Edward Cook and his daughter Florence at around the time they came to the United States. Edward was about 28 years old.



These shoes were worn by Florence Cook, daughter of Edward and Ellen Unsworth Cook, when she came to the United States from England in 1904. She was 3 years old.

Enid Joan Simkin Van Valkenburg

Albert Rees Birth Certificate
Parents are John William Rees and Sarah Dyer Rees

Ruth Ann Van Valkenburg Siler Pitcher

The Winter Quarters Mormon Trail Visitor Center maintains this pitcher which was brought across the plains by Ruth Ann Van Valkenburg Siler in 1856.

Ruth Ann Van Valkenburg was the daugther of Peter Van Valkenburg and Margaret Predmore.
Peter Van Valkenburg was the son of William Van Valkenburg and Anne Beebe

Cream Pitcher
Ruth Ann Van Valkenburg Siler brought "some of the finer things of life" when she crossed the plains in 1856. She and her husband traveled in an independent wagon train that accompanied the Willie Handcart Company.

Ruth Ann Van Valkenburg married Andrew Lafayette Siler.

"Andrew Lafayette Siler (surname change from Sylar to Siler) was born 4 December 1824 at Sweetwater, Roan County, Tennessee, the son of William Syler and Charlotte Foute.

Andrew was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints on 23 February 1850 by Isaac Haight, at age 26. He was confirmed the same day by Hector Haight. Because of joining the church, he had to leave his home and family.

He was ordained an Elder - 23 June 1850.

He was ordained a seventy - 13 Feb 1851 bye Jedidiah M. Grant

He came to Utah in the year of 1850 (Company Unknown)

He married Ruth Ann VanValkenburgh, 18 May 1851 at Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake City, Utah by Pardon Webb. He married Ruvinia (Ruvina) Jane Mount 14 Jan 1857at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ruth Ann VanValkenburg was the daughter of Peter VanValkenburgh and Margarette Premore, born 14 May 1834 at Harbor Court, Erie County, Tennessee.

Because of the issue of Polygamy, Andrew and Ruvina were divorced 3 May 1866 in Kane County, Utah. They had three children. She later married Henry Mower.

Because of records being lost, Andrew and both of his wives had to be rebaptized. This was done 8 Jan 1857 and confirmed 13 Jan 1857. They were baptized by Brigham Young and confirmed by Linsay A. Mann and Orin Joifford.

Andrew served a mission for the church in the Southern States Mission, where he served in the States of Missouri, Georgia, and Tennessee. In Tennessee, he had the opportunity to serve in Roan County, where he was born.

He departed for his mission 8 May 1864, and returned home at midnight 11 December 1866. Upon returning home, he was put in charge of the supply wagons accompanying the Willie Handcart Company of Mormon Pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. Disaster, in the form of storms, struck this Company as they crossed the Great Divide. One sixth of the members perished before reaching their destination.

He also served with the Mormon Battalion. (The only records that were found, listed him in the Georgia Volunteers, same war but different outfit?)

Andrew was a tall man, standing six feet six inches tall and weighed 185 p9ounds. His eyes and hair were dark brown. His health was very good until he contracted Chronic Diarrhea while serving in the Mexican War as a Georgia Volunteer.

He was a lawyer, the first to sit at the bar in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was also a Botanist and a School Teacher. He was very well read, very studious, and an extra good penman. Honesty, hospitality, generosity, and justice were his most outstanding ethical characteristics. He upheld the Church Authorities and moved wherever he was called to help settle new places and to act in the capacity of a school teacher.

After he moved to his ranch in Upper Kanab, Kane County, Utah, he refused to move again.

I was too hard with a large family and failing health to be moving from place to place.

He left Salt Lake Valley 10 November 1851 and arrived in Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah 15 November 1851.

As indicated by the birthplaces of his children, he moved his family to the following settlements in about the years that are indicated. All are in Utah..."

