Here is a series of stories. Kilner Stories to start with.
Here is a story — 00-CH01-Kilner. — or you can read it below.
The stories here are from story manuscripts collected over the years. Where information is lacking, assumptions based on circumstance were used to provide story flow. CHAPTER 1 Eccles, the land of our ancestors, is in England, north of Wales. It was a nice place to live, but there weren't good roads. Businesses could ship goods by boat, for there was a canal at the south. In 1830 the railroad built a line through the area. The place began with a church and a few simple houses around it. The people farmed. As the year 1800 approached, cotton and silk factories popped up. More houses were built; soon it was very crowded. Some houses were put up in the back yards of existing houses. You got water from a well at the street corner. There was no sewer. When the railroad came, those who could afford to build a new house built theirs in open spaces near it. For those who had a bit of cash to spend, the bakeries in Eccles had “Eccles Cake”, which became well-known throughout the county. James Worthington and his wife, the former Martha Aldred, raised their family in the time the cotton factories started up. James's trade was a weaver. Martha had her name for being a twin of her sister, Mary. Martha and James had three boys and three girls in ten years -- two boys, two girls, then a boy and a girl. Catherine was the second girl. She worked in the cotton factory as a teen. The pay was not good, and the hours were from "can-see" to "can't-see", or from sunup to sundown. A little more than a year after Catherine's little sister, Martha, was born, Mother Martha got sick and died. Catherine gained a step-mother, but she soon died, also. Catherine hardly got time off for the funerals. The cotton factory bosses were not kind. Another worker in the factory was John Kilner. He was about her age. John's parents, Adam and Mary, were just like Catherine's parents, but they had more children: 15 in all over a span of 26 years. That included two sets of boy/girl twins. John was child #3, the first boy (he was not a twin; they were to start in a few years). His parents had moved from a farm north of town after the first girl was born, to nearby Monton, where coal was mined. There was a cotton mill there, also. But when John was two years old, they moved south to Barton, to be near the city. So John worked in the cotton factory. There he and Catherine got acquainted. John and Catherine were both about 21 when they married. They had a grand wedding; they went to the main cathedral in Manchester to get married. It was mid-summer, 1803 (July 11), a nice way to start together. John Kilner was in the King's service – he was in the army. That made life together difficult, and it was nine years before the first child came along. John retired from the service and began working in the cotton mill. Times were hard. John had to help support his brothers and sisters, and one of the first set of twins got sick and died as he and Catherine were planning their marriage. Their first child was Samuel. Three years later came Rachel, and then Martha, and lastly, George. John's father, Adam, died when little Samuel was age one. Rachel grew up working in the cotton factory. The Eccles cotton mills figured in England's economy. She was fifteen when the railroad was expanded to Eccles. When she was twenty, there was romance in her life. A bright young man who worked at the factory courted her. He was James Harrop. The railway that came to Eccles came from the south. The Harrop family lived 20 miles to the south on that line, in Goostrey, which is part of Cheshire. The textile industry thrived there also. Samuel Harrop was a linen weaver there. He was the eldest of six children. He had two sisters and three brothers. He had married Jane Talkington, who was next-to-youngest of nine children. They were successful, and built their family of four boys and two girls (another boy and a girl died young) beginning in 1806. Jane's family came from a place 20 miles further south (Newcastle-under-Lyme) where pottery was made – but also the made felt hats, and had cotton mills. Samuel and Jane's third child (and third boy) was James. Rachel Kilner and James Harrop married in October of 1836. He was 25; she, 21. Children came. All girls. The fourth, Eliza, died a few weeks after birth. Seven years after that, they had another girl, Mary Jane. James picked up his father's trade readily. Besides being an expert weaver, he became an expert in dyeing cloth. He developed a new, better dye process. The factory liked it. It gave them an advantage over other cotton factories. In those days, entertainment outside the home was community events, small shows, or meetings. In early 1840 there were notices up about a new religion. James was busy with his work, so he only heard second-hand that two young men were twisting the words in the Bible. James read well, and he liked challenges, so he went to one of the evening meetings to straighten the two fellows out. He came away with a realization that there was truth in what the two young men said. Yet, they were “Mormons”, and he dared not affiliate with such a dreaded sect, for his factory boss wouldn't like it, nor would his father's family. But after a few days of introspection and further talk with the two young elders, he decided to get baptized. That was done on May 12th of 1840. Rachel didn't know what to think. When James seemed all the better, not worse, after becoming a “Mormon”, she and her girls began to think better of the