Elizabeth Milliken
Kendall was the great, great, great grandmother
of the Mayor of Mound City.
Elizabeth Milliken Kendall - One Saint Who Remained After The Mormon Exodus
Written by Gracia Jones - Created: 09 October 2012
In the Old Mormon Pioneer Cemetery on Parley Street, east of
Nauvoo, Illinois, there stands a small triangular stone, its aged condition
obvious, its inscription, “E WELLINGTON” is barely readable. Unless directed to
it and specifically instructed regarding it, one would pass it by without a
glance.
Who is E WELLINGTON? E. Wellington is the mother of the
orphaned Elizabeth, who married Alexander Hale Smith. She is the
ancestress of hundreds of descendants of Joseph and Emma Smith. The full
story of this woman comes to light after many years revealing a most
interesting set of circumstances—and a peculiar connection to the family of
Joseph Smith Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
and his wife, Emma Hale Smith.
E WELLINGTON, aka Elizabeth Millikin Kendall Wellington, and her
first husband, John Kendall, were converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in England. At the time of their conversion the couple
had two children, John and Isabella. The couple had made plans to migrate
to America as soon as they could save enough money. Their plans were
disrupted when John Kendall, who was a painter, fell from a scaffold while
attempting to save the others who were working with him. He was fatally
injured and died in the hospital in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, 5 October
1842.[i] A touching tribute regarding the death
of Brother John Kendall, who was an Elder in the priesthood, was published in
the Millennial Star in November 1842.[ii]
Kendall’s widow, Elizabeth gave birth to their third child,
Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, 7 May 1843, eight months later, in Ulverstone,
Lancaster, England.[iii] When the baby was a few months old, the
widow, Elizabeth, took her three children and boarded the ship, Ketoka, heading
for America, with a large number of Latter-day Saint converts. Elder John
Ballantyne, a convert in 1842, from Scotland, was said to be in charge of the
Saints on this journey. Among the names on the ship list are “Elizabeth
Kendall, 28, John, 7, Isabella 3, and Elizabeth, infant.” Their belongs
were listed as “Boxes
of Clothing, Utensils”. The Ketoka set sail from Albert Docks,
Liverpool, England, on 5 September, 1843, arriving in New Orleans on 27 October
1843.[iv]
The Kendall family made their way up the Mississippi River to
St. Louis. Tradition in the family indicates she stopped at St. Louis for a
time then continued on to Nauvoo. The exact date of their arrival in Nauvoo is
unknown. Some have suggested they arrived there in February 1842,[v] which
is impossible, due to the facts previously reported herein. Clear
documentation, found in recent times, shows that the infant daughter,
Elizabeth, listed in the ship list, was born in May 1843, arriving in America,
in October of that year. Therefore, the Kendalls were in Nauvoo no
earlier than the late Fall of 1843 or more possibly in January or February
1844. According to one family tradition, “Elizabeth
and her family were first housed in what was called the Mansion House. It
was the Joseph Smith family home which had an addition of guest rooms . . . A
widow’s section of the town was being built, and shortly she and her children
moved to one of these quarters.”[vi]
Vida E. Smith, a great granddaughter of Elizabeth Kendall, wrote
a romantic story of this family which states that the Kendalls boarded for a
time at the Mansion House and was befriended by Emma, wife of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. She and her children finally found lodging in a small
apartment in Brick Row, or Widow’s Row, once located at the corner of Main and
Kimball streets in Nauvoo. Her room reportedly was the “third room from the east end.” [vii]
Widow Kendall found work, (the nature of her work has not been
identified); her work forced her to leave her three children alone all day
while she was away. The older two were able to tend their little
sister. There were others who were friendly neighbors who helped out as
well, though unnamed.
That Elizabeth Kendall was a faithful member of the Church is
evidenced by the Nauvoo Temple Records which state she received her endowment
in the Nauvoo Temple, on 31 January 1846. However, when the majority of
the Church members made their exodus to the west, Elizabeth and her little
family remained in Illinois. According to Vida E. Smith, she endured
deprivations at the hands of mobbers, so it became necessary for her to flee
from the city. In September 1846, when Emma Smith took her family upriver
to Fulton, Illinois, Elizabeth Kendall took her children away as well. We
do not know whether they left at the same time, on the same boat, or if
Elizabeth traveled in some other manner to some other place.
