George Franklin & Caroline Eliza Palmer Weatherston

George Franklin and Caroline
Eliza Palmer Weatherston
1940s

George Franklin Weatherston was born December 23rd, 1865, in Plain City, Utah Territory, the 2nd son and fifth child, to his parents Charles and Charlotte Scott Weatherston. His parents had immigrated to the United States in 1861, from Great Britain, settling briefly in Pennsylvania and Illinois, before crossing the plains. The oldest child, Mary Agnes was buried in Illinois at about 18 months of age. His older brother Charles W. was seven, Elizabeth Ann was four, and Matilda had just turned two that fall. They began farming with the others in Plain City.

Their family is a little bigger in the 1870 US Federal Census.  Joseph Heber Weatherston had joined the family in May of 1868. George was only four years old, so there isn't much about him to uncover. By the 1880 US Federal Census the Weatherston family (indexed as Mathiston) is one bigger having added John Hyrum Wilford Weatherston in June of 1878. George is 14 and attending school. Along the way a baby had been stillborn in 1872, Agness Weatherston had been born in November of 1870 and died in August of 1872, and Parley Scott Weatherston had been born in November 1875 and died February of 1879.  The Weatherston family had ten children, six of whom would reach adulthood.

He attended school in Plain City until he was of age to attend Weber Stake Academy under the principalship of Louis Moench,  assumably attending when it opened in January of 1889, in Ogden, Utah.

He met and later married fellow Plain City resident Caroline Eliza Palmer April 22nd, 1891, in the Logan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Logan, Cache, Utah Territory.

Caroline's parents had immigrated to the United States from Great Britain in 1859, staying in the east until they had enough money to cross the plains in 1862.  She was born December 6, 1868, in Plain City, the fifth of nine children born to Edward Jonathan and Caroline Florence Barker Palmer. Her parents were also farmers.

By the 1870 US Federal Census the Palmer family had three living children: Alfred, Dina, and one year old Caroline. She was 12 years old in the 1880 US Federal Census in a family of what had grown to have nine children: Elmer, Samuel, Alfred, Dinah, Caroline, Fredrick, George, Centennial, and Ellen. Elmer and Samuel had died as babies. She and George were probably in the same one room school house as both were attending school in the 1880 Census. Her parents both died in 1884, leaving the younger children in the care of neighbors and their oldest siblings: Alfred and Dinah.  She was 22 when she married George Franklin Weatherston.

They had been married nine years when the 1900 US Federal Census recorded their family of five. They had George Elvon age 8, Florence Agnes age 6, and Charlotte Irene age 3. Caroline was pregnant with Ida Laverna at the time who would be born in August of 1900. The young family had settled in Plain City. Young George Franklin had taken up farming like his father before him and other responsibilities about town.  He would eventually become president and director of the Plain City Irrigation Co. and president of the Pioneer Land and Irrigation Company. They remained active in their community and in The Church of  Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Plain City.

Eighteen years of marriage and it looks like they have a full house according to the 1910 US Federal Census. They own their home free of mortgages and are still listed as farmers.  They have seven children home: George 18, Florence 16, Irene 13, Laverna 9, Lucille 7, Ada 5 and Harold 1. The girls' appear to switch their first and middle names frequently as records are found under both throughout their younger years.  His oldest son, George Elvon, is farming with him while the others who are of age are likely in school.

George and Caroline's daughters had begun to leave and set up homes of their own. Irene married Thomas McFarland in December of 1914. Florence Married John Hodson in September 1915. George Elvon had left on an LDS mission to the Northern States in May of 1915, and returned September of 1917, and had signed up for the WWI Draft in 1917. He did serve his country in the Army in France.

George was back home at 27 helping his father farm when the 1920 US Federal Census takers came around though he also had a job as a pipe fitter. He would marry Lorraine Thurston in August of 1920. His sister Laverna was still at home, but would marry Howard Hadley in February 1921. Lucille was a stenographer at 17, Ada and Harold were 15 and 11, and probably attending school.

Their daughter Lucille married William Pickett in December of 1923. Ada married Percy Randall in July of 1926. Their family was growing and leaving the nest. By the 1930 US Federal Census, there were just the three of them: George age 64, Caroline age 61, and their youngest, Harold age 21. George still listed himself as a farmer, though he had other employment. Harold was helping him farm as well.  They were grandparents of several grandchildren by this time and still living in their humble Plain City home.

All their children had moved on and George was still farming and Caroline was keeping house according to the 1940 US Federal Census.  George's health would begin to decline.  According to his death certificate he had suffered from chronic myocarditis from January 1940 until his death May 17th, 1946 in Plain City, Utah.  He was buried in the Plain City Cemetery not far from his parents.

Caroline would live until her death January 1st, 1954, at her son George Elvon Weatherston and his wife, Lorraine's home at 2460 Madison Ave in Ogden, Utah.  She had been ill and eventually died of infection and pneumonia.  She was buried after services in the Plain City Cemetery alongside her husband, George Franklin.

Edward Jonathan & Caroline Florence Barker Palmer History

Edward Jonathan Palmer

Caroline Florence Barker Palmer
& two children

Edward Jonathan Palmer is understood to have been born 31 July 1831, in Stoke Newington, Middlesex, England. A christening record has not been found. In the 1841 England Census a nine year old Edward Palmer is in school in Stoke Newington, in the Finsbury Division residing with schoolmaster James Harford in Nelson Terrace.  The record states that he was not born in the same county which may or may not be correct. This is assumed to be our Edward, as I have not located his mother in this census or another suitable match.

