Esther Turley's grandfather, THEODORE TURLEY, was the earliest convert on the Turley line. A native of Birmingham, Warwick, England, he was born April 10, 1800/1801. He married FRANCIS AMELIA KIMBERLY at Staffordshire, Nov. 27, 1821. They had 10 children, two born in England, six in Canada and two in Nauvoo.
He was employed by the King of England previous to 1825. He and his partner had a contract to make dies to stamp English money. When the job was finished the partner collected the money and skipped out, leaving Turley with the bills to pay. The creditors planned to jail Turley, but the king came to his rescue by offering him a tract of land in Canada and a herd of blooded cattle. Hence, Turley and his family emigrated to Canada and settled near Lake Ontario.
From a Turley Family Newsletter, we learn that Theodore and his wife were baptized March I, 1837, having been taught the Gospel by Parley P. Pratt. Following his conversion he labored incessantly and zealously for the faith, converting 17 others in the first 3 weeks. Soon they migrated to Kirtland and from there to Far West, Missouri, where he was present at the dedication of the temple site. He was a member of the committee that went to the state capitol to plead with Gov. Boggs for the relief from prison of the prophet Joseph, and when they were driven out by the hoodlum mob and the state militia, he stayed behind to help the poor escape. In his diary he states, "so I arrived late, the season far advanced, so I made for to plant a crop for food for the next winter before getting out materials to build a house. We had for shelter a tent of factory cotton and would wake in the morning soaked to the skin, our fire washed away, and the children trying to shelter themselves under their mother's skirts to escape the rains. This, together with hard labor to which I was unaccustomed, brought on an attack of the chills and fever...one leg swollen twice its normal size but when Apostle Smith came on Friday and told me he was going the next day, the last to go on the great mission...1 called for the elders to lay hands on me and pray."
And so it was that in 1839, Turley accompanied the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on a mission to England. A description of his departure is pitiful. Before they were even out of sight of Nauvoo, their wagon upset and spilled him and Elder Geo. A. Smith down the bank of the river. They were unable to get up, not because of any injuries they had received, but because of their weakened condition from illness. Another companion helped them back in the wagon, and then further down the road they met a gentleman who remarked to their driver, "Mr., what graveyard have you been robbing?", the remark being elicited by the ghostly appearance of the elders en route to England. During his time in England he was arrested on the pretense of a claim arising from a partnership 15 years earlier, but the real object was to stop his preaching. Finally on Sept. 8, 1840, the ship "North America" sailed from Liverpool, England with about 200 saints under Pres. Turley's leadership, bound for Nauvoo, Ill.
Theodore states in his diary, "I came to Nauvoo with Joseph Smith the prophet, and raised the first house built by a Mormon in Nauvoo." This home became a rendezvous for young people, being across from the Prophet's Mansion. On his return from his mission Theodore resumed his occupation of gunsmithing. Joseph Smith appointed him Armourer General of the Nauvoo Legion and when the persecution of the saints reached a climax the prophet gave directions to Turley to begin manufacturing artillery. Accordingly, Turley used the abandoned steamboat shafts which he converted into cannons. When the Prophet wrote a letter to Gov. Ford requesting a posse to escort him to Carthage for trial it was Colonel Turley and Elder J.M. Grant who took the message to Springfield. And after the martyrdom until the exodus he continued to playa major role in helping with the defense of the saints.
In Feb. 1846 he left Nauvoo with his large family (He had 3 wives at this time) en-route to Winter Quarters. Six of his family died en-route including his first wife, Francis. It is supposed that Theodore crossed the plains in 1849 in Silas Richards Co. Around 1851 he went on a colonizing mission with part of his family to San Bernadino which looked promising, but by 1857 all were called home to Utah due to their peace being severely threatened. They lived in Beaver where he continued to take an active part in church and community affairs until his death in 1872.
