| OCR Text |
Show NPS Fom 10· 900· . 0118 No . 10024 · 0018 Ut.h WordPerfect 5.1 Fonnat (Rev1sed Feb . 1993) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. ~ Page ~ Whitaker, Thomas and Elizabeth Mills, House, Centerville, Davis County, UT Centerville beginning at about age 12.10 After losing his wife, Thomas moved on to New Zealand, where he married again -- this time to the owner of a boarding house and saloon in San Francisco, Mary Ann Church. Upon returning to San Francisco with her he became acquainted with and converted to Mormonism. Mary Ann was uninterested in her husband's new religion and went back to New Zealand. Thomas settled in Utah, was one of the early carpenters in Centerville, and also worked at farming. 11 Thomas was also a pioneer nurseryman in Centerville. 12 Twenty-three years younger than Thomas, Elizabeth was born in 1839 on the Isle of Man, England. Her family converted to Mormonism about 1846 and sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, eventually making their way to Nauvoo, Illinois, which was headquarters of the Mormon church at that time. Her father, John Mills, was a silver and tinsmith, and he was put to work making the pewter ornamentation for the L.O.S. temple at Nauvoo. 13 After being forced to flee Nauvoo they made their way to Council Bluffs, where they made arrangements to travel to Utah with Captain Wilkie's company, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1852.14 She married William Oakden in 1855 but he drowned several months later in the Jordan River. Elizabeth took her infant son, William, and worked near Salt Lake for a family in which the husband had gone to England on a two-year Mormon mission. Eventually she moved into her uncle William's household and it was here that she met Thomas. Elizabeth and Thomas were married by Brigham Young, LOS church leader, on March 17, 1858. In 1875, the Relief Society voted to sustain Elizabeth Whitaker with their means and influence to start a milliner business for the Society.15 After bringing mulberry clippings from California to Utah in 1856, Thomas reportedly sent to England for silkworm eggs. The Whitakers are believed to have been the first family in Utah to raise silkworms. They raised the silkworms, spun the silk, and Elizabeth made a scarf necktie for Brigham Young ,16 as reported in the Deseret News dated June 11, 1862: 10 Miles, pp. 205-206 . II Ibid. 12 Smooth and Sheriff, p. 34. 13 Miles, p.182. 14 Ibid , p. 226 . 15 Smooth and Sheriff, p. 31 , p. 113 . 16 Carter, Kate B. Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume Six. Salt Lake City : Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1963, pp.9-11. X See continuation sheet |
