Oliver and Mary Travel from Nauvoo to Utah

In the spring of 1846, Oliver and Mary and their children left Nauvoo. In the words of Amos Thornton, the oldest son of Oliver and Mary. "We travelled about 150 miles westward and stopped on the Des Moines river [Near Des Moines, Iowa] . Here we stayed two years farming and freighting for a living. Here we lost one of our family, a little girl named Mary. "

Mary was just two years old when she died sometime in 1847. This was the fourth child that died during the 10 years after Oliver and Mary joined the Church in 1837. Their children still living were Lydia, born in 1830; Amos, born in 1832; Thomas in 1835; and Alice Ann in 1839. On 12 May 1848, another son, Oliver Edwards Thornton was born at Des Moines.

Sometime in 1845 or 1846 Lydia was married to Edmund Ray Butler. Edmund is a bit of a mystery to me. He was born in 1822 in Kentucky making him 8 years older than Lydia. In January, 1846 Edmund took out his endowments in the original Nauvoo temple. Lydia and Edmund probably left Nauvoo at the same time as Oliver and Mary, although I can't be sure.

Again Amos tells us "From here we went to Lynn Co., Mo. where we engaged in freighting for about two years...." [A check of the map and referring to other sources, this was probably Linn, MO].

On the map shown above, 1 is Nauvoo, 2 is DesMoines (150 miles west), 3 is Linn County, MO (120 miles South of Des Moines) and 4 is the location of Far West (50 miles west of Lynn), added to give the reader an idea of the general geographic layout of the Thorntons' travels.

While in Linn another son, Joseph Smith Thornton, was born. His birthdate was 29 June, 1850. It appears that Oliver and Mary stayed in the midwest farming and freighting for several years in order to follow the advice of the prophet, Brigham Young. He advised all the saints that could to wait to go to Utah until they had a specific number of teams, wagons and animals to make themselves self-sustaining when they arrived in Utah.

In the meantime Lydia and Edmund may have already started on their way to Utah. I can't find any mention of them in any of the wagon trains listed on the Church website, so I don't know exactly when they travelled to Utah, or if Edmund actually did. We do know that Edmund died in 1850 in either American Fork or Council Bluffs. My guess would be Council Bluffs. He had a brother, Lorenzo Dow Butler who lived in Pottawatamie County IA - same county as Council Bluffs.

Amos picks up the narrative "....when we managed to rig up two good teams together with 20 head of other stock, and again we hitched up and moved to 25 miles north of Kanesville near Council Bluffs, Ia. Here we bought a place, opened a farm and made other improvements, desiring to make a fit out to go to the valleys. At this place our neighbors were rather scattered from 1/2 mile to 2 miles or more apart, yet we used to have some good times when we got together at meetings or parties. We stayed here till the summer of 1852, then we crossed the plains to Great Salt Lake, arriving there in the early fall."

From (1) Lynn to (2) Council Bluffs was about 160 miles.

Imagine how faithful Oliver and Mary were. They always followed the advice of the prophet, whether Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. Nothing deterred them. They left everything behind, first in Canada, then in Kirtland, Far West, Adam County in Illinois, Carthage, Nauvoo, Des Moines, Linn, and now Council Bluffs. Always working, always leaving each place a little better than when they arrived. The temple at Nauvoo was left behind, after working so hard to finish it. The most difficult of all was the four children's graves they left behind.

They joined the Robert Wimmer company of wagons to cross the praries and mountains from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City. There were about 230 people in this company with 130 wagons. The official roster only lists Oliver and Mary, but we know they had their at least 5 of their 6 children with them as well. Mary was pregnant during this journey and would deliver just a month or so after they arrived in Utah.

One of the sources for the story of this wagon train says they arrived in Salt Lake City about October 8. That's probably close. We don't know the date of their departure from Council Bluffs, but it would have been around mid to late May.

Shortly after their arrival the Thorntons went to American Fork. In this map of the fort there, note that along the east side is the Oliver Thornton cabin.

About one week after their arrival in American Fork, another son, Edmund Butler Thornton was born. The date was 19 November, 1852. Edmund was named after his brother-in-law, Lydia's husband, who died in 1850.

On November 10, 1855 the twelfth child, Nathan Moroni Thornton was born. Nathan was my great-grandfather. At least four children and five adults living together in one small cabin! Lydia remarried in 1854, but Thomas, Amos and Alice Ann were all married in 1856.

Apparently the "fort" was a wall that encircled the entire community. Oliver and Mary homesteaded some land along the south side of what became the state highway between American Fork and Pleasant Grove. In the 1860 census this area was called Laketown.

Oliver dug a well that was enclosed in their house. He was also an orchardist and one of the first to do budding and grafting. He had one of the first apple orchards in the county.

After all the sacrifices and the hard work of raising the family and clearing the land, Mary passed away April 12, 1858. She left four children under 12.

In 1859 a widow by the name of Margaret Stoddart moved to American Fork with two or three children. She had lost her husband in the first handcart company, the Edmund Ellsworth Company, in 1856. She raised Oliver's last children as well as her own.

Oliver Thornton in Pioneers and Prominent Ment of Utah	Amos Thornton

Oliver passed away at the age of 84 on 21 January, 1891. His obituary was printed in the Deseret News 27 January 1891. It was written by his son Edmund Oliver Thornton [Huh? Edmund's middle name was Butler. Could this have been a grandson?] and is as follows: "Oliver Thornton was known as a man of-sterling integrity, strictly honest in every particular, and a humble and devoted follower of the Master whose precepts he loved. His faith in the divine mission of Joseph Smith was constant and unwavering and his long life spent in helping to build up waste places, alleviating the distress of the poor, contributing to all worthy enterprises testify of his devotion to the latter-day work.
He leaves a host of friends and a large family to mourn their loss. The living members of his family numbering as follows: eight children, thirty-four grandchildren and twenty-eight great grandchildren."

Margaret passed away 15 July, 1899 in American Fork, Utah. She and Mary are both buried alongside of Oliver.