This is from http://gemstate.net/friends/siler/siler.htm

More at: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/VANVALKENBURG/2000-03/0954396862

From The Van Valkenburg Family in America Vol.II p.182:
William VV probably d. before 1830; m. Ann (Anna) Beebe, from CT. Ann b. c
1773
Children:
1) Peter b. 4/12/1812, Schagiticoke, NY; m. (1) Margaret Predmore; (2) Caroline Freeman; (3) Eliza
Ann Boggess Turpin
2) Heman of Orange, NY; b. 1817
3) Elizabeth of Orange, NY; b. 1822
Note: Heman was a boatman on Finger Lakes
SECOND GENERATION
1) Peter VV of Union, UT; b. 4/12/1812, Schagiticoke, NY; d. 2/18/1874, Union, UT;
bur. Union, UT; m. (1) Margaret Predmore, dau. of Benjamine Predmore and Hannah
Jackson, c 1832; (2) Caroline Freeman; (3) Eliza Ann Boggess Turpin, dau. of
Augustus March Boggess and Lydia Ann Stringer, 2/7/1856. Margaret b. 3/10/1810,
Frankfort or Lessex, NJ, or Fort Scott, KS; d. 7/25 or 7/28/1897, Fairview, UT. Eliza b.
8/28/1824 or 8/28/1824, Clarksburg, W. VA; d. 3/ /1891, Union, UT Notes: Peter
crossed the plains and mountains in the Mormon trek to UT; he practiced law and
farming.
Children by first wife:
11) Ruth Ann b. 10/15/1833, Starkie, NY; d. 8/11/1913; m. Andrew Lafayette Siles, 5/18/ 1851
12) Maria b. 6/23/1835, Starkie, NY; m. Norton Jacob
13) Alonzo b. 6/9/1837, Hornby, NY; m. Mary Buckley
14) Martha Jane b. 12/7/1839, Hornby, NY; m. Otis Lysander Terry
15) Charles b. 3/10/1842, Hornby, NY
16) Joseph b. 1/20/1845, Hornby, NY; m. Patience Dalley
17) Catherine b. 9/27/1848, IA
18) Josephine b. 9/14/1852, Salt Lake City, UT; d. 11/__/1936; m. Peter Nordstrom
19) Margaret b. 10/22/1855, Union Fort, UT; m. Orson Hyde Mower
Children by third wife:
1A) Mary Louisa b. 6/5/1856, Union, UT; m. Alva Amasa Tanner
1B) Lydia Alice (Ann) b. 12/25/1857, Union, UT; d. 8/24/1932; m. (1) Charles H. Davis; (2) Joseph
Vance
1C) Julia b. 6/30/1861, Union, UT; m. David Alma Proctor
1D) Peter Boggess b. 6/30/1864, Unlon, UT; m. Mary Amelia McGary Smith
1E) Melissa b. 10/8/1867, Union, UT; m. DeMorand Moroni Griffin (Griffen)

Florence Eva, John William and Agnes Elizabeth Rees Photograph

Florence Eva, John William, and Agnes Elizabeth Rees

"Erie: Yesterday and Today" about Richard Jeptha Van Valkenburg

Rev. Richard J. Van Valkenburg.

The Sociology and History Classes of Erie High School, Advisor - Mrs. Karen Adelfang. (lst edition) April, 1967. (2nd edition) February, 1974.

The Rev. Richard Jeptha Van Valkenburg (#765,3l - Vol. I, page 312) was born Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1823 of a very patriotic family. His grandfather fought in the War of 18l2. At the age of eighteen, he entered the ministry. When President Lincoln put out his call for men to serve in the Civil War, he read the President's message from his pulpit which resulted in a Company of Volunteers. Later, he distinguished himself as a chaplain in the Union Army. Van Valkenburg married Cordelia Briggs, and they had four children. At the close of the Civil War, he left Pennsylvania seeking a renewal of his health, which had been lost as a result of wounds incurred in the war.

After wandering through Wyoming and Colorado as a Circuit Minister for a year (He is still known in Wyoming as the "Sweet Singer of Hymns"), he and Cordelia settled in Erie, Colorado. Within a few months he had organized a Sunday School which met every week in his home. Thus it was in 1867 that the Rev. R. J. Van Valkenburg did more than he realized for he had organized the beginning of the Methodist Church in Erie, CO, and had made his name immortal in the community.