We find him again in the 1851 England Census living with his 44 year old mother Mary Palmer, a widow, and an 18 year old sister, Mary A. in the St. George Bloomsbury Parish of Middlesex, England. His mother, Mary is listed as a laundress born in Margate, Kent, England. His sister is also listed as a laundress born in Southwark, Middlesex, England.  At 21 Edward is listed as a diamond jeweler which is consistent with our family stories. The others in the household do not appear to be related and are also of the working class.

In 1851, an Edward Palmer was married in the St. George Bloomsbury parish in Middlesex on August 3 to Sarah Bedford. He is listed as a jeweler. His father is listed as Edward Palmer, a publican. Her father is George Bedford, a dairyman.  The record is witnessed by Mary Ann Palmer, either sister or mother, and Robert John Peave. The information leads me to believe it is our Edward Palmer. However, I have not been able to piece together what happened other than that FamilySearch attached a record for an Edward John Palmer born or christened 8 November 1852, in Grays Inn Lane, Holborn, London, England as a son for the couple.  I have not been able to find the record from which this was extracted to substantiate it, however. There is no record of what happened to this couple following this birth.

Caroline's story is much harder to piece together. Biographies handed down say that she was a chambermaid and that she was of the poorer class from a small town outside London. Other family biographies say that he met Caroline Florence Barker at a dance to which she had accompanied a friend. They also say that when they met it was love at first sight and that they married soon after.  I have been unable to find a marriage record online in England.  The same sources indicate that this was the time that missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began preaching in London, or at least that Edward and Caroline came across them there and accepted their teachings.  A record for their baptisms has not been found as of yet.

Edward and Caroline emigrate to the United States in December 1859/January of 1860 aboard the Kangaroo according to the ship passenger list on Ancestry.com, arriving in New York City 9 January 1860. Edward was 30 and Caroline 23. Although the record states they were Irish, I feel that this is our Edward since the biographies previously mentioned stated that he was in the New England area early enough to enlist in the US Civil War, break his leg, and then immigrate to Utah with the Henry W. Miller company of 665 in 60 wagons and many handcarts which started their journey from Florence, Nebraska, August 5-8^th of 1862 and arrived in Salt Lake City the 17^th and 18^th of October 1862.  Their first born, a son, Elmer Edward Ellsworth Palmer who had been born 24 May 1861, died in Wyoming Territory and was buried in a shallow grave 11 October 1862 along the trail.

They came north to the Ogden area to make their home in Plain City, northwest of the Great Salt Lake. They built an adobe home and acquired some farmland upon which they grazed cattle and raised fruits and vegetables which he would take into town and sell door-to-door according to other biographies. It was hard work for him, a jeweler and for her, a housemaid.

The 1870 US Federal Census they are in Plain City, farming with a small family of three: Alfie E. age 6, Dina age 4, and Caroline age 1.  Family records say they had a son, Samuel Barker Palmer, who was born and died 22 October 1863 in Plain City, Utah. Currently, there are no records of his burial in the cemetery. Their neighbors are the Folkman’s, Neil’s, Singleton’s and Moore’s.

In the 1880 US Federal Census Edward and Caroline are still listed in Plain City as farmers, but their family has grown. Alfred is now 16, Dinah is 14, Caroline is 12, Fredrick is 9, George is 7, Ellen is 1, and Cennie (Centennial) is 2. Alfred is working on the farm with his father and the other school aged children are attending school. They do have new neighbors: Skeen’s, Miller’s, Heath’s, Folkman’s, and Goddard’s.

On 10 February 1881, Edward J. Palmer renounced his citizenship of the Kingdom of Great Britain and declared himself, and therefore his wife pursuant to law, to be citizens of the United States of America in the Third Judicial Court of the United States in the Territory of Utah. 

From other biographies I have learned that Caroline had developed arthritis that nearly crippled her from the pain at times. She bore at least nine children, seven of which lived, though some sources say she had 11. Life was difficult, though these same sources say she had a strong testimony of the Gospel and was an active member of the Relief Society and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Some sources say they were not happy in the church which would be easy to believe looking back at the difficulty of their life there.

For the Palmer family, 1884 proved to be a difficult year. On April 10, Edward died leaving Caroline and the children to strive on alone. His death was suspicious, but deemed natural though sudden according to a small article in the Ogden Herald the following day. Many of the details in the article are erroneous, though he does not appear to have been happy or healthy in the months prior. He was buried in the Plain City Cemetery following the examination into his death which may not have been until May 1884, according to her obituary. She was left to care for and raise the younger six children which included a wedding for daughter Dinah in August that same year.

Caroline was not well and she suffered a paralytic stroke November 5, 1884, which defeated her on 10 November, six months to the day of Edward’s death. According to her obituary that appeared in the Ogden Herald on November 13, her services were led by Reverend Unsworth from the Episcopal Prayer book in the Episcopal School house on November 12. She was also buried with Edward in the Plain City Cemetery.

It can be assumed that Alfred, the oldest son and aged 20 at the time of his parents’ death, raised the younger children as they really had no family in Plain City other than the neighbors and church members. The youngest son, Centennial, is living with Alfred’s family in the next available census in 1900. All the children marry members of local families: Slater, Richardson, Knight, Carver, Folkman.

New Projects

I am enjoying this!  I have been working on writing a history for another of my 3G Grandparents Edward Jonathan Palmer and Caroline Florence Barker Palmer.  They seemed to have left behind so little being born in England in the 1830s and dying in Plain City, Utah, in the 1880s.  I really hope that this blog aside from being a source of notes for me will also help others to collaborate with me.

When people die their belongings and memories get split up among friends and family like broken shards of a mirror, each piece precious to the one who holds it and unknown to others.  I hope to share and give credit where credit is due to those who share their pieces with me.