Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery
Omaha, Nebraska

Photo of bronze monument at Winter Quarters Cemetery. A man and a woman together looking down at a grave.

The Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery, also known as the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, is located at 3301 State Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Adjacent to the cemetery on the south is the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple. Just across the street to the east is the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters.

In a 2010 Deseret News article, Christine Rappleye wrote about the deaths at Winter Quarters:

The winter of 1846-47 was not an easy time for the Mormon pioneers.

Many had been driven from their homes in Missouri and Illinois and could take little with them. Winter Quarters was just one of the settlements set up along the Missouri River as a refuge for the Saints as they prepared to head west.

Many did their best to find adequate shelter and food in the temporary camps. And due to illnesses and other conditions, many buried their loved ones there.

“It is difficult to determine with accuracy how many pioneers perished during the winter of 1846-1847, but clearly they were dying in epidemic proportions,” [Mormon Trail Center director Hoyt W.] Brewster said. “Based on available records and estimates, it is estimated that a minimum of 600 died between June 1846 and May 1847 in Winter Quarters alone. Nearly half of those deaths were infants 2 years (old) and younger.”

Christine Rappleye, “Finding your Ancestors in Winter Quarters,” Deseret News, 22 Jul. 2010, https://www.deseret.com/2010/7/22/20383237/finding-your-ancestors-in-winter-quarters, accessed May 2023.
Photograph showing entrance of Winter Quarters Cemetery.
Entrance of Winter Quarters Cemetery. Photo by Mary Ann Clements.

Burials

Daniels, Frances A. — Frances Amelia Turley Daniels (1825-1846) was the oldest daughter of Theodore Turley and Frances Kimberley. Frances died on 1 December 1846 at the age of twenty-one shortly after giving birth to her first child.1 The baby girl, also named Frances, did not survive, and both mother and child were buried in the same grave.
FindaGrave Memorial 36715987 | FamilySearch KWVM-XQ5 | TTFO bio for Frances Amelia Turley

Daniels, Frances G. — Frances G. Daniels (1846-1846) was the only child of Frances Amelia Turley and Cyrus Daniels. The younger Frances died shortly after she was born on 1 December 1846. She and her mother were buried in the same grave at Winter Quarters.2 Note: The monument incorrectly stated the baby’s name as Frances S. Daniels.
FindaGrave Memorial 35004529 | FamilySearch LY8J-S2X

Turley, Frances — Frances Kimberley (1800-1847) was Theodore Turley’s first wife. Frances died from scurvy on 30 August 1847 at the age of forty-seven. She was buried in the same grave as her daughter, Frances Amelia Turley Daniels, and granddaughter, Frances G. Daniels.3
FindaGrave Memorial 35004541 | FamilySearch KWJV-HK6 | TTFO bio for Frances Kimberley

A bronze plaque listing the names of five Turley family members buried at Winter Quarters.

Turley, Hyrum S. — Hyrum Smith Turley (1846-1847) was a son of Theodore Turley and Sarah Ellen Clift. Hyrum was the twin brother of Joseph Smith Turley, below. Hyrum died of croup on 29 April 1847 at the age of four months.4 Note: The monument incorrectly stated Hyrum’s name as Hyrum O. Turley.
FindaGrave Memorial 35005586 | FamilySearch KFGX-TYB | TTFO bio for Hyrum Smith Turley

Turley, Joseph Smith — Joseph Smith Turley (1846-1847) was a son of Theodore Turley and Sarah Ellen Clift. Joseph was the twin brother of Hyrum Smith Turley, above. Joseph died of “water in [the] brain” on 5 March 1847 at the age of three months.5
FindaGrave Memorial 35005598 | FamilySearch K6WK-1CW | TTFO bio for Joseph Smith Turley

Turley, Princetta — Princetta Turley (1845-1846) was the daughter of Theodore Turley and Sarah Ellen Clift. Burial records indicate Princetta was thirteen months old when she passed away from a fever in September 1846. She was later buried in the same grave as her mother.6
FindaGrave Memorial 35006238 | FamilySearch KFGR-G79 | TTFO bio for Princetta Turley

Turley, Sarah E. — Sarah Ellen Clift (1817-1847) was one of Theodore Turley’s plural wives. She died of scurvy on 4 May 1847 at the age of thirty.7
FindaGrave Memorial 35006250 | FamilySearch KWV9-C8G | TTFO bio for Sarah Ellen Clift

Related Links

Photograph of cemetery monument by Mary Ann Clements.

  1. Family Memorial; Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, death of Frances A. Daniels, 1 Dec. 1846, image 14 of 51, LR 6359 24, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def/0/13, accessed July 2021.
  2. Family Memorial; Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, death of Frances G. Daniels, 1 Dec. 1846, image 14 of 51, LR 6359 24, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def/0/13, accessed July 2021.
  3. Family Memorial; Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def&crate=0&index=38, accessed April 2020.
  4. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, image 29 of 51, Hyrum S Turley, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def&crate=0&index=28, accessed March 2021.
  5. Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, image 23 of 51, Joseph Smith Turley, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def&crate=0&index=22, accessed March 2021.
  6. Both Theodore Turley’s handwritten record and the Winter Quarters sexton records indicate 1846 as Princetta’s death year, and her age is consistent with that date at one year and one month. However, Princetta is recorded among other individuals who died in September 1847. Her grave number is out of order (number 148, lower than the 200s that others who died in September 1847 were assigned), since Princetta was buried in the same grave as her mother. It’s possible that Princetta was originally buried elsewhere and her body was moved to be interred with her mother. Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, image 40 of 51, Princetta Turley, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def&crate=0&index=39, accessed March 2021.
  7. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848, Record book, image 29 of 51, Sarah E. Turley, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=1647eb3e-6020-4669-91a2-603820678def&crate=0&index=28, accessed March 2021.