Amanda Ellen Perkins

Amanda Ellen Perkins was born March 15, 1838 in Macedonia, Illinois to Ute and Anna Winnifred Warren Perkins. Amanda is a Pioneer of Richmond.

History

Before Amanda was born, the Perkins family had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, to be near the Saints.

"My parents lived in a little town called Macedonia in Illinois, twenty five miles East of Nauvoo when they joined the Church in 1839, after which my father spent most of his time in Nauvoo with the Prophet Joseph. He (my father) being Second Lieutenant in the Nauvoo Legion. After the prophet and his brother were martyred, we moved to Nauvoo and remained there until President Brigham Young started for the Rocky Mountains, my father being one of the men who accompanied him on his journey west.

"We then moved back to Macedonia and lived there until 1846 when we started west"

The Perkins family joined the Warren Foote Company on June 17, 1850 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Sep 26.

"Then hardships began again. We built a one room log cabin and eight of us lived in it, there being two children born in Iowa. The first job we did, my mother, my eldest sister, and myself went out to pick up potatoes for a Brother Moore. For every ten bushels we picked up we got one and in this way we got our potatoes for the winter. All winter we lived on potato soup and sometimes we had some bread."

Amanda married Thomas Henshall Griffin on Oct 19, 1856 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They lived in Salt Lake City, Utah until 1860 when they moved to Richmond. 

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