A few months later, when it was safe, the Kendalls
returned. Back in Nauvoo, Elizabeth was befriended by Matthias
Wellington, whose family was engaged in farming and raising cattle in the
vicinity of Nauvoo. Elizabeth Kendall and Matthias Wellington were
married in Hancock County, Illinois, 25 February 1847.[viii] Her friend, Emma Smith also married in
December that year and the friendship of these two women continued.[ix]
Elizabeth bore Matthias Wellington two children: Lydia Ann
Wellington, born in 1847, and Thomas Wellington born in 1849. Sadly, Elizabeth
Wellington died, perhaps in childbirth, 30 September 1850.[x] Her death resulted in her now orphaned
daughter, Elizabeth Agnes, nicknamed Lizzie, about 7 years of age, being left
with her step father. Fairly soon, Matthias Wellington remarried; when
his young wife became pregnant, she felt unable, or unwilling to continue
looking after little Elizabeth Kendall, (Lizzie), along with Elizabeth and Matthias’
other two children.
The older Kendall children, John and Isabella, had already found other places where they were working for their own board; it became necessary for Lizzie to find a new situation. Undoubtedly, remembering Emma’s kindness to her mother, and to children, Lizzie found her way to the Mansion House, and Emma.
The older Kendall children, John and Isabella, had already found other places where they were working for their own board; it became necessary for Lizzie to find a new situation. Undoubtedly, remembering Emma’s kindness to her mother, and to children, Lizzie found her way to the Mansion House, and Emma.
Elizabeth Agnes, was taken into Emma Smith Bidamon’s house, more
than likely in about 1851 or 1852,[xi]undoubtedly
with the expectation that she would be helpful, since Emma had just taken on
the full time care of her mother-in-law, Lucy Mack Smith.[xii] In the
1860 Census of Hancock County, Elizabeth Kendall, is listed as age 17, living
in the Bidamon household. According to the family stories, Emma treated
Lizzie as her own daughter; and in a few years she became a daughter-in-law,
when on 23 May 1861, she married Emma’s son, Alexander Hale Smith.
Knowledge of Lizzie’s widowed mother was obscured by time.
Subsequent generations knew little of her beyond her maiden and married
name, Kendall; and as it turns out, from further research, we had an incorrect
birth date and place for both the mother and daughter.
Gradually the full story has been pieced together from a few
clues. In 1999, we discovered a picture of Vida E. Smith, daughter of Alexander
and Elizabeth Agnes Kendall Smith, standing by a triangular stone. The picture
was labeled, “Me, [Vida E. Smith] beside Grandmother Wellington’s grave”.
This was the first hint that Elizabeth Agnes’ mother had married someone named
Wellington. A few years later, in the Community of Christ Archives, in
Independence, Missouri, some letters, written by Mary Audentia Smith Anderson
to a man named Paul A. Wellington[xiii] surfaced.
She wrote asking, ‘Is it possible we are related?” Further research
disclosed the fact that this Paul Wellington was a descendant of Elizabeth
Kendall and Matthias Wellington. Upon finding this information, I
inquired of Ron Romig, then Archivist at the Community of Christ Library, who
informed me that Paul A. Wellington was still alive, in his nineties, living in
Independence. I obtained his phone number and contacted him that very
day. That evening he and his wife came bringing the Wellington
Family History which
he had compiled.[xiv] This Historical account contained the
answer to the mystery of whose grave is marked by the mysterious old triangular
stone. The Wellingtons gave us a picture of members of their family
standing beside their “Grandmother Wellington’s grave”. She is the
ancestor to many hundreds from that family, as well.
To this day, visitors to the Old Nauvoo Cemetery may discover
this triangular stone and wonder “Who is E. Wellington?” We are happy to
be able to disclose that she was a quiet, humble, English woman who was
converted to the LDS Church in England, who, with great courage, immigrated to
America after she was widowed. She was one who remained in Nauvoo rather
than going west with the Mormon Exodus. Because she died young, her story
had to be pieced together from sparse records found in the Nauvoo Lands and
Records Office (LDS), English birth and death records, and many disjoined and
contradictory family stories. Until a chance discovery revealed the Wellington
connection, we hunted for her in vain.
Little Lizzie lost her mother before she was old enough to fully
understand her own history. Emma took her in and taught her the
necessary womanly skills of her day; but she gave her so much more. She gave
her a mother’s devotion. When Emma died Lizzie wept, telling her
children, “She was the only mother I ever knew.” But she also told her
children what she knew of the spunky little woman, her own mother, who had
followed through on the plans
made with her husband to go to America; and the bits and pieces she shared were
enough to open the way for us to find the rest of her story.
