Sarah Ellen Clift
1817-1847

Born: 3 May 1817 in Clifton, Gloucestershire, England1
Christened: 8 June 1817 at the Redland Chapel in Westbury on Trym, Gloucestershire, England2
Died: 4 May 1847 in Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska3
Buried: Winter Quarters Cemetery in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska4
FamilySearch ID: KWV9-C8G
FindaGrave Memorial ID:  35006250

Sarah was the daughter of Robert Clift and Elizabeth Cantle.

According to Theodore’s personal records, Sarah Ellen Clift had two sons born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England:5

  1. Congreve Clift Selwyn (1839-1882) m. Alice Herbert
  2. George Augustus Clift Selwyn (1841-1894) m1. Lucy Anna Fischer, m2. Jennie H. (Rice) Stewart

Sarah became a plural wife of Theodore Turley on 26 April 1844 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.6 Theodore and Sarah were sealed on 19 January 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple.7 They had three children:

  1. Princetta Turley (1845-1846)
  2. Joseph Smith Turley (1846-1847) – twin.
  3. Hyrum Smith Turley (1846-1847) – twin.
Go to Life Sketch
Go to Timeline
Go to Important Places

Life Sketch

Sarah Ellen Clift was born 3 May 1817 in Clifton, Gloucestershire, England, a suburb of the port city Bristol.8 She was the fourth child of Robert Clift and Elizabeth Cantle, who were married in 1812.9 Sarah was christened at the Redland Chapel near Clifton on 8 June 1817.10 The family’s residence was at Lime Kilns, and her father’s occupation was gardner.

Christening record of Sarah Ellen Clift

Within a couple years, the family moved north to the small town of Dymock on the edge of Gloucestershire, near the borders of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.11 While in Dymock, four more children were added to the Clift family. Of the eight children born to Robert and Elizabeth Clift, three died young.12

Dymock was only a few miles south of Ledbury, Herefordshire, and it was perhaps there that Sarah Ellen Clift became acquainted with Dr. Congreve Selwyn. Selwyn was a married physician associated with the Ledbury Dispensary, a hospital that provided medical aid to the poor. After his retirement, Dr. Selwyn resided with his wife, Albinia, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Although they were married in 1823, the couple did not have any children until late in life. The older couple was enumerated on the 1841 England census in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with a two-year-old boy, Congreve Selwyn, born about 1839.13 This child living with Dr. Congreve and Albinia Selwyn appears to be Sarah Ellen Clift’s first child, Congreve Clift Selwyn, who Theodore Turley recorded was born 24 April 1839 in Cheltenham.14 The biological father of Sarah Ellen Clift’s child is unknown, but it could’ve been Dr. Congreve Selwyn.

In the spring of 1840, Elder Wilford Woodruff, an American missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began preaching in Herefordshire near the Clift’s home in Dymock. Sarah’s sister, Mary Clift, was the first of the family to be baptized on 10 April 1840.15 Other family members followed in the next couple weeks, but we don’t know when Sarah Ellen Clift was baptized. The Clift family was very active in their new religion. Sarah’s father, Robert Clift, was put in charge of the Church’s branch in Dymock in June 1840.16 They were among several families in Dymock who opened their homes to the missionaries, and some elders mentioned staying at the Clift home in their journals.17 Two of Sarah’s siblings, Mary and James Clift, left for the United States with a large group of British Latter-day Saints in September 1840. That group was led by Elder Theodore Turley.

Sarah Ellen Clift had another son, George Augustus Clift Selwyn, on 24 February 1841 in Cheltenham.18 It’s possible this child was also intended for Dr. Congreve Selwyn and his wife to raise. The Clift family’s plan to join with the Latter-day Saints in the United States, however, may have complicated matters. Their departure in May 1841 would’ve meant Sarah leaving a two-and-a-half-month-old baby behind in England.

