Solomon Angell and Eunice Clark Young
From the account of the daughter of his son William Henry Angell
Solomon Angell was born 21 April 1806 in Florence, Oneida, New York, the son of James William Angell and Phoebe Ann Morton. His parents were not too compatible and frequently separated, James leaving when things became too heated and therefore the family was poor and had a hard time eking out a living. The boys early left home to earn a living. When Solomon was 4 years old they moved to Rhode Island.
Solomon married Eunice Clark Young 13 April 1828 in Gloucester, Providence, Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Nathan Young and Sara Whitman. Reverend Cheney married them.
By the year 1832 the family had all moved from Rhode Island back to New York in Genesee County where two missionaries, Aaron Lyman and Leonard Rich, brought the Book of Mormon. The family members read it and believed the Gospel and were baptized amidst much tribulation.
Solomon was a carpenter and millwright and a good cabinetmaker. When the Saints were driven out of Kirtland they went to Far West, Missouri, then Quincy, Illinois, and later to Nauvoo, where with the others he helped to build a Temple to the Lord.
Solomon and Eunice were in the meeting with the Prophet when Zion's Camp was formed to redeem Zion. They also suffered as they saw the indignities of their Prophet being tarred and feathered and ridden on a rail.
Solomon belonged to the Nauvoo Legion. They were also in the meeting and saw the mantle of the Prophet rest on Brigham Young and witnessed that he was to be their new prophet and leader.
Solomon was a member of the 33rd Quorum of Seventies. As the Saints were driven from Nauvoo they too prepared to come west. Solomon built his own wagon to cross the plains. Here is his record of the list that came:
1229 people
699 cows
397 wagons
184 loose cattle
74 horses
411 sheep
19 mules
141 pigs
1275 oxen
605 chickens
37 cats
10 geese
82 dogs
8 doves
3 goats
2 hives of bees
1 crow
Left Elkhorn River 1 June 1848. Arrived in Salt Lake 20 September 1848.
Solomon and Eunice lived in the Salt Lake 8th Ward and in the 1850 Census we find:
Solomon Angel, age 45, born in New York
Eunice, 41, Rhode Island
Alma, 17, New York
John, 14, Ohio
Albert, 10, Ohio
Mary, 8, Ohio
(The younger children under 8 not mentioned)
Some of the homes had one long room which was very convenient for dancing parties and no doubt some of the harvest festivals were held in these homes. One such room was the pioneer home of Solomon Angell located on the corner of 3rd South and 3rd East in Salt Lake City. His friends and neighbors gathered here to have dances and recreation. {Vol. IV, p. 410 Heart Throbs - Carter)
Solomon and Mr. Francis Fletcher helped to open the first granite ledge in Cottonwood Canyon where granite was cut to build the Salt Lake Temple. Solomon was in charge of the cutting of the stones according to the specifications given him by his brother Truman Osborn Angell who was the Church Architect.
In 1863 he married Anna Cassia Johanson in the Endowment House. She was born in Kirk Falls, Sweden, 9 October 1835. She was baptized in Sweden but moved to Denmark because of the persecution where she learned the new language and came to America in 1861. She went through Gettysburg the day after the battle and came to Salt Lake City to Samuel Richard's home. Two years later she married Solomon and had one son, Charles, born in 1865.
In the year 1861 President Young began calling people to move south and colonize southern Utah. In the year 1863, Solomon and families were called to go. They went first to Tocquerville and then settled in Long Valley in 1865.
From Heart Throbs Vol. 12, p. 229 we find this notation: Solomon and Alma Angell moved into Kanab in 1864.
The first year in Long Valley, the family lived in a tent. Indians drove them away and they left by Mt. Carmel. They had to take their wagons apart and let them down over the side of the mountain with chains and windlass. They found a sheltered place to live and called it Pocketville. Here the people constructed a fort and called it Fort Johnson. The rains came in such torrents and washed down over the mountains into their homes. They dipped the water out with pails and tried to keep it as dry as possible. However, the dampness caused Eunice to become very ill. The second time it happened she again became very ill and this time she was left an invalid with arthritis for the rest of her life, bedridden the last ten years.
Moses Clawson put up a framework for a gristmill at Virgin using hewed timbers for corner posts. Then he moved to Tocquerville and Solomon came from Long Valley and finished the mill. The millstones were brought from the east by ox teams, each stone weighing about 1,000 pounds. Everyone in town turned out to see the wonderful sight the day it started and to taste the wonderful fresh ground flour. It burned down in 1878-1879.
Solomon helped settle Virgin City, Pocketville, Tocquerville, Harrisburg, and Leeds, building homes in each place he lived, both for himself and others. The houses were built of rocks using sleds he had made himself to haul the rocks. He built himself a two-story home and made all the furniture for it. He was the blacksmith in town and also the dentist, pulling teeth for those who needed it.
Another of his responsibilities was making coffins for the dead. He made one for a little boy, Willard Ashby, and painted it red - it was the only color of paint they had but it would help to preserve the wood. He buried the little boy in a corner of his lot. Later when a city cemetery was made, the casket was moved.
He also made his own children's shoes. He planted gardens and orchards and brewed beer and made wine. He made a little stand for his daughter Phoebe Ann McMullin.
Hanging from the beams of his home were quilting frames, a big bass horn which he blew crossing the plains calling the Saints to meetings, guns and powderhorns and a tamarax switch (which he only had to glance at to attain the desired results). He lived to see Silver Reef become a prosperous mining town and bring prosperity to their hometown of Leeds as they sold supplies to the miners. Yes, even store-bought shoes came along and he was spared the job of making shoes at last.
Brigham Young stayed with them at times and he especially made over Phebe Ann.
The children went to school three months of the year. They had a slate, a blue spelling book, and a pencil to write on the slate.
On 8 February 1879, his dear wife Eunice was relieved of her misery and suffering by the kind hand of death and was buried in Leeds, Washington County, Utah.
In 1884 (?) Anna's parents came from Sweden and as they were not too strong Brigham Young sent them to Ephraim to tend the church sheep ranch. Her mother was skilled as a butcher. Solomon took his two wives and families to visit them ~ 150 miles and a hard journey. He left Anna there and took Lucy Decker, his wife, with him to Salt Lake City. Solomon had four wives at one time but he was divorced from Lucinda Hutchings.
Solomon was appointed the Presiding Elder of Leeds Ward on 9 May 1869. While they were living in their homes in Harrisburg and Leeds, Indian Squaws came to visit them and beg for biscuits. The squaws would sit on the floor. After they left, lice would be in their homes and would get in the children's hair. They had to work hard to comb them out with fine toothed combs to get rid of them.
When the Relief Society was organized in Leeds on 4 May 1876, Eliza Smoot and Zina Young stayed at their home. Their daughter Phoebe Ann became secretary of the Primary at age 10 and learned to sew on a neighbor's sewing machine at age 12.
They dried their fruit, covering it to keep off the flies. Sorghum was made from corn and was used as their sugar. Solomon was an old man when he was called to go to Dixie and had suffered much during his life for the want of the necessities and comforts of life, but he ever bore a strong testimony of the Gospel and lived it to the best of his knowledge. He died 20 September 1881 among his family and was buried in Leeds Cemetery.