Although we often don't read much about the pioneer women, FRANCIS AMELIA KIMBERLY, Theodore's first wife, had quite the reputation, herself. From a Turley Family Newsletter we read an account that once when the mob were stealing stock in Far West, Francis told her father to give her Old John, and she climbed on him with a loaded blackwhip (handle loaded with buckshot). She rode into the herd and got the stock and hit one of the mobbers with the blackwhip. She brought back the cows and the bull. Another time Francis took her father and his friends to a meeting in Nauvoo in a sleigh and on her return the buffalo robe blew up in front of the horse, causing him to run away. She jumped on the horse and brought it to a stop. A man that watched the procedure joked with Theodore and offered him a thousand dollars for Francis. At this it is said that Theodore acted very indignant. (After quoting these accounts from the newsletter, I looked up what information we have in our database for her father, Thomas Kimberly. According to our records he died in England in 1832, long before the Nauvoo period. Hmmm. Something doesn't jibe here!)
ISAAC TURLEY, the eighth child of Theodore and Francis, is our ancestor. He was born the same year his folks joined the church, and so doesn't qualify as an early convert, but he experienced life in Nauvoo and crossed the plains when he was about 12 years old. Later in Utah he married Sarah Greenwood and then took a second wife, Clara Ann Tolton , who is our great grandmother. Due to much persecution because of polygamy, many families were called on colonization missions which initiated a move with his families to Arizona, where he practiced the United Order in Sunset (at the same time as William Carroll McClellan) and later moved to Colonia Juarez with both his families.
Clara Ann Tolton's paternal grandparents were JOHN TOLTON and ANN SMITH . The Tolton family for many generations past lived in Newbold-on Avon, Warwickshire, Eng. John, born in 1787, was a Baptist minister occupying the pulpit on Sundays and other special occasions, and during the week overseeing the brick-making plant. The family and community rested all secure in their pastoral lives until LDS Elders came to their homes. Then all was changed. Power greater than his own was working upon the minds and hearts of his congregation and on his family. The new teachings found receptive minds in two of his daughters, who had heard about the gospel from Heber C. Kimball and his companions. At the time they were located in Birmingham and at once partook of the spirit of gathering. Through this action on the part of these two girls, a spirit of unrest was created among the entire family which ultimately brought about the decision for the family to emigrate to America. They sailed on the "Medford", along with 214 Saints under the direction of Orson Hyde, leaving Liverpool Sept 25, 1842, and anchoring in New Orleans Nov. 1st. The father, John Tolton, took up farming in Monticello, Illinois, and the children decided to go to St. Louis, as they all preferred city life. The two oldest girls were baptized by 1843, and the rest of the family in 1851. In 1853 most of the Saints were organizing a company to come west to Utah. This became known as the "Saint Louis Company" consisting of 14 wagons and commanded by John Tolton until reaching Council Bluffs where they joined the main company bound for Utah, under Moses Clawson and reaching the Salt Lake Valley Sept. 18, 1853.
Previous to their coming west, their son, EDWARD TOLTON, met and married MARY ANN TOMLINSON, the daughter of JAMES PERCY TOMLINSON and ESTHER WALKER . Mary Ann had been employed in St. Louis as a waiting maid, but her family lived in Alton near the Tolton farm. On one of her trips home they met and in time fell in love. Mary Ann was a native of Ayrton, Yorkshire. Unlike the Toltons, her parents and the older children in the family joined the Church in England before coming to America. By October 1842, just one month after the Toltons, they embarked upon the "Emerald" for New Orleans, with Parley P. Pratt as president of the company. After several disasters at sea the ship finally arrived at New Orleans on Christmas Day 1842. From there they embarked on a Mississippi steamboat "The Goddess of Liberty" for St. Louis which eventually caused the two families to become acquainted. Also, unlike the Toltons, James and Esther Tomlinson never moved to Utah.
The Tolton family, in response to "calls", settled different parts of the Territory of Utah. On one occasion they built a home in Willard only to be told at conference time that they were to disregard that "call" and go elsewhere, never getting to live in their newly built home. Being faithful, obedient saints, they complied. Their homes were at various times located in Tooele, Box Elder, San Pete, and Piute counties. It was in Circleville, Piute Co. that John died in 1864/65 and his wife in 1863. Edward was Probate Judge in Circleville. While in Ephraim, San Pete Co., he sang in the choir, and was part of the orchestra, being a rather skilled cellist.
The Toltons endured much in settling new areas. For many years they suffered through Indian uprisings, floods, etc. forcing them to move again and again, leaving most everything behind. It was many years before they finally settled in Beaver, Utah and eventually had a more comfortable and stable life.