The only Clift family members mentioned in accounts of the company who traveled on the ship Harmony from Bristol to Quebec were Robert, Sr., Elizabeth, and Eliza.19 It’s likely, however, that Sarah (with her newborn babe) and brother Robert, Jr.. were also in that group. The ship departed Bristol in May 1841 and arrived in Quebec at the end of June. Although no passenger list survived, Canadian government documents stated that there were 83 passengers on board: 23 adult males, 33 adult females, 7 male children between the ages of seven and fourteen, 4 female children between the ages of seven and fourteen, 7 male children under seven years, and 9 female children under 7 years.20

The group traveled south along the canals in New York to the Great Lakes on their way to Nauvoo, Illinois. While near Utica, New York, Sarah’s sister, Eliza, married another member of the group, George G. Fidler.21 According to the account of a fellow passenger, Robert and Elizabeth Clift were not happy with the marriage: “[W]hile here we had a Wedding in the Co. a young man George Fidler, and Eliza Clift decide to get Married Eliza began dressing for the Ceremony and then told her Mother she was going to be Married her Mother sent for her Father, and they wept and pleaded with their daughter not to marry the young Man. but she went with him to a Magistrate were Married, and soon repented of it[.]”22

The Clifts finally arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois, and reunited with Mary and James. At the beginning of 1842, the family was enumerated in the census of the Nauvoo Second Ward: Robert “Cliff,” Elizabeth “Cliff,” Sarah Ellen “Settlewen,” Mary “Cliff,” George Augustus “Settlewen,” Robert “Cliff” Jr., and James “Cliff.”23 Eliza and her husband, George G. Fidler, also resided in the Second Ward.24

Clift family members in the Nauvoo Second Ward census (1842)
Clift family members in the Nauvoo Second Ward census (1842)

On 26 April 1844, Sarah Ellen Clift became a plural wife of Theodore Turley.25 A daughter was born to Sarah and Theodore on 2 August 1845 in Nauvoo, and they named her Princetta.26 Sarah received her endowment in the Nauvoo Temple on Christmas Day in 1845.27 She and Theodore’s first wife, Frances Kimberley, were subsequently sealed to Theodore Turley in the Nauvoo Temple in January 1846.28 Sarah’s two sisters, Eliza and Mary, were sealed to Theodore Turley in the Nauvoo Temple a couple weeks later.29

The Turley family left Nauvoo in mid-February 1846 and traveled westward across Iowa. Prior to leaving Nauvoo, Sarah Ellen Clift left two pieces of land in the care of Church Trustees. One was an acre in the east end of the southern half of the northwest quarter of section 36 township 7 range 9 west. This may have been the same property where the Robert Clift household resided in 1842. 30 The other piece of property was three acres in the southern half of the southwest quarter of section 30 township 7 range 8 west. Both pieces of land were located in the northeastern portion of Nauvoo. It is not clear when Sarah Ellen Clift acquired these properties, and it is curious that they were in her name as opposed to her father’s name.31

Sarah Ellen Clift’s power of attorney given to Church Trustees for the care of her property in Nauvoo (1846).

Months later, the Turley family arrived at Winter Quarters on the west side of the Missouri River, across from Council Bluffs, Iowa. On 5 December 1846, Sarah Ellen Clift had twin boys which she and Theodore named Joseph Smith Turley and Hyrum Smith Turley. Joseph only lived three months, and Hyrum only lived four. They were both buried in the same grave in the Winter Quarters Cemetery.32 Sarah’s daughter, Princetta, also passed away at Winter Quarters.33 Eventually Sarah Ellen Clift herself succumbed to illness, dying of scurvy one day after her thirtieth birthday.34 She and her only daughter were buried in the same grave in the Winter Quarters Cemetery.35

Sarah Ellen Clift Turley in the Winter Quarters sexton record (1847)
Sarah Ellen Clift Turley on the memorial plaque at Winter Quarters.

