Person:Ephraim Twitchell (4)

BIOGRAPHY: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lgillins/edith2/aqwg03.htm Ephraim TWITCHELL [Parents] was born 19 May 1803 in Dummerston, Windham, Vermont. He died 1 23 Dec 1872 in Indian Creek, Beaver, Utah, USA and was buried 23 Dec 1872 in Beaver, Beaver, Utah, USA. He was sealed to his parents on 26 Oct 1894. Ephraim was baptized Jul 1842. He was endowed 8 Nov 1859. Ephraim married Sarah Jane HADDEN on 7 Jan 1860 in Beaver, Beaver, Utah. They were sealed 25 Oct 1862 in the ehous temple.

Posted by: Jack B. Baker Date: April 25, 1999 at 01:58:34 In Reply to: Re: KNIGHT, Joel 1772 , Windham, Vermont by Wayne Craig of 6671

Greetings--concerning Joel Knight b.1772, Windham Co. Vt. and his Joel descendants. My gggg grandmother, Eunice Ursula Knight b.1 July 1797 in Litchfield Co. Conn. had a sister, Phoebe Melissa Knight b. 1804. They married brothers: Eunice Ursula married Joshua Twitchell, Jr. b. 12 Sep. 1794 in Dummerston, Vt. They were married in Gallipolis, Gallia Co. Ohio 24 June, 1816. Eunice Ursula was christened 13 May 1798 in Barkhamsted, Litchfield Co., Conn. These two sisters (Phoebe married Ephraim Twitchell, Joshua's Bro.) went with the Twitchell clan in 1848 by wagon to Sutter's Ft., Sacramento arriving June 24, 1849. They spent the winter at Brown's Settlement, Ogden Ck. in 5 log cabins that they built in the new settlement. From Ohio, the Twitchells/Knights moved to western Illinois to Macomb, McDonough Co. not too far from Carthage and Nauvoo, Ill. Phoebe and Ephraim joined the LDS churchabout 1842 to 1844. Joshua and his wife Eunice Ursula helped found the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in San Juan Bautista, Monterey Co. in 1854 and 55. Ephraim and Phoebe Melissa Knight Twitchell were instrumental in helping to start several Mormon communities in Wyoming and Idaho under Brigham Young's leadership. Phoebe and Eunice Knight's parents were Silas Knight and Eunice Higley. I'm wondering if Silas was a brother to Joel (b.1772) Knight or perhaps a cousin. They are from the same area. And Eunice Ursula Knight married my gggg grandfather Joshua Twitchell Jr. who was from the same town of Dummerston, Windham Co. Vt. Does anyone have any info. on this likely relationship? I have more information on the Twitchells. Eunice Ursula Knight Twitchell died 24 Oct. 1886 in San Juan Bautista, San Benito Co. California and was buried there. She was 89. She is listed in the 1850 Ca.census as being 50 yrs old, so she was smart enough to shave a few years off her age (she was 53) I believe she had 5 children: Jasper Harrison Twitchell b.1821 (Ohio); Julia b. 1831 (Ill.); Lorenzo b. 1822 (Ohio); Silas b. 1830 (Ohio); and Eunice Corinthia Twitchell b.1819 (Ohio) The Twitchells are a very interesting family of pioneers. It would be great to learn more about the Knights. The two Knight sisters Phoebe and Eunice were very hardy Mothers who seemed to thrive in their lives of moving their families from New England to Ohio, Illinois, across the Plains and Mts. to California, and in Phoebe's case back to Utah and all over the great basin and rocky Mtn. states. Any information about Silas and Eunice Higley Knight who must have been born about the early 1770s in S.E. Vermont or neighboring areas of Conn. or Ma. would be greatly appreciated!

Genealogy of the Twitchell Family Record of the Descendants of the Puritan Benjamin Twitchell 1632 - 1927 1929 Page 133

 While the family were in California, Ephraim and his son, Anciel, and son-in-law, James Monroe Puffer, purchased a Spanish or Mexican land grant in the vicinity of San Bernardino, which they lost as they could not pay for it. Mrs Vesta Lucetta Bishop Twitchell, in a letter to the compiler says: "I heard my husband say that his father (Empraim) built the first house in Ogden; it was not long before we were married that the family removed from California to Utah. After the Old Nephite rode with the old gentleman one day, coming from Sacramento, he told Ephraim to return to Utah. He replied that he couldn't get his family back. "Yes , you can," he said, and when he left, he gave him a beautiful cloak or cape, and he kept the family together until the cloak was worn out; then the family scattered; he married a second wife, as the first died in Beaver before I was married; after he died, his second wife re-married and went to Idaho. Ephraim Twitchell was a very honest, smart, good man."

BIOGRAPHY: Genealogy of the Twitchell Family Record of the Descendants of the Puritan Benjamin Twitchell Compiled and Edited by Ralph Emerson Twitchell Santa Fe, New Mexico Privately Printed 1929 Pages 132 - 133

  Ephraim Twitchell (Benjamin, Joseph, Ephraim, Thomas, Joshua), son of Joshua Twitchell and Sarah (Miller) Twitchell, was born in Dummerston, Windham County, Vt., May 19, 1803, and died in Beaver, Utah, Dec. 23, 1872.
  When quite young he removed with his parents from Vermont to the "Ohio County," settling first in Meigs County, and removing later to McDonough County, Ill. He arrived in that section in 1831, and was one of the first settlers. In the spring of 1842, Ephraim Twitchell and he wife joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In the spring of 1846, with his family, he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and in the spring following, planted a large acreage of government land, harvesting about one thousand bushels of corn alone. In the early part of 1848, he made the journey across the Great Plains to Utah, where they arrived in the last days of September, 1848. He built a log house on the side of the present City of Ogden, this being among the first buildings of the kind erected at that place.
  In the spring of 1849, he removed to the state of California, taking part in the gold mining of that period, and returning to Utah in 1857, locating in Beaver County.
  Ephraim Twitchell served in the Black Hawk War in the command of a Captain Hunt, and, in Utah, in later years had many exciting experiences in combats with Indians in that section.
  He was presiding elder of the church at Indian Creek, Utah, for several years and was a faithful member of the Church to the time of his death, which occurred in Beaver, Utah, in 1872.
  On May 1, 1824, in the state of Ohio, he married Phoebe Melissa Knight, born June 6, 1804, in the state of Massachusetts. She died Mar. 8, 1856, in Utah.
  Ephraim Twitchell and family came to Utah in what is known as the "Ezra Chase Company," and arrived in Salt Lake City, Sept. 27, 1848.

Census: Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year TWITCHELL EPHRAIM 67 M W VT UT BEAVER BEAVER 1870 Farmer

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