Robert SHIPLEY

Sources:

Biography - http://brandichase.com/famhis/tunbridge/pafn05.htm

Notes:

                   HISTORY:
    Historical and biographical information in notes

This history was researched and gathered from the following sources and personal stories by Beth Smith Dunkley, great grandaughter of Harriet Wright Shipley
1. History of HARRIET Wright Shipley------Shipley Family
2. Home On Relation Street Joyce H. Broderick
3. History of Emma Wright Shipley Smith -- Shaw, Vera S. and Howlett Ada S. [daughters]
Harriet Wright was born January 20, 1830 at Wisback, Cambridgeshire England, the daughter of John Pannell Wright and Mary Hill Fish. She was raised in Lincoln City, Lincolnshire.
She has come from a middle class family and had been used to nice things and a comfortable living. She enjoyed the cultural entertainment of the day. Handel's Messiah was part of her memories of her "Merry England"
Among other things she learned at school was sewing, which she always did with much pleasure and interest. It was done by hand. She also had much intrest in plays and operas. She was converted to the church with other members of her father's family.
In England she met and married Robert Shipley who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.
Robert Shipley was raised in England by an uncle who apprenticed him to a blacksmith. Later he apprenticed himself to a shoemaker. There he was treated well and taught a good Christian way of living. Robert was sent to a Mormon church to retrieve a couple of fellows who had joined them. They invited him to the meeting to see what they were involved in. He listened and was converted to the Latter-Day Saint gospel. Robert and Harriet met at church and were married in 1848
They were married in St. James Church in the parish of Holy Trinity, Kingston-upon-Hull on the 3rd of December 1848. One month later in January 1849, they bid farewell to all their friends. They were the first family to leave their native land for the gospel's sake. They left Goole, Yorkshire and went by boat to Liverpool, from there to New Orleans, Kansas City, Iowa and by land to Council Bluffs.
The journey across the ocean was a long and tedious one covering nine weeks from January to March. Their ship caught fire, but it was put out before much damage was done. Another two ships almost collided, one had lost its mast at high sea.
Robert had never learned to read. On the ship sailing for America Harriet taught him by reading the Book of Mormon. He became an avid reader the rest of his life.
A Mr. John S. Smith met them at Council Bluffs, Iowa and gave them a home until Robert found work. Robert cared for and drove a team of oxen across the plains for their ride. On the way across Robert took Thyphoid fever and Harriet had to drive the oxen as well as care for Robert and prepare the meals. She was in constant fear of stampedes from the Indians and buffaloes. Several men in the company helped her to yoke the oxen. She had always lived in the city in England and consequently these newly acquired chores were foriegn to her. She soon adjusted to the conditions and rose to each and every responsibility throughout the long and tiring journey. They arrived in Salt Lake City the fall of 1850. The following spring they moved to Draper, then known as Willow Creek.
They went to work building their first home, a dug-out six feet and twelve feet square. The roof was of poles, limbs and dirt. A fireplace in one end served for heat and cooking. The floor was dirt, tamped hard. The beds were made of willow tops. A dish of grease with a piece of cloth, used for a wick, provided their only light. This dug-out was a far cry from the lovely home they left in England.
The first year of their arrival Robert bought a cow for 40.00 which he paid in labor digging a ditch for Mr. John S. Smith.
In 1853 they built an adobe one-room home with a large open hearth fireplace. That winter they shared their home with Harriet's parents, four other adults and their baby Robert.
Those years were meager but they never went hungry. Sometimes they lived on Sego bulbs, greens or whatever was available. Even though it was a new experience to farm they raised a garden and a small orchard. They planted many varieties of fruit and herbs and shade trees. Molasses was used for sweetening; the flour was of their own making. Salt rising bread was often flavored with sunflower seeds. They would borrow their rising for the gread, as well as for the fire. They raised flax and would prepare the fibers by breaking them, spinning and weaving it into towels and sheets. Their wool for clothing was also carded, spun and woven, dyed and tailored at home. They used anador, dogwood, and summach for drying as well as rabbit brush. The first sewing by machine was done by Julia Durbin for 1.50 a day.
Harriet supplememted their income as a seamstress. She could spin and weave. For a while they raised flax and made their own linen. It was a real challenge to break the stalks of flax and pull out the inner linning containing the good fibers. Her children didn't like the scrtachy sheets made from the new linen. It took many washings to soften the fragments of stock left clinging to the fibers.
Harriet was especially gifted at hand work. She made many beautiful quilts and all sorts of decorative articles for her home and the homes of her children. Many will remember the work basket and star pin cushions she made for ward bazaars. Her hands were never idle. She recieved great joy in the creations with her hands.
More rooms were added to their adobe home as children came along. After Robert's birth they had two little girls, Mary Elizabeth and Harriet Ann. John Williams came along and then twin boys that died after kiving ony seven and eight months. After another son, Isaac Wright, Emma Wright, Martha Marie, and Hannah Luella finished up the family.Harriet had to keep her hands smooth to work on the fine silks and satins that came into fashion as she sewed for others. So Emma and her sisters learned to do most of the work around home as well as out in the field.
Harriet was the mother of ten children and eight were raised to maturity. Besides raising her children, she assisted in raising the children of her daughter Mary Elizabeth who died leaving three small ones and she also helped care for three small boys of her sister Mary Brown who passed away; William, George and Jim Brown were their names.
In later life she made a home for Sesanna Wright, a wife of her father's. She kept Susanna until death relieved her of the miseries of a malignant growth. She was an excellent cook. Her grandchildren will always remember her fine dinners. It was a great delight to her to cook Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family. She was well read and could discuss intelligently varied subjects. She kept scrap books, some filled with choice poems, patterns and all sorts od hand work, while others contained remedies for all sorts of ailments. Many are the times her children, when raising their families, were benefited by these home remedies.
She had a strong testimony of the Gospel and instilled faith into the hearts of her children. They lived all their lives on this farm they took up when they first came to the valley.
Her daughter Emma often had premonitions when serious things were about to happen. One time she was at home and had a premonition that she should go see her mother. When she arrived at her home, she found her mother sitting in a chair having had a stroke. A few days later on Nov. 15, 1913 her mother passed away. She was 83 years of age.