Harriet Page Wheeler
Relationship: Mother of Harriet Amelia Decker
Contents |
Vitals
- Born: (7 Sep 1803) (Hillsborough, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA)
- Died: (23 Dec 1871) (Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA)
- Buried: (Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA)
Spouse
Isaac Decker m. (1820) (, , New York, USA)
Children:
- Lucy Ann Decker b.(17 May 1822) (Phelps, Ontario, New York, USA)
- Charles Franklin Decker b. (21 Jun 1824) (Phelps, Ontario, New York, USA)
- Harriet Amelia Decker b. (13 Mar 1826) (Phelps, Ontario, New York, USA)
- Clarissa Clara Decker b. (22 Jul 1828) (Freedom, Cattaraugus, New York, USA)
- Fannie Maria Decker b. (24 Apr 1830) (Freedom, Cattaraugus, New York, USA)
- Isaac Perry Decker b. (7 Aug 1840) (Winchester, Scott, Illinois, USA)
Spouse
Lorenzo Dow Young m. (March 9, 1843) (Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA)
Parents
Oliver Wheeler b.(12 Jun 1782) (Hillsboro, Hillsboro, New Hampshire, USA)
Hannah Ashby b. (21 May 1782) (Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA)
History
Harriet Page Wheeler Decker Young, one of the three original pioneer women of Utah was in a sense the matriarch of the three, as she was the actual mother of one of them, Clara, President Brigham Young's wife. She was born of Welsh ancestry on September 7, 1803, at Hillsboro, New Hampshire, a daughter of Oliver Wheeler and Hannah Ashby, and was reared in Salem, Massachusetts, her mother's home, and after a brief schooling, was employed in one of the local mills, where she became an expert spinner of flax and wool. When she was seventeen, she moved to Ontario County, New York, where she taught school in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah. Here she met Isaac Decker, to whom she was married in 1821. She bore him six children, four girls and two boys. For a time she lived with her first husband at Freedom, N. Y., and in 1833 removed to Portage County, Ohio, where they became members of the Mormon Church. Subsequently, the Deckers took up land near Kirtland, Ohio, and acquired considerable prosperity, only to lose everything in the catastrophe which overtook the Saints in 1837. For the journey to Missouri they were furnished a team by Lorenzo Dow Young. Still hounded by disaster, they fled from the new Zion to Quincy, Illinois, and ultimately settled in Nauvoo. Here, Harriet separated from Isaac Decker and married Lorenzo Young, March 9, 1843. Two children issued from this union. After sharing in the expulsion from Nauvoo, Harriet was permitted to remain with Lorenzo when he was chosen as one of the original pioneers in the spring of 1847, because she was in delicate health and her husband was afraid she would die if he left her in the Missouri bottoms. After she came to Utah Harriet became indispensable to the life of Lorenzo Young, seeing after his business, keeping his books, and otherwise aiding him, in addition to her duties as housewife. After living a noble and useful life, she died in Salt Lake City, December 22, 1871.
The Three Pioneer Women
It was not at first intended that any women or children should join the pioneer company because of the hardships and dangers which necessarily must be faced on so long and hard a journey, but Harriet, the wife of Lorenzo Young, pleaded so earnestly to accompany her husband, because of the damp malarial climate on the Missouri bottoms which aggravated the condition of her health, that permission was finally granted by President Young for her to make the journey with him. Clara Decker Young, wife of Brigham Young, and Ellen Saunders Kimball, wife of Heber C. Kimball, and two children, Isaac Perry Decker Young and Sobieski Young also made the journey with the pioneer company. The women were ministering angels to the sick along the route.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 2, p. 481
Links
Image Gallery
First Pioneer Company - 1847
Salt Lake City Cemetery; H_10_7__S2R - Courtesy of Judie Huff