new religion. It wasn't a quick turnaround for them. Only by the spring of 1850 had they all joined, and little Mary Jane was baptized in 1858, after she turned eight. [Yet I can't find any record of this family in the Manchester Branch records – searched 1840 to 1863. Eccles wasn't a branch until the mid-1950s.] James became an apt leader in the Church. He helped people learn about the new gospel. He got to baptize John Lea on June 20th of 1841, and a month later, ordained him a priest. James had kept his religion secret as best he could, but news of his daughters' baptisms got around. James was fired from his job because of his religion. The boss put James's assistant in charge of James's work. But the fellow didn't have James's know-how, and the factory was in danger of losing business. So the boss hired James back. You may imagine the animosity directed towards James: he was “smarter” than the next guy, and he was a “Mormon”. Not long after James had been reinstated, he had a strange dream. His helper was in the dream. The helper looked James in the face and said, “I'll kill you, Harrop, and I won't bloody my hands with you!” That was Monday. On Tuesday, ominously a boiler was allowed to got dry. Someone alerted the help, and they cooled it before it exploded. Wednesday, it happened again, and James was the one who alerted others and cooled it. The same happened on Thursday. This made James very suspicious, but he felt blessed. On Friday, the boiler was okay. When James and a helper were on a side platform to inspect a vat of boiling dye, somehow James was pushed off. He fell into the waterworks under the factory. The machinery caught him, and he drowned. Everyone there said it was an accident. Rachel was devastated. What's more, she had no boys. Boys could have worked and supported the family. Girls could work if necessary, and her three oldest, Catherine, Hannah, and Martha, went to work in the cotton factory. Martha, the youngest, was seventeen. Her last girl, Mary Jane, was only ten years old, so Rachel baked little cakes and let Mary Jane sell them at the factory at lunchtime. When Mary Jane was about eleven, she was hired at the factory, but couldn't yet reach the loom, so they got a stool for her. That wasn't too efficient, so Rachel found Mary Jane a job with a family nearby where she could help with housework. But that family was mean. Finally, Hannah interceded with that family and took Mary Jane back home. Mary Jane was now tall enough to do meaningful work at the factory. Rachel felt a husband might elevate their economic situation. So she found a friend of a friend. He was a member of the Church. He liked the idea of marrying Rachel. After all, she had four daughters, and he had a son and a daughter from a previous marriage. But after being married for a few weeks, Rachel found that he was a drunkard. In his drunken rages he beat Rachel. She hid the bruises with scarfs and shawls when the girls returned home from work. But one day, Mary Jane caught sight of the bruises and confronted her mother. Knowing the truth, Mary Jane told her sisters and together they threw the man out of the house. But it was not pleasant at the factory, or around home either. They were marked women. They were “Mormons”. Their desire to emigrate to Zion grew. Yet, that takes money, and they were poor. The oldest sister's boy friend, John Lythgoe, kindly volunteered to sail to America, earn money and send it so they could emigrate. Ever faithful, he did just that, although due to miscommunication, it took a year longer than they thought. He sent enough for three to go. Rachel sold everything of value, and soon had enough to emigrate, also. But wait! English law said that when a woman emigrates, she needs the consent of her husband, if she is married. Well, Rachel was still married, so with temerity sought out that drunkard. He was sober when she asked. He said, “Why yes, but only if I can go with you!” Well, that might work, they thought. Somehow, within a few months, that man came up with his fare. So they all went to Liverpool and got on a ship, “General McClellan”. They left Liverpool on Saturday, May 21st, 1864. The ship sailed north of the usual path in order to avoid ships from the conflict that America had, called, The Civil War. That northerly path led them to icebergs, and the ship collided with one, and sprung a leak. The crew pumped and bailed water the rest of the way to New York. That was on June 23rd. From New York, the emigrants (and there were 800 altogether) got on a steamboat for Albany. There they got on a train heading west. There was a delay at Buffalo, New York, but the railroad company treated everyone nicely, supplying supper. The last stop was St. Joseph, Missouri. There the emigrants joined wagon companies. Rachel and her girls (and the husband) got in Joseph Rawlins's company. He would not let anyone ride; you had to walk. Mother Rachel was almost 50 years old. She could use a ride. Her daughters bargained with Brother Rawlins: He liked the company of pretty young girls, so they stipulated that one of them would ride with him only if her mother could, also. Mary Jane did okay with all this, but she was afraid of water. When they crossed a large river (The Platte) she hung on to a wagon so she wouldn't have to wade. But the wagon hit a submerged rock and the jolt knocked her free. Mother Rachel's eyes went snow-blind, so to speak. After a week being so, she caught mountain fever. She got weak. She died before the company reached Fort Laramie, Wyoming. The best the company could do was leave her in a make-shift