Esther Elizabeth Stanford

Esther Elizabeth Stanford was born on Feb 20, 1844 in Southwick, England to Thomas and Elizabeth Barnett Stanford. Esther is a Pioneer of Richmond.

History

When Esther was six, the Stanford family was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1850. Because of persecutions of her religion, Esther was unable to finish school. However, according to family histories, "there were few who were better readers and writers than she." For work, Esther helped her father as a cobbler, usually fixing Missionaries shoes. From their work, they had enough money to sail to the United States and join the Saints in Utah.2

The Stanford family sailed from Liverpool on May 6, 1862 on the Manchester, and arrived in New York City, New York on Jun 12.1 From boat and train, the family reached Florence, Nebraska Territory where they joined the Henry W. Miller Company on Aug 5, 1862. A man in the company, John Comish, who already settled in Utah, had been asked by the Church to help the saints cross the plains. John and Esther became well-associated while on the plains. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 18 and married on Nov 22, 1862. They moved to Franklin, Idaho where John was asked by the Church to settle the area.2

"Many were the hardships my parents went through in this early settlement of Franklin. The Indians were bad at that time. Many a time, mother would stay with the children while father went on guard to watch for hostile Indians. She never knew when he would return, or if he would be killed. A number of guards were killed by the Indians in the early days."2

In 1875, the Church asked the Comish family to move to Cove.2

Epilogue