[i]Death
record of John Kendall, age 33
[ii] Thomas, Ward, “Lines on the death of
Brother John Kendall of Liverpool, who was killed by falling from a scaffold as
reported in the Millennial Star, No. 7, Vol., 3, November 1842:
“In his grave they have laid him, he slumbers in peace.
While his spirit in paradise sweetly shall rest.
till the hour when the angel shall sound his release,
In the first resurrection with Christ to be blest,
O! Weep not, dear sister, more blessed is he,
Thy partner in life, tho’ he lie with the dead;
And the bond of affection that bound him to thee,
Is not severed because that his spirit has fled.
Yet a short time shall pass, when, lo! Gathered in one,
All the saints of the Lord doth in heav’n and earth,
With thee and thy young ones, and partner that’s gone,
May rejoice in the hour of a glorious birth.
O! Then let us be glad in the light that has come,
Even the gospel’s bright fullness, its Priesthood of Power;
While we look for a city a glorious home,
and to meet all the sanctified dead in that home,
Then O Father above, let thy blessing descend,
Let thy spirit its sweet consolation impart
To the widow, the Mother, the sister and friend,
Let the joys of salvation enliven her heart,
Let her vision be clear of that glorious day,
when the son shall descend with His angels of Light,
When sorrow and pain, and all tears pass away,
And truth stands revealed in heaven’s own light.”
[iii] Birth record of Elizabeth Agnes Kendall
from England. Elaine Nichols found this document for us.
[iv] Passenger List of the Ketoka, which
left Liverpool 5 September, 1843, arriving in New Orleans on 27 October 1843.
(thanks to Wilburta Moore who pointed the way to finding the ship on which the
Kendalls came to America.
[v] Holzaphel, Richard neitzel and Jeni
Broberg Holzaphel, Bookcraft, SLC, UT, p. 16. This source mistakenly accepts
Vida Smith’s data, placing the Kendalls in Nauvoo in February 1843, which is
disproved by the documentary evidence in the Ship list, as well as the birth
record of the baby, Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, in May 1843, in Ulverstone,
Lancashire, England. Vida wrote her story from her heart without any real
documents and her mother was too young when her own mother died to pass on
entirely accurate details.
[vi] Paul A. Wellington, A Family Record of
Jonathan Wellington and His Descendants, Copyright by Paul A. Wellington,
printed in the United States of America—this Wellington history was given to
the author by Paul A. Wellington in Independence, Missouri in 2004.
[vii] Vida E Smith, Two Widows of the Brick
Row, Journal of History, Vol.,3, page 202-212, Community of Christ Archives,
Independence, Missouri. See also: Richard Neitzel Holzaphel and Jeni Broberg
Holzaphel, Bookcraft, SLC, UT, p. 16. There is a photograph in this book of the
row of brick apartments built for widows, on the southwest corner of Main ,
and Kimball in old Nauvoo.
[ix] Marriage License and Certificate,
Hancock Co., Illinois. The marriage took place in Nauvoo on December 23rd1847,
performed by Rev. Haney, a Methodist Minister.
[x] Death record Hancock County; Engraving
on the stone in the cemetery; family history records compiled by Paul
A.Wellington, given to the author in Independence, Missouri in 2004. See
also Nauvoo Records office files for Elizabeth Millican Kendall. See Nauvoo
Temple Records for her endowment record.
[xi] Elizabeth Agnes Kendall is not
registered there in the 1850 Census but does appear in the Bidamon household in
1860, age of 17. Young Lizzie was never sure of her true birth date and
confusion has occurred because she was actually a year younger than she thought
she was. We are indebted to Elaine Nichols for ferreting out the birth
documents for Elizabeth and her siblings, as well as the death record for her
father, in England.
[xii] Lucy Mack Smith spent the last five
years of her life bedridden, in Emma’s care. She died May 14, 1856.
[xiii] Paul A. Wellington was for many years
the editor of the Reorganized Church’s newspaper, The Saints’ Herald; he was
also author of many books and articles concerning the RLDS doctrines and
scriptures.
[xiv] Paul A. Wellington compiled a thorough
ancestry and descendancy record for the Matthias Wellington’s family. (Author
has a copy of this History). The Wellingtons remained friendly with the
Bidamons and Smiths until the families scattered after the turn of the century.
(1900)