grave at the side of the trail. Her “husband” loved her, and he went back to die at her grave. The men in the company brought him back to the wagons. Yet, he too got mountain fever and died. He was buried about a hundred miles further on from Rachel's grave. The daughters and the wagon company got to the Valley on September 20th, 1864. It had been a four-month journey. The oldest sister, Catherine, within a month, married her boy friend and they settled in Coalville. Mary Jane had no one to care for her (she was fifteen) so she accompanied Catherine and John to Coalville and stayed with them. Life was good there, but within three years, John died in an accident. As Mary Jane approached her seventeenth birthday, she began to take favors of the young men in the neighborhood. The Judd boys were all attractive, and available. Mary Jane chose the one who seemed to be the most patient and mildest. She and he were about the right size for one another. Mary Jane was 5-foot, three-inches, her beau a little taller, with a full beard. He was four years her senior. Let's talk about the Judd family, in chapter 2. CHAPTER 2 Our Judd family lived anciently in Hampshire, in old England. Hampshire is a fertile place; farming is great there. Thomas Judd worked on the farm of a wealthy country squire. That means that the squire (and those of his class) paid only a meager wage to his farmhands – that kept them always poor, always dependent on him. Thomas was the squire's butcher. He became very expert in butchering. But that did not mean his family ate well. No. The farmhands and families were forbidden to associate with the gentry. Only scraps could be had for farmhands. Their pay wouldn't buy much food at the market, either. Much of the time, Thomas's children had only one meal a day. The children liked to go into the forest and eat the wild berries that grew there. Thomas Judd had married Ann Redding in 1841, and they had boys, five boys. Boys were a great help with farm work. In Thomas and Ann's seventh year of marriage (and by then they had three boys), traveling preachers came by. Thomas was kind-hearted and he deigned to let them come in and tell about their religion. After all, they had come from America with strange ideas. Maybe he could set them straight. They told a strange story of a boy prophet and gold plates. They left a copy of a book. They came back and explained more. After reading most of the book, Thomas began to feel that there was truth to what the men said. Ann read some, too, and felt to agree. They joined the Church in June of 1848. The elder who did most of the teaching was “Elder Harder”, or Willet S. Harder, from a place called Utah. Thomas and Ann grew to like giving talks and helping others. This new church didn't let them sit at home as they used to. But they liked it. People in town looked down on them for being “Mormons”, but they didn't go to town much. Thomas and Ann each told their parents' families about their new-found way of life. No one was interested; Thomas's family made fun of him. Ann's parents were more patient. Her father would not join, but her mother (Mary Chalk Redding) joined a year after Ann had. In three years, their oldest, George, turned eight and got baptized. And all the time, Thomas and Ann tried to save money so they could go to Zion, in America. But since Thomas was a mansion helper, they never saw much money. In 1853, the next child, James, turned eight and was baptized. It took Thomas and Ann another eight years to get money to go to Zion. Seven people they were, and it cost about 40 British pounds each. If Thomas saw a shilling in a week's time, he was lucky. Then they learned the Church had a fund they could borrow from if they made a down-payment, and then pay back the remainder once they were in Zion. Even with that, it was hard to save enough. Finally, in 1861, they were able to go in a group of about 400 Saints on the ship, “Manchester”. Their district leader missionary, Claudius V. Spencer, would be in charge. Besides the money, they had to bring their own food for the trip across the sea. They were lucky. Their crossing took 28 days, about 20 percent faster than normal. Once in New York, Thomas found a place for the family to stay, and he searched for a job. They had NO money at all. Thomas was a good worker, and was hired. After a year, still short of money, Thomas learned that the Army there wanted to draft him and his older boys to fight in the Civil War. So he went and saw Erastus Snow, who was head of the Church in New York, and arranged to have his family take a train to where they would join a wagon train going to the Salt Lake Valley. The draft situation had come up in June, so Thomas and Ann found themselves on a late wagon train that left in early August. This was in 1862. There were almost 700 Saints with them. They got to the Valley in mid-October. Thomas and Ann chose to live in a small town not far from the wagon train trail. It was called, Upton. There was plenty of space there for farms. Thomas and the other men in Upton cut down trees and made log cabins. The cabins had two rooms, and a lean-to. The roof was of dirt. The men found a large place full of flat flagstone rock. They used this around the fireplaces in the cabins. Ann cooked over their fireplace. She had a large black kettle to cook in. Thomas knew how to build chairs; he built two rocking chairs: one for him and one for Ann. They dug a well, and had a bucket and pulley system to get water. The cool of the well also helped keep butter from melting. Thomas fenced their farm with a zig-zag wood