Related Links

Timeline

1817
May 3: Sarah Ellen Clift was born in Clifton, Gloucestershire, England, to Robert Clift and Elizabeth Cantle. She was their fourth child.36
June 8: Sarah Ellen Clift was christened at the Redland Chapel in Westbury on Trym, Gloucestershire, England.37

Between 1817 and 1819, the Clift family moved from Clifton, a suburb of Bristol, to the northern Gloucestershire town of Dymock.38 Dymock is five miles south of Ledbury, Herefordshire. It was here that the family encountered Elder Wilford Woodruff, a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the spring of 1840.

1839
April 24: Congreve Clift Selwyn was born to Sarah Ellen Clift in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.39

1840
April 10: Sarah’s sister, Mary Clift, was the first of their family to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.40

1841
February 24: George Augustus Clift Selwyn was born to Sarah Ellen Clift in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.41
May 13: Members of the Clift family, likely including Sarah Ellen Clift and her two-month-old baby, departed Bristol, England, on the ship Harmony with other British Latter-day Saints led by Thomas Kington.42
June 25: The ship Harmony arrived at the quarantine station at Grosse Isle in Quebec. Unfortunately, no passenger list has been found for this voyage, but Canadian government documents stated there were 83 passengers on board: 23 adult males, 33 adult females, 7 male children between the ages of seven and fourteen, 4 female children between the ages of seven and fourteen, 7 male children under seven years, and 9 female children under 7 years. Comments from the week ending 26 June included, “The emigrants arrived during the past week are in good health and consist of farmers and labourers; the great majority intend settling in Upper Canada, where they have friends…. In the barque Harmony from Bristol, were a party of Mormons, going to settle in Illinois; they report that two other vessels are expected from the same port this season. Three families are going to the Newcastle district.”43
July 6: While en route to Nauvoo, Sarah’s sister, Eliza, married fellow British convert George Gardner Fidler near Utica, Oneida County, New York.44
September 3: Sarah’s new brother-in-law, George G. Fidler, signed a petition in Nauvoo, indicating the Clift family had arrived in the city.45

1842
Early 1842: Sarah Ellen Clift and her baby, George, were enumerated in the “Cliff” household in the Second Ward of Nauvoo, Illinois. The family consisted of Robert Clift, Elizabeth Clift, Sarah Ellen “Settlewen,” Mary Clift, George Augustus “Settlewen,” Robert Clift Jr., and James Clift. Sarah’s sister, Eliza Clift Fidler, resided separately with her husband in the Second Ward.46

1844
April 26: Sarah Ellen Clift was married to Theodore Turley as a plural wife in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.47

1845
August 2: A daughter was born to Sarah Ellen Clift and Theodore Turley in Nauvoo. They named her Princetta Turley.48
December 25: Sarah Ellen Clift received her endowment in the Nauvoo Temple.49

1846
January 19: Theodore Turley was sealed to Sarah Ellen Clift in the Nauvoo. At the same time, Theodore was also sealed to his first wife, Frances Kimberley.50
February 3: Sarah’s two sisters, Eliza Clift Fidler and Mary Clift, were also sealed as plural wives to Theodore Turley in the Nauvoo Temple.51
January or February: Shortly before leaving Nauvoo, Sarah Ellen Clift left two pieces of property in the care of Church Trustees. The land totaled four acres and was located in the northeastern part of the city.52

The Turley family left Nauvoo in February 1846 and traveled westward across Iowa. They arrived in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, by the end of the year. The Turley family remained on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River for two years, suffering the loss of many family members from disease.

September 2 or 10: Thirteen-month-old Princetta died of fever at Winter Quarters (now Omaha) Douglas County, Nebraska. She was buried with her mother, Sarah Ellen Clift, in grave number 148 at the Winter Quarters Cemetery.53
December 5: Twins Joseph Smith Turley and Hyrum Smith Turley were born to Sarah Ellen Clift and Theodore Turley in Winter Quarters.54

