Susannah Titensor

Susannah Titensor was born Jan 7, 1855 in Manchester, England to Thomas and Sarah Robbins Titensor. Susannah is a Pioneer of Richmond and Cove.

History

Before Susannah was born, her parents were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after Susannah was born, they began preparations to move to Utah. On April 23, 1861, the Titensor family boarded the Underwriter to cross the Atlantic. Susannah was only six years old during this time. The ship arrived in New York City, New York on May 21, 1861.1 They traveled to Florence, Nebraska Territory, and joined the Ira Eldredge Company. 

"I can remember something of the trials and hardships of the Saints at Winter Quarters where we had to stay a month waiting for the ox-teams from Utah to take us across the plains. There were four families of us living in an old room and to make matters worse we children all had the measles. I also remember two young men being drowned while we were there. They were the only children of a widow. I shall never forget seeing them laid in the grave nor the sorrow of their heartbroken mother.

"...I cannot remember all the details of that journey, I was too young, but there were some things stamped upon my memory that I can never forget. Many a night after we had made our beds upon the ground and were all asleep a thunder storm would arise and the wind would blow our tents down, drenching us with rain. The children would cling around mother's knee, hide our faces in her lap and cry until daylight. At some points of the journey the Indians were very troublesome, especially in the Black Hills. They would try to steal our cattle."2

The company left on July 1, 1861 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Sep 13. Soon after their arrival, the Titensors were invited by Susannah's uncle, John Allsop, to move to Richmond.

"Oh, what a desolate place Richmond was then. Just a small fort of about two dozen houses built close together for protection. All had dirt floors. Father bought a one room log house. The window had no glass, only a piece of white cloth tacked over It. Father made a bedstead, a table and some stools; and there we spent our first winter in Utah. In the latter part of March 1862, my little sister died. She had been sick for a long time and Mother could not get proper nourishment for her. (Everyone was poor in those days.) The night she died we had no light but that of the fire, which was very poor because the wood was so green."

"...Most of the homes in Richmond were made of logs and the roofs of dirt, with mustard and sunflowers growing on the roofs. I used to herd sheep on the hillsides of Richmond day after day. My mother spun the yarn and wove the cloth to make our clothes. In summer we all went barefooted. In the winter a shoemaker used any kind of leather to make us shoes."2

In 1874, the Titensor family moved to Cove. Susannah married John Christian Larsen on Feb 7, 1877 in Logan, Utah. Later, her sister Mary Ellen would also marry John into polygamy in 1881.

Epilogue