Person:George Teeples (1)

Name	George Teeples
Gender	Male
Birth`^?`	17 Mar 1803	Dansville, Livingston, New York, United States
Marriage		to Huldah Colby (add)
Death`^?`	18 Sep 1884	Holden, Millard, Utah, United States

George Bentley Teeples was an early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was driven from the midwest United States and he and his family walked with the pioneers to the Utah valley.

1 Birth
2 Marriage and Family
3 Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
4 Hostilities towards Mormons
5 Summer Quarters
6 Migration to Utah
7 Death and Burial
8 References

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Birth

George was born on March 3, 1803 in Dansville, NY to Jacob Teeples and Rhoda Bentley.

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Marriage and Family

George married Huldah Clarinda Colby, who was a granddaughter of the Revolution War solider Ezekial Colby.

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Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

George was an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. He was known personally by the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and received his patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Sr. He was there at the time the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed.^[1]

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Hostilities towards Mormons

Joseph Smith's journal, dated 9 Sep. 1838 describes the activities of the mobs in and around Far West Missouri.

"The mob continue to take prisoners at their pleasure some they keep and some they let go, they try all in their power to make us commit the first act of violence they frequently send in word that they are torturing the prisoners to death, in the most aggravating manner, but we understand all their ways, and their cunning and wisdom is not past finding out."

A footnote to that entry, sourced from a letter dated June 10, 1838, to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon by Austin A. King (no doubt keeping them apprised of the situation), mentions that "Missouri vigilantes in and around Daviess County also accosted and threatened Latter-day Saints George Teeples, Asahel Lathrop, John Murdock, and Rufus Allen around this time."

Later, he would be driven out of Daviess County. As Church History in the Fulness of Times, p. 196, states:

In spite of Joseph's willingness to be tried and his search for ways to prevent further conflict, the anger of the mobs was not abated. Daviess County settlers wanted to be rid of the Mormons and now increased their efforts. General Parks wrote that there were steady threats from the settlers, and that "Their intention is to drive the Mormons with powder and lead from this county" (General Parks to David Atchison, 25 Sep 1838, Millport, as cited by Anderson, p. 38). George B. Teeples, a Mormon in Daviess County, said that the settlers there "had resolved that there should not one of our people live in that county, and that they would give me four days to leave the county" (as cited by Anderson, pp. 38-39). Tensions were building toward war.^[2]

George was also one of the many saints who submitted an affidavit complaint, as requested by church leadership, "relating to Mormon difficulties in Missouri from 1831 to 1839 that were submitted to the House Judiciary Committee seeking redress for damages done in Missouri." BYU has an online index of these affidavits, and George Teeples is listed as follows: Affidavit re: flight from Clay County and depredations in Daviess county and Battle of Millport. Warsaw, Hancock, Illinois, January 6, 1840.

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Summer Quarters

After being driven from Nauvoo, George Bentley's family relocated to Summer Quarters, Nebraska. In January of 1948, while at Summer Quarters, George Bentley Teeples raised a complaint to the Church High Council that "Solomon Wixom had lied, engaged in unchristianlike conduct, and 'stolen' his seventeen-year old daughter, Harriet. [not to be confused with his daughter-in-law Harriet B. Cook]. Ultimately, since Wixom had been sealed to Harriet, presumably by Brigham Young, "no wrong had been committed and Teeples withdrew his charge." ^[3]

Some members of the church, including George Bentley, had attempted to stake claims in land at Summer Quarters. This reportedly led to some hard feelings and a Sabbath meeting was convened at the home of John D. Lee to discuss the division of land. In advocating for a resolution to the hard feelings, John Lee stated "that peace and union which is so essential to the happiness of all but more especially the Saints, was what he pled for, hoped and prayed for, and that our prosperity and safety depended on it."^[4]

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Migration to Utah

George Bentley and his family (including the infant Eunice) traveled from Nebraska to Utah with the Heber C. Kimball company of 1948.^[5] They left June 7, 1948 and arrived in Utah September 24, 1948, just over a year after the first pioneers. There were 662 individuals in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.^[6]

An entry in Heber Kimball's journal on August 25, contains the following reference, "...going on father we past Brother [George Bentley] Teeple[s] & several other Brethern Belonging to T B [Benjamin T.] Mitchells 10[.] their cattle has died off so that the[y] have to take off part of the waggons & come back for the rest next day[.] the[y] have been doing so since Aug."^[7]

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