Below is a list of sketches summarizing the pioneer journeys of Theodore Turley and his family members. To learn more about the nineteenth-century Mormon Pioneer experience generally, check out these awesome resources by the Church History Library and Church History Museum:

Note: None of the Turley family members journeyed to Utah in the handcart companies of the late 1850s and early 1860s. If you need handcart-specific stories, the Church History Department has assembled a collection of stories for use on youth pioneer treks. Download the PDF using this link: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/pdfs/historic-sites/trek-west/Approved-Handcart-Stories-for-Trek-Leaders.pdf?lang=eng.

Links to individual pioneer sketches:

Theodore Turley

Theodore Turley (1801-1871) and his wife, Frances Kimberley, were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1837 while living in Canada. Theodore, Frances, and their six children, moved to Far West, Missouri, the following year to gather with other Latter-day Saints. They endured the mobs and violence there, and Theodore was appointed to the committee to help evacuate the Saints from that place. The Saints eventually relocated to Commerce, Illinois, which they later named Nauvoo. After building the first Latter-day Saint home in that location, Theodore was called to accompany several of the apostles on a mission to his native England. Theodore operated a blacksmith shop in Nauvoo and lived on the same block as Joseph Smith. He was a lieutenant colonel and the armorer-general of the Nauvoo Legion. He was also a member of the Council of Fifty. Theodore and his family evacuated Nauvoo in February 1846. They traveled across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. The family suffered with sickness there, and Theodore lost two of his wives to scurvy, Frances Kimberley and Sarah Ellen Clift, as well as many children. Theodore was forty-eight years old at the time he and his family crossed the plains with the Silas Richards Company.1 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

Mary Clift Turley

Twenty-five-year-old Mary Clift (1815-1850) was the first of her family to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. Shortly thereafter, she and other family members crossed the ocean and joined with the Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois. Mary resided in the Nauvoo Second Ward with her parents. She also sang in the local choir. Eventually, Mary became one of Theodore Turley’s plural wives. They were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple in February 1846 just days before the Turley family left the city. Mary experienced hardships common to early church members of the time, including sickness and the deaths of friends and family members. By the time Mary began her journey across the plains, she’d already buried all three of her children. Mary was thirty-four years old at the time she traveled with Theodore Turley and his children in the Silas Richards Company.2 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849. Mary was pregnant with her fourth child by the time the Turley family entered the valley, and she delivered a healthy baby girl a few months later. Tragically, Mary died within a few weeks after her daughter was born. She was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Mary Ann Turley

Mary Ann Turley (1827-1904) was Theodore Turley’s third child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. One of Theodore’s grandchildren said that even though Mary Ann was petite, she “had more of her father’s courage and independence than any of his descendents [sic] that I know of.” 3 Mary Ann was nine years old when her parents were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada. The following year, she traveled with her parents and five siblings by wagon to Far West, Missouri. The family arrived just in time to experience intense mob violence and Governor Boggs’ infamous “extermination order.” A month before Mary Ann’s twelfth birthday, her father completed the first home built by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo. In February 1846, eighteen-year-old Mary Ann was sealed as a plural wife to Brigham Young. They later divorced. Shortly after her sealing, Mary Ann left Nauvoo with the rest of the Turley family and traveled westward across Iowa. They resided in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, for a couple years, where Mary Ann experienced the deaths of her mother, Frances Kimberley, and older sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. Three days before her twenty-second birthday, Mary Ann began her journey to the Rocky Mountains with her father, stepmother, and several younger siblings.4 The Silas Richards Company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

Priscilla Rebecca Turley Lyman

Priscilla Rebecca Turley Lyman (1829-1904) was Theodore Turley’s fourth child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. She was seven years old when her parents were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada. The following year, she traveled with her parents and five siblings by wagon to Far West, Missouri. The family arrived just in time to experience intense mob violence and Governor Boggs’ infamous “extermination order.” Just after Priscilla’s tenth birthday, her father completed the first home built by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo. In January 1846, at the age of sixteen, Priscilla was sealed as a plural wife to Amasa Mason Lyman in the Nauvoo Temple. Priscilla initially left Nauvoo with the rest of the Turley family in February, but she then joined her husband’s household in March. The Lyman family traveled westward across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While in Winter Quarters, Priscilla experienced the deaths of her mother, Frances Kimberley, and oldest sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. A month after her nineteenth birthday, Priscilla crossed the plains with other members of the Lyman family in the Willard Richards Company.5 The Amasa Lyman section of the company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 1 July 1848 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1848.

