John Singleton's History

There have been a number of John Singletons in our family tree. For this purpose, I have chosen our ancestor who joined the LDS church in England and migrated to Utah and was our second great-grandfather - or put another way, he was grandmother Laura Thornton Anderson's grandfather.

John Singleton

Read about the origins of the Singleton name here.

John was born 1 December, 1824 in Preston, Lancashire, England. His parents were Thomas Singleton and Ann Hall. Thomas was a mechanic in the cotton mills in Preston and Ann was a cotton reeler. Thomas was able to sign his name to their wedding certificate, instead of just making his mark as his father and grandfather had done.

Thomas and Ann's other children were Mary, born in 1820, another John, born in 1822 and who died in December, 1823, Samuel, born in 1828, Agnes born in 1831, Ann in 1835 and Alma born in 1840.

John's mother, Ann, died of asthma in 1843. Besides the first John, Ann Eliza died in January, 1842 at the age of 6.

We don't have any records of Thomas or Ann being converted to the LDS church in England, but they were certainly familiar with the church. Ann received a blessing from an elder, Peter Melling, on August 28, 1840. Their youngest son, Alma was named after a Book of Mormon prophet.

Mary was baptized on November 15, 1837 and John was baptized in the River Ribble a few months later on March 5, 1838 at the age of 13. We don't have any record of the other siblings being baptized in this life, but it is interesting to note that Agnes, Alma and their step-mother Ann Bolton Singleton came to America about 1863. Alma settled in American Fork, Utah near John while Agnes and Ann continued on to Douglas County Nevada to stay with Samuel and his wife, Rebecca.

Mary, the oldest sister, was married to a John Cowell, but she and her husband lived with the Singletons and she took over the role of mother to her younger siblings. Mary and John Cowell had buried their first-born, Nephi, just six months before mother Ann Singleton died.

Our ancestor, John, married Catherine Creer on his 20th birthday, 1 December, 1844. Catherine was born on 4 March, 1822 to Matthias Creer and Nellie (Ellen) Greenhalgh Creer at Chorley, Bolton, Lancashire, England. Catherine worked in the cotton mills in Preston as a weaver.

Catherine Creer Singleton

Catherine heard the gospel being preached on July 20, 1837 when Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding opened missionary work in Preston. Many of the Creers (Catherine was the 5th child of Mathias and Nellie) were among the first converts baptized in England. Catherine was baptized February 18, 1838 along with her brother Edward and her mother. Imagine the cold water of the River Ribble that February day.

Sometime prior to 1849, John and Catherine, Catherine's mother, Nellie and sister Margaret emigrated from England to America. Supposedly another daughter, Nancy, and son Edward and his wife Ann Morris migrated to America at the same time. They were living in Saint Louis while they earned enough to finish the trek to Utah. There Catherine and John had a daughter Ellen.

It is claimed that Nellie and Margaret died of cholera in June, 1849. I haven't been able to confirm that. There was a cholera epidemic at that time in Saint Louis and it claimed the lives of other relatives.

It appears that John, Catherine and Ellen arrived in Salt Lake sometime in 1850. We can be fairly certain that their wagon train left Garden Grove, Iowa in that year. There is a rumor that they were in the "John Hindley Independent Company", but there is no such company until 1855. There was a John Singleton in that company, but that was a common name and was not our ancestor.

There is a family legend that they left many household items in Iowa in order to have room for an organ. That organ was subsequently donated to the American Fork Relic Hall, belonging to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

Samuel Singleton is supposed to have immigrated with John and Catherine, but I can't find any record of him in the pioneer company records. we do know that Samuel eventually ended up in the Carson Valley in Nevada, probably at Genoa (Mormon Station).

By 1852 John, Catherine and their small family were living in American Fork, where their second child, Ann Eliza was born.

The family of John and Catherine Singleton.

Their first home in American Fork was within the Old Fort walls on the north side of the street between what is now Center Street and First East.

Map of the old fort at American Fork. Note the location of John Singleton's cabin at the top (north). Also of interest to our family is the Olibver Thornton cabin on the right (east).

Later on John established a home for the family to the south and east of town in the "bottoms" near Utah Lake.

Probable location of the "bottoms", near the lake, south of American Fork and west of Pleasant Grove.

Catherine's brother, Edward Creer, his wife Ann and their 12 year-old son, Willard Orson, travelled in the Job Smith company of 1854. Edward died 12 January 1886 in Beaver, Utah. Ann died 18 December, 1877 in Provo, Utah.

In 1856, John, like many others, responded to a request from the leaders of the church to help the Martin and Willie handcart companies. John and Catherine donated 150 lbs. of flour, two horses, a wagon and a driver, probably John himself. He was apparently among the company led by Captain Grant that found the handcart pioneers and was instrumental in saving so many of their lives.

While none of the Singletons (or other rescuers) have mentioned it, many of the rescuers suffered frost-bite as well as all manner of deprivations. In part this was due to the odor of the handcart pioneers being so strong that many of the rescuers chose to ride outside of the wagon bows, instead of wrapping themselves in the canvas covering the wagon as was usually done when travlling in the winter. One of RoseMary's ancestors, Thomas Griffen Winn, was also one of the rescuers and this fact was brought out in his history.

RoseMary is also descended from Jems O. Pedersen who, along with his young family, was in the Willie Company. It's amazing to us how many times our ancestors' lives crossed, but our family trees still fork.

We are not descended from Catherine Creer. Learn more about John and our great-grandmother, Hannah Binns, here.