1847
March 5: Three-month-old Joseph Smith Turley died of “water in [the] brain” at Winter Quarters. He was buried in grave number 95 at the Winter Quarters Cemetery in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska.55
April 29: Four-month-old Hyrum Smith Turley died of croup at Winter Quarters. He was buried in grave number 95 with his twin brother, Joseph Smith Turley, at the Winter Quarters Cemetery.56
May 4: Only five days after Hyrum‘s death, thirty-year-old Sarah Ellen Clift died from scurvy at Winter Quarters. She was the first of Theodore Turley’s wives to pass away. She was buried in grave number 148 at the Winter Quarters Cemetery, sharing that grave with her only daughter, Princetta Turley.57

Important Places

Gloucestershire, England: Sarah Ellen Clift was born in Clifton, Gloucestershire, a suburb of Bristol. Her family later moved to Dymock at the northern edge of Gloucestershire. In 1840, the Clift family was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Wilford Woodruff. Sarah Ellen Clift had two sons born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Congreve Clift Selwyn in 1839 and George Augustus Clift Selwyn in 1841.
Nauvoo, Illinois: By the end of 1841, Sarah Ellen Clift and her son, George A. Selwyn, were residing with her parents in Nauvoo, Illinois. There, Sarah became a plural wife of Theodore Turley and had her only baby girl, Princetta Turley.
Winter Quarters, Nebraska: In 1846, Sarah Ellen Clift traveled with the other members of the Turley family across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. Sarah had twin boys there, Joseph Smith Turley and Hyrum Smith Turley, but both died as infants. Her daughter, Princetta, also died at Winter Quarters, as did Sarah herself. She and her daughter were buried in the same grave at the Winter Quarters Cemetery in Douglas County, Nebraska.

