (1816-1840) and Nancy Rich (1821-1857). It is one of two census record (1840 being the second) I cannot find for Joseph and his family. The 1820, census records show that he and his family were living in Posey, Switzerland, Indiana. 

By the 1830 census this family is living in Tazewell County, Illinois. In Tazewell, Joseph brought property totaling 160 acres between 1831 and 1839. Joseph with the help of his son would clear this land to build his family a new home and planted crops. On April 1, 1832 Joseph, his wife Nancy their son Charles and daughter Minerva were baptized and confirmed into the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints in Tazewell County, Illinois by Elder Hinkle. 

In July and September of 1838 Joseph and Charles bought land in Caldwell County, Missouri. According to land records they were co-owners of the property. Together they built a home for the family and one for Charles and his bride to be, Sarah DeArmon Pea. 

By  January 1, 1846 Joseph and Nancy  went through the ritual of Endowment in their Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois. On January 26, 1846 Joseph and Nancy had followed the custom of the Sealing ordinance. The purpose of the Sealing of a spouse and/or family members is so that they are bound together in this life and for all of eternity. 

During the 1840's when members were endowed at the Nauvoo Temple it consisted of two phases. The first phase was initiation, which consisted of washing and anointing the endowed after which they were dressed in temple undergarments. These garments were to be worn at all times especially when entering their temple. In the second phase the endowed would be instructed and then would move into a testing phase. The instruction consisted of the endowed's understanding of what was required of him or her by the Church such as rituals, prayers, gestures and symbols. Once the initiation was completed they would be tested on their instructions.

During the year of 1846, Joseph and Nancy along with their son Charles and their daughters Jane and Namcy and their respective families began their journey to Utah. According to the LDS Pioneer and Handcart Companies, 1847-1856, Joseph and his family traveled in their son Charles's company known as First Ten of Charles C. Rich's Guard. They arrived in Utah in July 1847. 

This was a perilous journey across difficult terrain and over the Rocky Mountains. The family would have had traveled by wagon, the men may have ridden horses and/or walked during this journey. They would have experienced all kinds of weather, hunger, diseases, birth's and death's. About three months after Joseph and Nancy arrived in Utah, Nancy died on October 5, 1847 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Joseph Rich was sealed in marriage to Elizabeth Howard (widow of both William Standage and William Thackham) on January 18, 1853. He was then sealed in marriage to Harriet Edwards on March 29, 1857. Harriet came from overseas and between the voyage to America as well as the perilous journey to Utah she was very ill by the time she arrived. She died not long after she and Joseph were sealed. He would wed again on July 26, 1857 to Maria Bentley Christian Linford (widow of John Linford). Joseph and Maria were not sealed because she was already sealed in marriage to her first husband, John.

At the time of the 1850 US Census, Joseph is living in Davis, Utah Territory. Living with Joseph are a Elizabeth Rich age 60, Minerva Rich age 10 and a Thomas Miles age 21. I believe that this Elizabeth is possibly Joseph's second wife, Elizabeth Howard (1792-1870) and that Thomas Miles could be a relation of hers but so far I have not been able to prove this. Little Minerva is Joseph's granddaughter, her mother was Minerva Rich Earl who died a few weeks after Minerva was born. Her father, Asa Colton Earl asked his wife's parents to raise his daughter since he felt he was not able to at the time.

The 1860 Census record shows that Joseph is living with both Elizabeth and Maria in Centerville, Utah along with Maria's sons Joseph Linford and Amasa Linford. Sometime in the spring or summer of 1865 Joseph and his family moved to Paris, Idaho. Joseph Rich died at age 80, on July 23, 1866.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. LDS Pioneer and Handcart Companies, 1847-1856 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, 2013.

Ancestry.com. Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.


U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” database & digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL0520__.012&docClass=STA&sid=sbsyqvfu.ywf : accessed 4 September 2014) entry for Joseph Rich, Springfield, Illinois, Document #: 4105, Accession #': IL0520__.012.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, "Land Patent Search," database & digital images  General Land Office Records, (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL0570__.106&docClass=STA&sid=um0poif1.hkx : 4 September 2014), entry for Joseph Rich, Springfield, Illinois, Document #: 6828, Accession #: IL0570__.106.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, "Land Patent Search", database & images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=IL3350__.145&docClass=STA&sid=um0poif1.hkx : 4 September 2014), entry for Joseph Rich, Springfield, Illinois, Document #: 16025, Accession #: IL3350__.145

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO1230__.148&docClass=STA&sid=htw0ucg3.1lc : accessed 4 September 2014), entry for Joseph Rich, Lexington, Missouri, Document #: 9180, Accession #: MO1230_.148.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records, (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO1250__.476&docClass=STA&sid=vkrtfivj.d4q : accessed 4 September 2014) entry for Joseph Rich, Lexington, Missouri, Document #: 10551,  Accession #: MO1250_.476

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records ( http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO1250__.477&docClass=STA&sid=vkrtfivj.d4q : accessed 4 September 2014), entry for Joseph Rich, Document #: 10552, Accession #: MO1250_.477

Zula Rich Cole, Pioneer Joseph Rich 1786-1866 Father of Charles Coulson Rich

Jordon Dodd, Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.

Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi: accessed 30 August 2014.

"United States Census, 1820," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHG4-D1X : accessed 04 Sep 2014), Joseph Rich, Posey, Switzerland, Indiana; citing "1820 United States Federal Census," Ancestry.com; p. 171, NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 14, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 0205608.

"United States Census, 1830," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHPY-K8S : accessed 04 Sep 2014), Joseph Rick, Northern Precinct, Tazewell, Illinois; citing "1830 United States Federal Census," Ancestry.com; p. 166, NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 23, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 0007648.

"United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCS6-Y62 : accessed 04 Sep 2014), Joseph Rich, Davis county, Davis, Utah Territory, United States; citing family 39, NARA microfilm publication M432.

"United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH24-QZN : accessed 04 Sep 2014), Joseph Rich, Centerville, Davis, Utah Territory, United States; citing "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," Fold3.com; p. 28, household ID 169, NARA microfilm publication M653; FHL microfilm 805313.