This minister was also the moving force behind the establishment of the Town of Erie, CO., which was named for his place of birth, Erie, PA. Colorado, in the 1860s and '70s was no place for a "milquetoast" minister. Churches were outnumbered by saloons and parlor houses. In towns that didn't have church buildings, ministers held services in school rooms, private homes, and, if no other space was available, in saloons.

They traveled from one town to another (circuit riders) in all kinds of weather, sometimes preaching sermons in three or four mining camps or valley towns in one day. A great deal of courage, endurance, determination, and a deep commitment to one's faith was required to be a minister in Colorado in the early days. During the years that followed, Van Valkenburg ministered to the people in the communities of Erie and Longmont, Colorado, and other nearby towns. He preached sermons and conducted weddings and funerals.

He also served Erie, CO, in the capacities of mayor, postmaster, police judge, president of the school board, and justice of the peace. He helped organize the town of Erie, CO, officially dated November l4, 1874, but in a notation with some papers taken from the cornerstone of the Erie Methodist Church in 1972, he had written "the town was laid out in 187l". He organized the I.O.O.F. (Oddfellows) Lodge, and at one time served as representative to the State Legislative from Weld County. He also owned the Erie Hotel.

On March l, 19l2, shortly before his death, he and his wife celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. This was a good example to all of the "thousand and one" couples for whom he had performed marriage ceremonies during his long ministerial career. It is not known what became of his four children, but a grand-daughter later lived in Longmont.

Article from A. H. "Pete" (great grandson of Richard Jeptha VV) and Jeanne Van Valkenburg of Walden, Colorado

I found this article at http://www.navvf.org/news/sp98/sp98_erie.html

John Firmage Stevens
(Obituary printed 03/23/2008 in the RocketMiner, Rock Springs, Wyoming)

John Firmage Stevens, 57, died Friday, March 21, 2008, at his home in Portland, Ore.

He was born May 15, 1950, in Longview, Wash., the son of Louis G. Stevens and Esther Firmage Stevens. He attended schools in San Diego and Portland until the death of his father in 1964. He then moved with his mother to Rock Springs, where he completed high school, graduating with the class of 1968.

After high school, he returned to Portland to enroll in an auto mechanic school, which was interrupted by a stint in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. After the army, he returned to finish the auto mechanic training, which became is lifelong profession.

He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

He married Marilyn Carole Heen on Dec. 9, 1972, in Portland. They later divorced.

He is survived by his uncles and aunts, Levi and Joyce Stevens of Gresham, Ore., Howard and Jean Van Valkenburg of Rock Springs and August Bakka of Riverton; and several cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents; infant sister, Esther Lee; and paternal and maternal grandparents, Louis and Lillian Crofts Stevens and John and Florence Cook Firmage.

At his request, there will be no formal funeral services.

Richard Jeptha VanValkenburg Biography Short from http://www.memoriallibrary.com.

Peter Lawley's father was John Lawley, born in 1750, in Craven, NC and his mother was Mary VonCannon. This is from a post at Lawley Family Gen Forum and again at Lawley Family Gen Forum
Note: From genforum--LDS FHC film no 1697370; item no 10 contains family history of Mary VonCannon Lawley.

Peter and Rebecca Lawley

At the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama GenWeb website I found information about the Peter and Rebecca Lawley Family. Here are transcripts from gravesites at the Old Liberty Church Cemetery in Coker, Alabama.

John, son of Peter and Rebecca Lawley, April 1,1836 -September 17, 1857, age 21 years, 5 months and 17 days

Wm. P. son of Peter and Rebecca Lawley, December 24,1830 -February 19,1851, age 20 years, 1 month and 25 days

Peter Lawley, November 16,1803 -April 24, 1858, age 54 years, 5 months and 19 days

Mary Lawley (this is Peter Lawley's mother Mary VonCannon), July 13,1760 -July 3,1852, age 91 years, 11 months and 20 days