History of Araminta Wardle Densley

Contributed by Margebecraft to family Search.  I previously shared a post about her singing.  

BIOGRAPHY OF ARAMINTA WARDLE DENSLEY

 

Araminta (Minty) Wardle was born 25 April 1868 in South Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory to Isaac John and Martha Ann Egbert Wardle. She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 8 April 1877 at the age of eight. She was the fourth of ten children born to Isaac John and Martha Ann Wardle. They had three girls and seven boys, all born in South Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. Martha Ann Egbert’s parents,Samuel and Margaret Mariah Beckstead,were married on 18 April 1839 in Quincy, Adams, Illinois and they had eight children.  They had six girls and eight boys.  Her family came to Great Salt Lake, Deseret with the Allen Taylor Company in 1849.  His grandfather Samuel was 25, his first wife Margaret Mariah was 25;Martha Ann was 5; and Susannah was 1.  They departed on 5 July 1849 with 369 in the company.             They had problems with the cattle stampeding especially at night when they would corral them.  The plains near Fort Kearney were covered with buffalo.  They had to travel slowly because of fear of buffalo stampeding. As they traveled along the Platte River,they saw a lone tree which was the only tree for miles around. There was a dead Indian papoose in top of the tree, the Indians’ way of burying their dead. From the journal of Margaret Gay Judd Clawson: “On the fourth of July we camped for the day not entirely to celebrate, but to wash and do mending and various other things that were necessary. We camped in a pretty place near a creek.” They arrived in the Great Salt Lake valley on 10 October 1849.          They settled in West Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. They would have eight more children born in West Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. He helped his father with the chores which included tending cows and sheep in all kinds of weather. The family raised sugar cane, so he probably helped his father with that. His father had the only molasses mill in the community so they were kept very busy. Preserving fruit at that time was done by using molasses or honey. Her parents received their endowments and were sealed on 15 March 1862 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. They had ten children, six girls and four boys, all born in West Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory except one. Sarah Zerelda was born 5 April 1861; John Alma was born 16 May 1863 and died 25 November 1864; Samuel Alexander was born 20 January 1865;Emma Maria was born 27 September 1866; his mother Martha Ann was born 17 March 1869; Anna Generve was born 2 September 1871 in Panaca, Lincoln, Nevada; Rosenna was born 17 February 1874 and died the same day; Adelbert Leroy was born 22 October 1876; Lorus Edgar was born 30 April 1879 and died 18 June 1879; and Etna Lula was born 11 January 1880. Her father,Isaac John Jr. joined the Church at age 17 and saved and scrimped to come to Zion with the rest of the Saint. He sailed on the ship “Horizon”. It took them five weeks to get to America. When he got to Boston he boarded a train to Iowa City, Iowa. He joined the Martin Handcart Company. He was assigned with 15 year old John Bailey to load their cart with 100 pounds of flour, a tent for seven people and 18 year old Langley Bailey who was too illto walk, and they trekked 1200 miles to Zion. He was 21 years old. They departed on 28 July 1856, being the 5th handcart company which contained 644 individuals, 145 handcarts and eight wagons, which began its journey from the outfitting post at Iowa City, Iowa. Her father, Isaac John wrote a autobiographical sketch of his tribulations: “I pulled for 1130 miles to Pacific Springs, Wyoming. John Bailey helped me pull some of the way. We crossed the Missouri River at Florence.when we left Florence there were about 740 souls in our company. With Edward Martin as our Captain we did not have much difficuilty on the road except a few visits from the Indians until we encountered a sever[e] snow storm at Platt[e] Bridge this was early in October. Then our old men and women and some of the younger children began to give out and to get sick and many of them died which I helped bury, but we kept moving on a little every day in spite of the cold and hardships.At one time I became so weary and over come with cold that I fell down