Frederick Turley

Frederick Turley (1832-1875) was Theodore Turley’s fifth child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. He was almost five years old when his parents were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada. The following year, he traveled with his parents and five siblings by wagon to Far West, Missouri. The family arrived just in time to experience intense mob violence and Governor Boggs’ infamous “extermination order.” Just after Frederick’s seventh birthday, his father completed the first home built by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo. In February 1846, at the age of thirteen, Frederick left Nauvoo with the rest of the Turley family and traveled westward across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While in Winter Quarters, Frederick experienced the deaths of his mother, Frances Kimberley, and oldest sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. Frederick was seventeen years old at the time he crossed the plains with his father, stepmother, and several siblings in the Silas Richards Company.6 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

Sarah Elizabeth Turley

Sarah Elizabeth Turley (1835-1914) was Theodore Turley’s seventh child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. She was just two years old when her parents were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada. The following year, she traveled with her parents and five siblings by wagon to Far West, Missouri. The family arrived just in time to experience intense mob violence and Governor Boggs’ infamous “extermination order.” She was four years old when her father built the first home by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo. In February 1846, at the age of ten, Priscilla left Nauvoo with the rest of the Turley family and traveled westward across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While in Winter Quarters, Sarah experienced the deaths of her mother, Frances Kimberley, and oldest sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. Sarah crossed the plains with her father, stepmother, and siblings in the Silas Richards Company. She celebrated her fourteenth birthday while on that journey, a month before arriving in the Salt Lake Valley.7 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

Isaac Turley

Isaac Turley (1837-1908) was Theodore Turley’s eighth child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. He was born eight months after his parents became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada, and he was named for the missionary that baptized them, Isaac Russell. Isaac was an infant when he traveled with his parents and five siblings by wagon to Far West, Missouri. The family arrived just in time to experience intense mob violence and Governor Boggs’ infamous “extermination order.” He was just a toddler when his father built the first home by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo, in the summer of 1839. Isaac’s earliest memories were likely of growing up in Nauvoo. He was six years old when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed, but family members later related stories of him “feeding and watering [Joseph Smith’s] favorite riding horse, a chestnut sorrel named ‘Joe Duncan.'”8. Isaac was eight years old when the family evacuated Nauvoo in February 1846. The family traveled westward across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where they resided for several years. While in Winter Quarters, Isaac experienced the deaths of his mother, Frances Kimberley, and oldest sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. Isaac was eleven years old at the time he crossed the plains with the Silas Richards Company.9 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849, a month before Isaac’s twelfth birthday.

Charlotte Turley

Charlotte Turley (1840-1899) was Theodore Turley’s ninth child with his first wife, Frances Kimberley. She was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, while her father was serving a mission in England. She was only four years old when Joseph Smith was killed, but she still had memories of him. Joseph Smith sometimes used Theodore Turley’s cellar when he went into hiding. “Charlotte often told her children that when the Prophet was in the cellar he would hold her on his lap and tell her stories so she would be very quiet.”10 The Turley family evacuated Nauvoo in February 1846. Charlotte celebrated her sixth birthday along the Mormon Trail in Iowa as the family made their way to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While in Winter Quarters, the young Charlotte experienced the deaths of her mother, Frances Kimberley, and oldest sister, Frances A. Turley Daniels. Charlotte was nine years old when she crossed the plains with her father, stepmother, and siblings in the Silas Richards Company.11 The company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

George A. Selwyn

George A. Selwyn (1841-1882) was Theodore Turley’s stepson from his plural wife, Sarah Ellen Clift. The Clift family, including George’s mother, was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England in 1840. George was likely only a couple months old when he and his mother traveled across the ocean with other members of the Clift family to join the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois.12 Like Isaac Turley and Charlotte Turley, George’s earliest memories were probably of Nauvoo. He resided in the household of his grandfather, Robert Clift, in the Nauvoo Second Ward. In 1844, a few months before Joseph Smith was killed, George’s mother became a plural wife to Theodore Turley. The Turley family evacuated Nauvoo in February 1846 just before George’s fifth birthday. He traveled westward with them across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While in Winter Quarters, the young George witnessed the death of his mother, Sarah Ellen Clift, from scurvy. George was eight years old at the time he crossed the plains with Theodore Turley, Mary Clift Turley (George’s maternal aunt), and several stepsiblings.13 The Silas Richards Company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 25 October 1849.

