Photos
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Orin Kelsey
Emeretta Amanda Angell
Emeretta Amanda Angell Kelsey
Orin and Emeretta Kelsey Family abt 1912
Orin or Orren Kelsey
Born: 6 July 1852 at South Cottonwood (Fort Union), Salt Lake, Utah
Parents: Easton Kelsey and Abigail Finch
Married: 19 October 1874 at St. George, Washington County, Utah, United States
Died: 28 September 1924, New Harmony, Washington, Utah, United States
Emeretta Amanda Angell
Born: 23 December 1857 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States
Parents: Alma T. Angell and Charlotta Buys
Died: 26 September 1930 at Salt Lake, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States
LIFE SKETCH OF ORREN AND EMERETTA ANGELL KELSEY
Emeretta Amanda Angell and Orren Kelsey
Memories of Grandfather and Grandmother Kelsey as told to Tamela Meyer by Golden Kimball Taylor
August 16, 1992.
Remembering back to Grandfather and Grandmother Kelsey when I was a boy,
most of my memories are of me working with them or watching them at work. I recall
cranking the forge to heat the iron that Grandpa shaped in his blacksmith shop or helping
him plant corn on his New Harmony farm. I remember Grandfather and Uncle Alvin loading
hay on the hay rack. I helped by driving the team and tromping down the hay. Even now,
some seventy years later, I still wear the knot on my forehead that I received while
following Uncle Alvin out of the yard through the front gate. The gate came back on me
with such a force and hit me square on the head, making a vivid memory. Grandpa played
the fiddle for children's dances. I recall he played as long as he could, even when he
wasn't feeling well. Years later, while I was herding goats as a young man, I recall
watering the herd at the spring by what once was Kelsey's Ranch (by Ash creek Reservoir—part
of the ranch is under water now) where Grandfather operated the stage stop. My first memory
of Grandmother Kelsey is recalling that she used to soothe her throat with horehound drops,
which she sometimes shared as a treat with me, but it wasn't my favorite treat. All of my
childhood memories of her, she was tatting. It amazed me that she had conversations without
hesitating in her stitching. The handwork she entered in fairs took blue ribbons. I recall
the salt-rising bread she used to make with rye flour and I loved her apple pies. Shortly
after Grandfather Kelsey died, Grandmother gave me a young colt which matured into a fine
saddle horse. Grandmother was very kind and thoughtful and always seemed to be busy.
Emeretta Amanda Angell, was born December 23, 1857, in what is now the Eleventh Ward,
Salt Lake City, Utah, She was the fourth child in a family of sixteen children; seven
girls and nine boys. The parents were Alma T. Angell and Charlotta Buys. The family
lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, until Emeretta was 7 years old, when they were called
along with several other families by President Brigham Young, to colonize what is now
known as Overton, Nevada.
When Brigham Young sent a group of settlers to Nevada, approximately where Overton
is now, the area was called “the muddy” because it was by the Muddy River. When
Emeretta was eight years old, she was kidnapped by some Indians who kept her for
eight years. A group of people led by Porter Rockwell were negotiating with the
Indians to get the stolen children back. Orren Kelsey went with them. The Indians
said they would only let them go if Emeretta was going to marry. Orren Kelsey decided
he wanted to marry her, so the Indians let him have her. She was sixteen at this
time. She went home to her family and he married her when she was seventeen. She
could speak the Indian language. The Indians often came to her home and she spoke
to them in their native language. (This information was found in a history of Porter
Rockwell.)
Then it was just so much desert with only a scant supply
of water. The long trip was made with ox teams and ten miles was a big drive. There
were no roads and often not even a trail. During most of the journey, several days
water supply had to be hauled in barrels, which were fastened to the outside of the
wagon boxes. (Must have been a paradise for the small boys in the company as very
little face [washing] was required, much less demanded!) Food was equally scarce and
many a luckless rabbit made stew, which was carefully rationed to each member of the
company. After four years of struggle and want, the weary pioneers left Nevada, and
came to Leeds, Utah. Here the Angell family made their home. Want and privation were
still their constant companions. The food situation became so critical that two good
women actually exchanged hasty and unpleasant words of the possession of a pigweed
that grew in a fence. Each woman had been carrying water to the plant for some time
in the hope that it would furnish a few mouths full of food for the hungry children!
