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History of Emily Amanda Rockwell Gates Brizzee Woolsey Tyrrell Compiled by C. Paul Brizzee, a descendant
The following timeline is based on information from the following sources: 1. http://www.brizzeerockwell.com (Great thanks to Donna Brizzee Ford) 1. http://www.familysearch.org (but there are various discrepancies) 2. Shindler, Harold Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder SLC, Utah University of Utah 1983 3. Sorensen, Carole Gates Gates of Hellhole: A Biography of Thomas Gates Bountiful, Utah Carr Printing 1994
1832 Orrin Porter Rockwell marries Luana Beebe on Feb. 2, 1832 in Jackson County, Mo. (Possibly Independence, Mo.) (Shindler p. 20) (Family Search has the date of Feb. 16, 1832)
1833 Jan 30, (maybe 31) 1833 Emily Amanda Rockwell is born and named after one of Porter’s sisters (Shindler)
1835 Caroline Stewart Rockwell is born.
1836 Rockwell's move to Caldwell County, Mo.
1839 Orrin Dewitt Rockwell born. Later legally changes his name to Orrin Porter Rockwell Jr.
1842 March 25 Sarah Rockwell is born. Luana gives Porter an ultimatum: the church or me. Luana leaves Porter. The children are put in the care of Porter’s mother in Nauvoo (Shindler p. 86) Emily is 91/2 years old.
1843 March 4, 1843 Rockwell is arrested in St. Louis. 10 year old Emily in Nauvoo with her grandmother (Shindler) Dec. 1843 Porter’s mother goes to Mo. To get her son released from jail. Dec. 25, 1843 Christmas Day intrudes on party at Joseph’s home in Nauvoo.
1846 Jan. 14 Luana Beebe Rockwell marries Alpheus Cutler, president of the High Council, in the Nauvoo Temple. The children including Emily are sealed to Cutler. Cutler died in 1864 having apostatized and Luana came to Utah in 1878 to live with her son. (Shindler) August: left Nauvoo behind along with an ex-wife and 4 children.
1848 (This is conjecture: I can’t find how Emily made it to SLC. Her name is not Listed in the list of immigrant wagon companies in 47, 48, or 49) Came to SLC Hyrum Gates comes to SLC arriving Sept. 20 in Brigham Young Company He stayed at the Fort and received 5 acres in the valley. (Sorensen) (Did Emily come in this group? Were they married? Emily was 15) Mormon Battalion boys arrive in SLC Sept. 28. Did Hyrum talk to any of them?
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1849 Sometime before April 11: Hyrum Gates and his polygamous wife Emily went to Ogden and then apparently to Fort Hall where they hook up with Caleb Greenwood who was hired to lure Oregon Trial immigrants to go California. They go to Greenwood, California by way of the California Trail. Emily is listed as the first woman in Greenwood. (Sorensen p.42)
April 11, 1849 Warrant issued for Hyrum Gates and L***F***for kidnapping of Emily Rockwell. (Emily was the third or fourth plural wife of Hyrum Gates so they must have been married? Or at least put themselves out as Married before this date.) (Shindler) (Another possibility is that Gates was on a special mission for Brigham Young to check out the gold fields (Sorensen)
April 13 Rockwell’s party left for California and hit the California Trail near City of Rocks, Idaho. May 25 Reached Sutter’s Fort. Opened a bar at Murderer’s Bar, an Inn at Buckeye Flat, and a half-way house near Mormon Island. (Schindler) Aug. 18 1849 Sarah Maria Gates dies at 41 in SLC. Thomas and Solomon possibly go at this time to Greenwood. Oct. 29 Hyrum made a loan to John Babtiste Charbonneau, Sacagawea’s son.
1850 May Hyrum Gates strikes it rich at Gold Run, California (Sorensen p.45) Contracts with William Weis to build a house on Washington Street, Greenwood. Aug. Hyrum travels to Salmon Falls, Pilot Hill and Cullomah. Aug. 25-Sept. 5 Hyrum dies (Where, why or where he is buried is unknown) Sept. 6 Weis hurries to file a lien on the estate of Hyrum Gates. Nov. 13 Bradford Elliot removed as estate administrator. Nov. 13 SLC Charles C. Rich and Willard Richards report to Heber C. Kimball that Thomas and Soloman Gates had their throats cut by the Indians. No mention of Hyrum Gates death. (Gates was well known to the church hierarchy since he had lived in Nauvoo, come west in Brigham’s 1848 wagon train, and had some of his church ordinances Performed by Brigham Young. So why was incorrect information Transmitted to church HQ? Was it to keep the estate of Hyrum for Emily and Gate’s sons? Was it just wrong information or twisted information?)
1851 Jan. 15 Census taker C.F. Coffinbury recorded Emily Amanda Rockwell Gates 18 (not till Jan 30) and stepson Soloman Gates 14 in a hotel on Main St., Greenwood. (So the marriage date to Henry Willard Brizzee in 1850 must not be correct!) Jan. 16 Thomas Gates recorded on the census as a miner in Louisville, Ca (Sorensen)
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