Ruth Jane Giles

Ruth Jane Giles (1812-1880) married Theodore Turley on 18 June 1850 after both had settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Ruth was likely baptized between 1841 and 1843 near her birthplace in Essex County, Massachusetts.14 Ruth gathered with other Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo by 1845,15 and evacuated the city with other members of the Church in early 1846.16 Like the Turley family, Ruth probably spent a couple years in Winter Quarters, Nebraska. It is not known which company she traveled with, but thirty-six-year-old Ruth likely crossed the plains in 1848. A “Miss Giles” was mentioned in the journal of Catherine E. Mehring Woolley while her group was traveling along the Mormon Trail near Scott’s Bluff, Wyoming, on 29 July 1848. 17

Joseph Orson Turley

Joseph Orson Turley (1845-1916) was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, a couple years after his mother, Ruth Jane Giles, joined the Latter-day Saints in Massachusetts. He was an infant at the time Ruth evacuated the city in 1846 with other church members. Joseph was three years old at the time he and his mother likely crossed the plains, in 1848. Joseph took the Turley surname after his mother’s 1850 marriage to Theodore Turley in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Spouses of Theodore Turley’s children

John Cook

John Cook (1825-1882) married Mary Ann Turley on 8 September 1851 near San Bernardino, California. He likely traveled from the eastern United States to California around 1850. It is not known if John was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or if he traveled with any Latter-day Saint company.

Amasa Mason Lyman

Amasa Mason Lyman (1813-1877) married Priscilla Rebecca Turley. Amasa was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1832. He resided with fellow Latter-day Saints in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, and served many missions for the Church. Eventually, Amasa became a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Priscilla Turley was sealed as a plural wife to Amasa Lyman on 16 January 1846 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Amasa crossed the plains many times from 1847 into the 1860s. In 1848, he was a captain of a hundred in the Willard Richards Company. Priscilla and several other wives of Amasa Lyman were in that group.

Amelia Louisa Counsell

Amelia Louisa Counsell (1834-1913) married Frederick Turley on 1 January 1856 in San Bernardino, California. Amelia’s pioneer journey took her across the Pacific Ocean rather than the dry Midwestern plains. Although Amelia was born in England, she was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia. Amelia was the first of her family to immigrate to the United States, one of about sixty Australian church members who sailed on the brig Tarquinia in 1855. Unfortunately, their ship was condemned and they were stranded in Hawaii. Eventually they raised enough money to charter another ship to sail them to San Francisco, California. Amelia’s group then raised the necessary funds to travel south to Los Angeles. There they met Latter-day Saints with teams and wagons ready to take them to San Bernardino. Amelia married Frederick Turley shortly after her arrival in the colony. She eventually traveled to Utah with other members of the Turley family when the San Bernardino colony was evacuated in the winter of 1857-1858.

Stephen Franklin

Stephen Franklin (1829-1898) married Sarah Elizabeth Turley in 1853. He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847 at the age of eighteen,18 and he resided with other members of the Church in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, in November 1850.19 He apparently crossed the plains several times, but it is unclear if he traveled in any Latter-day Saint companies.20 A life sketch written at the time of his death stated that he arrived in San Bernardino, California, in the spring of 1852.21

Sarah Greenwood

Sarah Greenwood (1844-1887) married Isaac Turley on 11 March 1861. Sarah was seven years old at the time her parents crossed the plains in 1852. However, it is not known which company the Greenwood family traveled with.22

Clara Ann Tolton

Clara Ann Tolton (1852-1932) was sealed as a plural wife of Isaac Turley on 4 October 1867 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was only a year old when her family crossed the plains with the Moses Clawson Company.23 The company left Keokuk, Iowa, in May 1853 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September 1853.

Jacob Bushman

Jacob Bushman

Jacob Bushman (1830-1919) married Charlotte Turley on 4 March 1857 in San Bernardino, California. Jacob was nine years old when his parents were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his native Pennsylvania. The family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and resided there until 1846. After the evacuation, sixteen-year-old Jacob traveled westward and resided with his family for several years in western Iowa. Jacob was twenty-one years old when he crossed the plains with his family in the Easton Kelsey Company. They left Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa, in June 1851 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in late September/early October 1851. Jacob later gave an account of his journey:

In April 1851, I was baptized by E. H. Davis and confirmed by the same. We then started for Utah. Father had one yoke of oxen and a yoke of cows and one wagon. I drove 3 yoke of oxen and a yoke of cows for Henry Kerns. We crossed the Missouri River at Winter Quarters and went out to a grove a few miles to organize in Mr. Kelsey’s Hundred and Alma Allred’s Fifty. Laid there about two weeks on the account of high water. Then started out to head the Horn and made a complete elbo to get back to the Platt. Got along without much loss. Had two or three stampede, but very little sickness in the camp.

Traveled up the Platt and crossed over the Divide to the Sweet Water. Crossed Green River and over the Mountain and down Emigration to Salt Lake City and from there we went south about 30 miles to Lehi, where they settled down, father and mother and the rest of the family.

