Margaret Jefferson Petty

Margaret Jefferson Petty was born Sep 13, 147 in Nashville, Tennessee to Robert and Margaret Jefferson Wells Petty. Margaret is a Founder of Richmond.

History

When Margaret was young, her father and mother were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1850, the Lewis family began their journey to Utah by joining the Wilford Woodruff Company on June 16 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 14. They made their home in Harriman, Utah. After the passing of her father, Margaret went with her mother to live in Richmond in 1859.

While in Richmond, she became well acquainted with Almira Davenport. Margaret and Almira were very close friends for most of their lives. From this friendship, Margaret married Almira's brother James Nephi Davenport on Feb 3, 1865 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The following story illustrates that Margaret had a sense of humor. 

"Her sister-in-law Almira [Davenport] Hendricks had triplets. In addition to the triplets, Almira had a 15 month-old daughter. As Almira needed help caring for her babies, Margaret would offer assistance. The fame of the triplets spread far and wide and many people came to see them. When Margaret would see someone she did not recognize coming, she would take one of the triplets into the other room and put her normal sized baby in its place. Her baby, Martha, was as big as two of the triplets combined but the same age. The visitors would be amazed to see three babies and would ask all [kinds] of questions wondering why one was so big and the other two so tiny. Before they left, Margaret would bring out the other triplet and they [all] had a good laugh. She never tired of doing this because of all the different reactions people would have. She still thought it was funny as she recounted it to her grandchildren fifty years later."

Epilogue