  1. 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.
  2. Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918, Bristol, Redland Green, Register of Baptisms in the Chapelry of Redland-Parish of Westbury on Trym, 1813-1846, p. 12, no. 92, Sarah Ellen daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Clift, 8 Jun. 1817, image at Ancestry.com.
  3. 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.
  4. 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; FindaGrave.com, memorial page for Sarah Ellen Clift Turley (3 May 1817–4 May 1847), memorial no. 35006250, citing Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, USA.
  5. Their father may have been Dr. Congreve Selwyn who helped provide medical care to poor families in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Ledbury was only five miles away from where the Clift family lived in Dymock, Gloucestershire. Dr. Selwyn and his wife, Frances Albinia, were married in 1823. Their only child was son Congreve Selwyn, born 1839 in Cheltenham.
  6. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  7. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; Nauvoo and sealing record “A”, 1846-1857, p. 523-524, entries for Theodore Turley, Frances Kimberley, and Sarah Ellen Clift, FHL 183374.
  8. 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.
  9. Bristol, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935, Gloucestershire, Westbury on Trym, Holy Trinity, Marriage Register 1803-1812, p. 47, no. 183, marriage of Robert Clift and Elizabeth Cantle, image at Ancestry.com.
  10. Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918, Bristol, Redland Green, Register of Baptisms in the Chapelry of Redland-Parish of Westbury on Trym, 1813-1846, p. 12, no. 92, Sarah Ellen daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Clift, 8 Jun. 1817, image at Ancestry.com.
  11. William Clift, was baptized at Dymock on 7 January 1820. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913, Dymock, Register of Baptisms 1813-1844, p. 39, no. 309, William son of Robert and Elizabeth Clift, 7 Jan. 1820, image at Ancestry.com.
  12. Robert and Elizabeth’s eight children were Eliza (1813-1882), twins Mary (1815-1850) and Martha (1815-1816), Sarah Ellen (1817-1847), William (1820-1820), Ann (1821-1824), Robert Jr. (1824-1859), and James (1826-1862).
  13. Unfortunately, Dr. Congreve Selwyn passed away 2 October 1846 at the age of forty-eight. Albinia followed quickly, on 29 May 1847, dying at the age of sixty-three. They were buried at the Trinity Church in Cheltenham. At the time of his 1861 marriage to Alice Herbert, Congreve Selwyn, born in 1839, was described as the only child of the late Dr. Congreve Selwyn.
  14. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  15. Wilford Woodruff journal, 1840 January-December, image 19 of 286, Mary Cleft, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=01ff33da-9cab-4400-8b3a-f7abe97ae0da&crate=0&index=18, accessed March 2021.
  16. Wilford Woodruff journal, 1840 January-December, 14 Jun. 1840, image 133 of 286, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=01ff33da-9cab-4400-8b3a-f7abe97ae0da&crate=0&index=132, accessed March 2021.
  17. Elder Levi Richards (31 Mar. 1841), Elder Wilford Woodruff (12 Mar. 1841), and Elder John Needham (many nights in March 1841).
  18. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  19. “Bristol to Quebec 10 May 1841-12 July 1841,” Saints by Sea: Latter-day Saint Immigration to America database, https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/voyage/160, accessed February 2021; Transcript of Mary Ann Weston Maughan Journal, Joel E. Ricks Collection of Transcriptions, Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collection and Archives, Utah State University, book 1, page 17, digital images online at USU Digital History Collections, https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/Diaries/id/16984, accessed February 2021.
  20. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 31 (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1842), 16 and 286, digitized at Google Books.
  21. Scott Co., Iowa, Divorce records, 1837-1940, case no. 967, Eliza C. Fidler v. George G. Fidler, image at FamilySearch.org, FHL 1643738
  22. Transcript of Mary Ann Weston Maughan Journal, Joel E. Ricks Collection of Transcriptions, Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collection and Archives, Utah State University, book 1, page 17, digital images online at USU Digital History Collections, https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/Diaries/id/16984, accessed February 2021.
  23. Nauvoo Stake, Nauvoo 2nd ward census, image 26 of 33, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=2febcd71-25e6-470f-94c1-d1bcb53cdfca&crate=1&index=25, accessed February 2021.
  24. George Fidler was enumerated directly above “elivia” Fidler. Nauvoo Stake, Nauvoo 2nd ward census, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=2febcd71-25e6-470f-94c1-d1bcb53cdfca&crate=1&index=23, accessed February 2021.
  25. It’s possible Sarah’s sister, Mary Clift, was also married as a plural wife to Theodore Turley at that time. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  26. Theodore spelled her name as “Princette” in his family memorial. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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.
  27. Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergara, The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846: A Documentary History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2005), p. 179, 190.
  28. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; Nauvoo and sealing record “A”, 1846-1857, p. 523-524, entries for Theodore Turley, Frances Kimberley, and Sarah Ellen Clift, FHL 183374.
  29. Nauvoo and sealing record “A”, 1846-1857, p. 523-524, entries for Theodore Turley, Eliza Clift, and Mary Clift, FHL 183374.
  30. Robert Clift paid $10 in property taxes on an acre of property in section 36 township 7 range 9 west at the beginning of 1843. Nauvoo (Ill.) records, 1841-1845, Book of assessment, Second Ward, 1842, image 18 of 23, MS 16800, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a9b69893-6819-4b42-9b9c-03eb9410ec7d/0/17, accessed June 2021.