“Jacob Bushman, autobiography, typescript, BYU, 1943,” Ann’s stories blog

  1. Theodore’s age was given as forty-five in the company schedule. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  2. Mary’s age was given as thirty-five in the company schedule. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  3. 1971 Letter from Joseph Soll Turley to Descendants of Theodore Turley.
  4. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  5. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Willard Richards’s 1848 emigration division, First 50, reports, circa 1848 June, image 1 of 6, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/256ae0e3-c78d-4d4e-9cfc-645475250f80/0/0, accessed June 2021.
  6. Frederick’s age was given as sixteen in the company schedule. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  7. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  8. Nancy Romans Turley, The Theodore Turley Family (n.d.: n.p., 1978), p. 87.
  9. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  10. Nancy Romans Turley, The Theodore Turley Family (n.d.: n.p., 1978), p. 475.
  11. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  12. It’s likely that Sarah and George traveled in the same group as Sarah’s parents, Robert and Elizabeth Clift, and sister, Eliza Clift. That group departed England in May 1841 on board the ship Harmony.
  13. Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849, Silas Richards company, 1849 September, image 5 of 5, MS 14290, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0cb1643e-a096-4f99-ab02-a39eb733285b/0/4, accessed June 2021.
  14. Ruth’s sister, Mary Meek Giles, was baptized by Elder Erastus Snow on 4 September 1842. “Erastus Snow, with companions Benjamin Winchester then Freeman Nickerson, preached in Boston, Salem, Marblehead and surrounding towns from 1841 to 1843.  At this point in time Mary probably lived in Salem.” Jennifer Mackley, “Fifth in a Series on Wilford Woodruff’s Wives: Mary Meek Giles (September 6, 1802-October 3, 1852),” WilfordWoodruff.info, http://www.wilfordwoodruff.info/2013/02/third-in-series-on-wilford-woodruffs.html, accessed March 2021.
  15. Her son, Joseph Orson Turley, was born in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, on 12 July 1845.
  16. Benjamin Ashby, son of Nathaniel Ashby, wrote that in early 1846 Ruth Jane Giles was living in his family’s Nauvoo home with several other women who were plural wives. “The river was soon frozen over and they crossed on the ice. At this time we had living with us some of the wives of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Bishop Hunter, viz. Mrs. Powers, Harriett Cook, Susanna Wasm, Ruth Jane Giles.” Robert L. Ashby, Ashby ancestry; something of the origin of the name and family; family pedigree; story of Nathaniel and Susan Hammond Ashby; autobiography of Benjamin Ashby (Salt Lake City, Utah: Stringam Ashby Stevens, 1941), 14, digitized at Archive.org. It does not appear that Ruth was a plural wife of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, or Edward Hunter.
  17. “29th.—Laid by on account of our oxen’s feet being sore. This evening B. Young’s company came here. Mr. Young not very well. Aunt Minnie was to see me this evening, and two [too?] Miss Giles, Miss Pratt and Miss Taylor.” J. Cecil Alter, “In the Beginning: Near Scott’s Bluff,” Salt Lake Telegram, Wednesday, 9 Jan. 1935, p. 4, col. 4, Newspapers.com.
  18. His 7 September 1847 baptism and confirmation dates were found on FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch ID KLX2-R93.
  19. He resided with his paternal aunt, Abiah Franklin Porter, and her husband, Jared Porter. Abiah Franklin Porter was baptized in 1838. 1850 U.S. census, Iowa, Pottawattamie, Dist. No. 21, p. 262, dwelling 1067, family 1067, Steaphen Franklin in household of Jerrie Porter, image at FamilySearch.org.
  20. Noted in obituary of daughter, Mary Ann Franklin Brown: “She was one of four children of Stephen Franklin, who made his first trip to California with the ‘forty-niners’ by ox team and who crossed the plains seven times to and from his native city, Antwerp, N. Y.” “Mrs. A. M. Brown is Dead in Colton,” San Bernardino Sun, Tuesday, 5 Jul. 1921, p. 8, col. 3, California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  21. “[Wh]at the Pioneers Have Been Doing,” San Bernardino Sun, Sunday, 17 Apr. 1898, p. 3, col. 3, California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  22. Sarah had a brother, William Greenwood III, who was allegedly born near the Platte River on 27 July 1852 while the family was en route to the Rocky Mountains.
  23. Brigham Young office emigrating companies reports, 1850-1862, Reports, 1853-1855, St. Louis Company report, 1853 June 30, image 5 of 16, CR 1234 5, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/62a930bd-ed2f-40a5-831f-8dd4766cec7b/0/4, accessed June 2021.