152. Hannah Marinda Colborn Miles, Pal's great grandmother, pioneer from Nauvoo to St. George
Hannah Marinda Colborn Miles was my father's grandmother, my great grandmother. It hardly seems possible that I am as close a descendant to her as my own dear great grandchildren whom I love and enjoy. She died 23 years before I was born, but we both had 9 children, and in just over one month I will be the age she was when she passed away, 79 years and 9 months.
I appreciate so much my father's sister, Sarah Miles Wallace, writing her memories of some of our Miles ancestors. Aunt Sarah was the genealogist on my Miles side, and compiled and did much Temple work, and writing of histories. This isn't a long story, but if you'd like to also go to the blogs about her father Thomas Colborn, and her husband Samuel Miles, you'll get more of an idea of her life. Men often were the ones to write their history, but the pioneer women were right alongside them experiencing the same things. My Aunt Sarah's writings of her grandmother are below:
A FEW INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF HANNAH MARINDA COLBORN MILES
WRITTEN BY HER GRANDDAUGHTER, SARAH MILES WALLACE
Hannah Marinda Colborn Miles was born in Rose, Wayne County, New York, December 29, 1831. She was the third child of Thomas Colborn and Sarah Bowers Colborn. Both of her parents were born in the State of New York. She remembered her grandfather, Jonathan Colborn being a farmer and having a nice orchard. He and his wife Hannah had previously lived in New Jersey and had moved to Wayne County, New York when they had two children.
There had been so many falsehoods circulated around the State of New York which had influenced Hannah’s paternal and maternal grandparents, and caused them to have great concern when Thomas and his wife joined the Mormon Church. I have received a letter from a researcher in Lansing County, New York, and she wrote that the parents of Sarah Bowers Colborn wept bitterly when Tom Colborn took their daughter away from them and joined the Mormon Church, and went to Nauvoo with the rest of the Mormons.
I answered the letter by stating likely now her mother and father would be consoled if they knew of the many wonderful descendants this couple had in Utah.
Thomas Colborn and his wife and family first moved to Kirtland, Ohio. He was a member of Zion’s Camp. He and his family suffered with the other Saints the persecutions heaped upon them. My grandmother could well remember the howling mobs and see the burning of the roofs of our Saints and many other afflictions. Hannah’s father, Thomas Colborn, was injured so that for a while he could not think clearly. His wife, Sarah, knew if they didn’t come with the Saints then they would never. So they moved to Nauvoo shortly before the exodus of that place. Oppressed and discouraged by both her father’s and mother’s people, they joined the Saints with an outfit that would take them across the plains.
Hannah Marinda, my grandmother, was 17 when she crossed the plains in 1848. Their family with them consisted of her parents, her two sisters, Sarah Matilda and Rosina, and herself. They came in Company K of the Heber C. Kimball Company. Her older sister, Amanda, had married Winslow Farr, and expected to come later, but she died. Two infant sons of her parents had also died.
Samuel Miles
After they reached the valley of Salt Lake, Hannah helped the mothers care for their children. As a girl, she took active part in the Church and endured with the others who were faithful, the struggles and privations incident to the moving from Nauvoo and the settlement of Salt Lake City. A year after they had entered the valley of Salt Lake she married Samuel Miles, 16 September 1849 when she was 18, and he was 23. He had been a member of the Mormon Battalion and came to Salt Lake by way of California.
(Her husband Samuel Miles wrote an extensive journal which is condensed into 4 blogs -- # 130, # 131, # 133, and #134. # 134 is the main entry that tells about their pioneer days being called to Dixie.)
In the year 1862, Brigham Young called Samuel Miles and his wife with their children to help settle St. George, in Southern Utah. They were to help promote the Cotton Industry. Samuel was a school teacher and had a good job in Salt Lake and had acquired a few acres of land and a small house and lot on what is now 655 South 4th East, but the call of the President of the Church he willingly accepted, and at once made arrangements for the disposal of his property, and other belongings. My father, William Gustavis Miles was eleven years of age at the time the family moved to Southern Utah and he drove a cow all the way.
Hannah Colborn Miles was a faithful Latter-day Saint all her days. She was active in the Auxiliary Organizations, at one time being President of the Relief Society and was for a number of years in the Stake Presidency of the St. George Relief Society. She was a devoted wife and mother. Especially was she efficient as a housekeeper, cook and seamstress. Many a fine meal did her grandchildren enjoy that she cooked.
I will never forget the current pies and the dried corn she served. Her house was always clean and inviting. She went with her children and husband to help settle Price, a small community south of St. George. They had much trouble with the Dam in the Virgin River and after twenty five years, Price was abandoned and they moved back to St. George.
She was the mother of nine children, seven of whom survived her. At the time of her death, she had 53 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren. She died on 18 October 1911, at St. George, Utah. She was a woman loved by all who got personally acquainted with her.