  31. Sarah’s power of attorney was in a “list of property of individuals who have gone west and left said property in the hands of the Trustees, the same having never been deeded, although deeds ought to have been given.” Trustee-in-Trust daybook for donations, 1845 January-1846 January, power of attorney for Sarah Ellen Clift, image 42 of 347, CR 5 73, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c2799308-4197-4f95-9920-c7123349750e/0/41, accessed June 2021.
  32. Joseph and Hyrum were buried in grave number 95 in the Winter Quarters Cemetery. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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; 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.
  33. See Princetta’s life sketch for discussion on whether her death year was 1846 vs. 1847. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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.
  34. 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.
  35. Sarah and Princetta were buried in grave number 148 at the Winter Quarters Cemetery. 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.
  36. 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.
  37. Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918, Bristol, Redland Green, Register of Baptisms in the Chapelry of Redland-Parish of Westbury on Trym, 1813-1846, p. 12, no. 92, Sarah Ellen daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Clift, 8 Jun. 1817, image at Ancestry.com.
  38. Sarah Ellen Clift’s next sibling, William Clift, was baptized at Dymock on 7 January 1820. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913, Dymock, Register of Baptisms 1813-1844, p. 39, no. 309, William son of Robert and Elizabeth Clift, 7 Jan. 1820, image at Ancestry.com.
  39. We have not yet found any marriage records for Sarah in England. Congreve’s father may have been Dr. Congreve Selwyn, a married Cheltenham resident who helped provide medical care to poor families in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Ledbury was only five miles away from where the Clift family lived in Dymock, Gloucestershire. Dr. Selwyn and his wife, Frances Albinia, were married in 1823. Their only known child was son Rev. Congreve Selwyn, born 1839 in Cheltenham. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  40. Wilford Woodruff journal, 1840 January-December, image 19 of 286, Mary Cleft, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=01ff33da-9cab-4400-8b3a-f7abe97ae0da&crate=0&index=18, accessed March 2021.
  41. As with his older brother, Congreve, George’s biological father may have been Dr. Congreve Selwyn of Cheltenham. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  42. “Bristol to Quebec 10 May 1841-12 July 1841,” Saints by Sea: Latter-day Saint Immigration to America database, https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/voyage/160, accessed February 2021; Transcript of Mary Ann Weston Maughan Journal, Joel E. Ricks Collection of Transcriptions, Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collection and Archives, Utah State University, book 1, page 17, digital images online at USU Digital History Collections, https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/Diaries/id/16984, accessed February 2021.
  43. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 31 (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1842), 16 and 286, digitized at Google Books.
  44. Scott Co., Iowa, Divorce records, 1837-1940, case no. 967, Eliza C. Fidler v. George G. Fidler, image at FamilySearch.org, FHL 1643738; Transcript of Mary Ann Weston Maughan Journal, Joel E. Ricks Collection of Transcriptions, Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collection and Archives, Utah State University, book 1, page 17, digital images online at USU Digital History Collections, https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/Diaries/id/16984, accessed February 2021.
  45. “Petition from Jeremiah Curtis and Others, 3 September 1841,” Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841-1845, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  46. Nauvoo Stake, Nauvoo 2nd ward census, image 26 of 33, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=2febcd71-25e6-470f-94c1-d1bcb53cdfca&crate=1&index=25, accessed February 2021.
  47. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift.
  48. Theodore spelled her name as “Princette” in his family memorial. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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.
  49. Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergara, The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846: A Documentary History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2005), p. 179, 190.
  50. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; Nauvoo and sealing record “A”, 1846-1857, p. 523-524, entries for Theodore Turley, Frances Kimberley, and Sarah Ellen Clift, FHL 183374.
  51. Nauvoo and sealing record “A”, 1846-1857, p. 523-524, entries for Theodore Turley, Eliza Clift, and Mary Clift, FHL 183374.
  52. Sarah’s power of attorney was in a “list of property of individuals who have gone west and left said property in the hands of the Trustees, the same having never been deeded, although deeds ought to have been given.” Trustee-in-Trust daybook for donations, 1845 January-1846 January, power of attorney for Sarah Ellen Clift, image 42 of 347, CR 5 73, Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c2799308-4197-4f95-9920-c7123349750e/0/41, accessed June 2021.
  53. Winter Quarters sexton records clearly indicate that Princetta died on 2 September, but Theodore’s family memorial for the Sarah Ellen Clift family records that Princetta died on 10 September. See Princetta’s life sketch for discussion on death year 1846 vs. 1847. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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.
  54. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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.
  55. Family Memorial-Sarah Ellen Clift; 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; FindaGrave.com, Joseph Smith Turley (5 Dec 1846–5 Mar 1847), memorial no. 35005598, citing Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, USA.
  56. 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; FindaGrave.com, memorial page for Hyrum Smith Turley (5 Dec 1846–29 Apr 1847), memorial no. 35005586, citing Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, USA.
  57. See Princetta’s life sketch for discussion on whether her death year was 1846 vs. 1847. 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; 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.