fence. Thomas had brought a “muzzle-loader” shotgun from New York. He could make his own bullets, too. Ann's rocking chair and the shotgun still are kept by their descendants. Three years after arriving in the Valley, Thomas and Ann took time out to be sealed together in Salt Lake City, in the Endowment House. The following year, their second son, James, fell in love and married. That is a story for the next page. That same year, Ann received a letter that her father, James, had died. He was 76. That left her mother, Mary, free to save up and come to Zion. It took three years. She came on the ship, “Nevada”, and by that time (1869) the train brought people all the way to the Salt Lake Valley – no ox teams or wagons. Mary joined her daughter's family in Upton. She was happy. Within a year, she had James and Ann take her to Salt Lake City so she could get endowed. (She couldn't get sealed to her deceased husband; that work was reserved for when a temple would be completed.) As the years passed, Mary found she could not see so well. Finally, she was totally blind. But James put up strings, or small ropes, from place to place so she could get around the house and yard, in spite of not being able to see. The children that James and his bride had, called Mary “Old Grandmother”, since Ann was “Grandmother”. Mary lived to be 87 years old. The year that “Old Grandmother” had arrived, James's two brothers, George and Charles, got married and started their own families nearby. Son John didn't marry, but stayed around home to help his folks. He died at age 23, the same year that “Old Grandmother” died. In these years (about 1876), Thomas and Ann moved south and down the Weber River and built a better home in Hoytsville. (They had enough money to purchase a farm there. That's much better than in old England, where you couldn't get money as readily, being a farm helper.) The new home had a stove, so Ann didn't have to cook on the fireplace anymore. It also had a board floor – much easier to keep clean. It still had only the two rooms. Grandfather Thomas was a kindly, quiet-mannered man, small in stature and medium-heavy in build. His hair was dark until he was age fifty. He manicured his long beard, growing it only from his chin. “Grandmother” Ann wore her dark hair in a roll. She was modest, neat and tidy, and not very tall. Thomas lived happily and died as 1891 ended, being 70 years old. Ann lived on another seven years. She had had a face sore that she picked the scab off of, and it got infected, and over a few years, contributed to her death. And our James? Once she chose which young man she wanted, Mary Jane Harrop (from Chapter 1) worked fast. James was the first Judd son to marry. His brothers, George and Charles, didn't marry for another three years, and they married girls that had just arrived from England the previous year. They all chose the autumn season to be wed. James and Mary Jane were married by the bishop. When they saw George and Charles thinking seriously of marriage, they went to Salt Lake and were sealed in the Endowment House. They already had Selena Ann; she was fifteen months old at that time. Charles and George didn't have a separate sealing. They got married in the Endowment House. James found that sheep were profitable, and he spent his time in ranching and herding sheep. Mary Jane operated her small home adroitly. The family never got rich, but they were happy. Grandpa and Grandma could be visited on weekends, and the children got to know their cousins well. After seven years and two children, the family moved from Hoytsville to Upton – in the mountains, where ranching could be expanded. Children were born and raised in love. The sixth child, William, lived only a few weeks, as did the eighth, Rachel. Number nine child was born eighteen months after Rachel; she will be considered next. In 1886 the oldest girl, Selena, married John Bowen in the Logan Temple. Mary Jane had her genealogy ready and she and James went with Selena and got her four older sisters sealed to their parents, James Harrop and Rachel Kilner. This was done the same day that Selena got married, 17 November 1886. And there in the temple, Rachel appeared to them in a vision, looking very happy. (James had been murdered, and Rachel had died during the wagon trip west.) James and Mary Jane enjoyed life. The seasons of lambing, grazing, shearing came and went happily, but not without work. James could sell and ship his wool at Echo Junction, down the canyon from Upton. Sometimes there was enough wool for two wagons to make the trip, so James paid a young man who lived nearby to help. The 15-mile trip took a bit more than two hours, and it had got to be boring. And James fell asleep. The horses knew the road, but wandered to one side. The shoulder sloped away sharply. The wagon fell over the side, overturning. James was thrown off, and landed head-first in an uneven spot. His helper quickly got others to come, and they carefully took James to his sister-in-law's in Henefer. [Probably George Judd and Jane Paskett.] But James had a broken neck. He died the next day. That was May 4th 1901. Mary Jane had little Drucilla, or Drucilla Pearl, who was age 11, and Catherine, age 17, to help at home. George and James Henry took over the ranch. George married in about a year and moved to his own farm. James Henry manned the ranch, delaying marriage for a few years. Soon after that, Catherine fell in love and married. It was about seven years after James's death that Mary Jane took sick and died. She was 59. Now Pearl was alone and unattached.
Ron's Family Stories 