On October 19, 1874, Emeretta was married to Orren Kelsey, son of Easton Kelsey and
Abigail Finch, who was born July 6, 1852, at Union Fort. The marriage ceremony was
performed by Solomon Angell, Emeretta's Grandfather. The young couple enjoyed a
honeymoon, a twenty mile drive with ox teams to the Kelsey Ranch in New Harmony,
Utah, which was to be their home. Soon after their marriage, the young couple were
able to save enough money to make the long trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. They were
anxious to be sealed to each other for time and eternity in the Endowment House.
But upon their arrival in Salt Lake City, they learned that the Endowment House was
open only one day each week and it would be necessary for them to wait a whole week,
to be able to accomplish the purpose of their trip. Lacking funds to remain in the
city, they were obliged to return home, very disappointed. This trip, however, was
made in somewhat of a style deluxe, with horses instead of oxen to pull the wagon!
Emeretta and Orren, received their endowments in the St. George Temple soon after it
was opened for temple work. Emeretta has always been a faithful Latter-day Saint
and has always had an unshaken faith in the teachings of our Gospel. During her
early married life, she became very ill. Her family felt sure there was no hope for
her recovery; but she asked that the Elders be called in and administer to her,
after which she told the family if they could keep her alive until sun-up, she would
be all right.
In Dec. of 1880, the Kelseys, in company with several other families from New
Harmony, Utah, made the long hard journey to Bluff, in San Juan County, Utah. The
settling of Bluff proved to be just another trying experience for Emeretta. It was
almost impossible to keep a dam across the San Juan River, owing to the sandy soil,
and the crops dried up—no matter how steady and tirelessly these people worked. So
after three and one half years of struggle the Kelsey family returned to their home
in New Harmony.
A few months in New Harmony, and Orren, who wasn't quite satisfied with this
beautiful spot for a home, decided to take his family and go to Loa, Utah. A new
place, just being settled. But this was worse than Bluff, so in only a few months,
they again loaded their worldly good in their wagon and once more traveled the
rough roads back home. By this time, they had moved from the ranch. Orren, who
was an excellent carpenter, had built a little home in town for his family. He made
a livelihood with his carpenter tools, and nearly every home in New Harmony, was
either built by him or had some of his work on it. For several years he made nearly
every casket that was needed in the small community. Emeretta, covered the wooden
caskets with such material as could be purchased and ruffles of lace. Besides his
carpentering, Orren was a musician and played his violin for the community dances
and entertainments for many years.
Their house, which was peaceful and well ordered, saw many scenes of sorrow and
heartache because only three of the twenty children born to Orren and Emeretta
lived to reach maturity. Many times the sorrowing father was obliged to take up
his tools and make a casket for his own child. One son, Carlyle, died when he was
12 years of age of typhoid fever and a little daughter, Alice, was laid to her final
rest the day she was 2 years old. In 1912, Orren and Emeretta went to Salt Lake City
and adopted a small boy to help fill the vacancy in their home. He grew to manhood
in their loving care and now makes his house in Cedar City, Utah. His name is Alvin
Kelsey.
Both of these good Latter-Day Saints held responsible positions in their ward
organizations, and both were willing workers. Emeretta, was a counselor to Susan B.
Pace, in the Primary Association for several years, and a Relief Society block
teacher until poor health forced her to discontinue a work which she dearly loved.
Orren Kelsey died September 28, 1924, at New Harmony, Utah. Since that time,
Emeretta lived with her daughters, Mrs. Charlotta K. Taylor who lived in New Harmony,
and died on October 20, 1937, at the age of 63, Mrs. Josephine K. Hale, now living in
Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mrs. Louisa K. Cox, at Fair view, Utah.
She enjoyed fairly good health and spent her time tatting, reading, and piecing quilts.
Pieces of her tatting took first prize at the Utah State fair in 1936. Her memory was
very good. She had 25 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. This history was
prepared for: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers New Harmony. Utah
Sources:
1
Utah Death Certificate of Orren Kelsey
2
Utah Death Certificate of Emeretta Amanda Kelsey
3
FamilySearch Memories
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Orin Kelsey
Emeretta Amanda Angell
Emeretta Amanda Angell Kelsey
Orin and Emeretta Kelsey Family abt 1912