Her death certificate, below, states her father Thomas Colborn was born in England, but that isn't right. He was born in New York, the descendant of a long line of "Pennsylvania Dutch" ancestors.
I appreciate so much my father's sister, Sarah Miles Wallace, writing her memories of some of our Miles ancestors. Aunt Sarah was the genealogist on my Miles side, and compiled and did much Temple work, and writing of histories. This isn't a long story, but if you'd like to also go to the blogs about her father Thomas Colborn, and her husband Samuel Miles, you'll get more of an idea of her life. Men often were the ones to write their history, but the pioneer women were right alongside them experiencing the same things. My Aunt Sarah's writings of her grandmother are below:
A FEW INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF HANNAH MARINDA COLBORN MILES
WRITTEN BY HER GRANDDAUGHTER, SARAH MILES WALLACE
Hannah Marinda Colborn Miles was born in Rose, Wayne County, New York, December 29, 1831. She was the third child of Thomas Colborn and Sarah Bowers Colborn. Both of her parents were born in the State of New York. She remembered her grandfather, Jonathan Colborn being a farmer and having a nice orchard. He and his wife Hannah had previously lived in New Jersey and had moved to Wayne County, New York when they had two children.
There had been so many falsehoods circulated around the State of New York which had influenced Hannah’s paternal and maternal grandparents, and caused them to have great concern when Thomas and his wife joined the Mormon Church. I have received a letter from a researcher in Lansing County, New York, and she wrote that the parents of Sarah Bowers Colborn wept bitterly when Tom Colborn took their daughter away from them and joined the Mormon Church, and went to Nauvoo with the rest of the Mormons.
I answered the letter by stating likely now her mother and father would be consoled if they knew of the many wonderful descendants this couple had in Utah.
Thomas Colborn and his wife and family first moved to Kirtland, Ohio. He was a member of Zion’s Camp. He and his family suffered with the other Saints the persecutions heaped upon them. My grandmother could well remember the howling mobs and see the burning of the roofs of our Saints and many other afflictions. Hannah’s father, Thomas Colborn, was injured so that for a while he could not think clearly. His wife, Sarah, knew if they didn’t come with the Saints then they would never. So they moved to Nauvoo shortly before the exodus of that place. Oppressed and discouraged by both her father’s and mother’s people, they joined the Saints with an outfit that would take them across the plains.
Hannah Marinda, my grandmother, was 17 when she crossed the plains in 1848. Their family with them consisted of her parents, her two sisters, Sarah Matilda and Rosina, and herself. They came in Company K of the Heber C. Kimball Company. Her older sister, Amanda, had married Winslow Farr, and expected to come later, but she died. Two infant sons of her parents had also died.
After they reached the valley of Salt Lake, Hannah helped the mothers care for their children. As a girl, she took active part in the Church and endured with the others who were faithful, the struggles and privations incident to the moving from Nauvoo and the settlement of Salt Lake City. A year after they had entered the valley of Salt Lake she married Samuel Miles, 16 September 1849 when she was 18, and he was 23. He had been a member of the Mormon Battalion and came to Salt Lake by way of California.
(Her husband Samuel Miles wrote an extensive journal which is condensed into 4 blogs -- # 130, # 131, # 133, and #134. # 134 is the main entry that tells about their pioneer days being called to Dixie.)
In the year 1862, Brigham Young called Samuel Miles and his wife with their children to help settle St. George, in Southern Utah. They were to help promote the Cotton Industry. Samuel was a school teacher and had a good job in Salt Lake and had acquired a few acres of land and a small house and lot on what is now 655 South 4th East, but the call of the President of the Church he willingly accepted, and at once made arrangements for the disposal of his property, and other belongings. My father, William Gustavis Miles was eleven years of age at the time the family moved to Southern Utah and he drove a cow all the way.
Hannah Colborn Miles was a faithful Latter-day Saint all her days. She was active in the Auxiliary Organizations, at one time being President of the Relief Society and was for a number of years in the Stake Presidency of the St. George Relief Society. She was a devoted wife and mother. Especially was she efficient as a housekeeper, cook and seamstress. Many a fine meal did her grandchildren enjoy that she cooked.
I will never forget the current pies and the dried corn she served. Her house was always clean and inviting. She went with her children and husband to help settle Price, a small community south of St. George. They had much trouble with the Dam in the Virgin River and after twenty five years, Price was abandoned and they moved back to St. George.
She was the mother of nine children, seven of whom survived her. At the time of her death, she had 53 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren. She died on 18 October 1911, at St. George, Utah. She was a woman loved by all who got personally acquainted with her.
Her death certificate, below, states her father Thomas Colborn was born in England, but that isn't right. He was born in New York, the descendant of a long line of "Pennsylvania Dutch" ancestors.
Comments