and was forced to lay there for some time. About this time one day while we were stopped for noon two men rode into our camp, they were "Joseph Young" and Ephraim Hanks [Able Garr] who had come to tell us that men where coming to meet us with teams and wagons from Salt Lake City.” He was part of the daily burial detail. He go on to say: “In Wyoming,near Independence Rock and Devil’s Gate, rescuers took the party into a cove, later named Martin’s Cove, hoping to find shelter, and knowing there was wood for fires. When they made camp that night, the“Valley Boys,” as the rescuers were called, approached Wardle,who lay unmoving on the icy, frozen ground, and asked him to go up into the cove, cut wood and bring it down for fires. Wardle, sapped of his strength, wanted to refuse yet, as he explained, he had promised Heavenly Father that he would be obedient, so he took his hatchet, went up, chopped down three trees and dragged them back to the Valley Boys. That decision to obey probably saved his life otherwise he would have gotten hypothermia and frozen to death. He goes on:“We met the first team at Pacific Springs, Wyoming who had provisions for us with them. By this time our company was much smaller than when we left Council Bluffs, as so many had died some had stopped at different places along the way. We proceeded on to Salt Lake City with the teams leaving our handcarts behind. We arrived there Nov. 30, 1856 having taken us Six (6) months and five(5) days to come from Liverpool England to Salt Lake City U.S.A. President Brigham Young along with many of the other Brethern and Women came to welcome us and took us into their homes, fed and warmed us and gave us warm clean beds to rest our weary bodies.” His parents married on 17 April 1859 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. He was 23 years old. Martha Ann was 15 years old. Three years later they received their endowments on 12 April 1862 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. They had ten children, three girls and seven boys, all born in South Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. Arminta(Minty) married Daniel Densley Jr. on 20 January 1886 in the Logan Temple, Logan, Cache, Utah Territory at the age of 17 and he was 27 years old. Daniel was born on 28 February 1858 in Walsall, Staffordshire, England to Daniel and Sarah Beech Densley. They came to America in 1865 when he was seven. His father Daniel was 39; his mother Sarah was 33; Samue lwas 13; Ann was 11; Daniel was 8;and Mary was 1. They departed on 6-10 Juy 1866 with 251 individuals and 46 wagons in the company which began its journey from the outfitting post at Wyoming Nebraska on the west bank of the Missouri River about 40 miles south of Omaha. They had eight deaths on the journey, two marriages, and three baptisms. There was very little sickness on the train. They arrived on 29 August 1866. They settled in Bluffdale, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. He first married Elizabeth Morris Butterfield in 1880. They were only married a few months when he was called to serve a mission to the Southern States. When he got home they move to Riverton about 1885. He was a sheepman and had over 80,000 head of sheep. He hired Araminta to take care of his wife as her baby was due. By 1886 he married Minty as a plural wife. He also hired a girl from Herriman, Elizabeth Elize Bodell and she became his third wife in 1888. They all had separate homes on what is now Redwood Road. He had 13 children with Elizabeth Morris Butterfield (Lizzy) and nine children with Elizabeth (Libby) Elize Bodell. Daniel and Minty had six girls and five boys, all born in Riverton, except for two of them. Delors Ray was born 2 March 1887; Martha Syrinda was born 14 November 1888 in Herriman, Salt Lake; Ivy Cecile was born4 October 1890 in Provo Bench,; Elmer Wilford was born 28 April 1893;Isaac John was born 17 January 1895; Irene Leona was born 20 September 1897; Leland Royal was born 28 July 1899; Orrin Parley was born 27 October 1901; Annie May was born 27 October 1903; Thelma Grace was born 4 May 1905 and died 18 April 1907; and Reva Louise was born 18 July 1907. Daniel died on 13 December 1930 in Riverton, Sat Lake, Utah at the age of 72. He was buried on 16 December 1930 in Riverton, Salt Lake, Utah. Araminta died ten years later on 9 June 1940 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake,Utah at the age of 72 and was buried on 13 June 1940 in Riverton,Salt Lake, Utah.