As a child, I only had one living grandmother, and I knew about my other grandparents, but not details. At a young age, I was assigned to give a talk in Church with my family. My mother helped me to write my talk, and she pulled out a book that told an amazing story about my 3rd great grandmother, Nancy Jane McFerran McCleve. Because of this early exposure, and her amazing story, this is the first ancestor I really knew of, remembered her name, and snippets of her history.
This beautiful lady from Ireland was raised by her mother and grandmother. Her father died at a young age and when Nancy Jane was just barely two. When she grew up she married a handsome man named John McCleve (or McClave). They worked hard in their lives in Ireland. They had a large family. Early in their marriage, they were introduced to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and accepted their message. They were baptized in 1841. The names of some of their children born following their baptism reflect their devotion to the Church and it’s early leaders – John Taylor McCleve, Joseph Smith McCleve, Eliza Roxey McCleve…. The family was disowned and shunned by other family members and friends in Ireland due to their affiliation with this “strange” religion. They wished to join the other Saints in the United States. It took them a very long time to save enough money to allow for immigration. They sent their eldest two daughters in 1853 in hopes that they could join the Saints, and no doubt find good men to marry as they were nearing that age. The rest of the family was aided in their immigration in 1856 with the Perpetual Immigration Fund. They crossed the ocean, and the United States by boat, train, and then handcart. The worst part of Nancy Jane’s story was that her beloved first husband, John, was killed in an accident just 2 days outside of the Salt Lake Valley. I cannot imagine her despair and grief to be so close to entering “Zion”, and then the fear that she now had to do it alone, with still having the care of seven children.
Six months after arriving, Nancy Jane married David Ellsworth. They had two more children.
I descend from Nancy Jane and John’s 8th daughter, Eliza Roxey McCleve. She married her stepfather David’s son from his first marriage, James Henry Ellsworth. (James was 17 years older than Eliza, so they were not raised together.) They began their life in Payson, Utah, later moved south to Leeds, Utah, then Kanab, and then were called to settle northeastern AZ and NM. After time spent in Taylor, AZ and Luna, NM, they eventually settled in Safford Arizona, although it was known as Layton at the time. They were the parents of seven children. Their son William is my great grandfather, and his oldest son William Leslie Ellsworth is my maternal grandfather.
I will elaborate later on more stories of Nancy Jane, but I just wanted to touch on her as the beginning of my love, respect, and interest in family history. I cannot wait to talk to her someday and find out more of her story. What was her life in Ireland like? What were her thoughts of Southern Utah and how different it was from her homeland? Did she ever have doubts? I truly hope that she keeps her Irish accent in Heaven, because I want her answers to reflect that!
Thank you Nancy Jane McFerren McCleve Ellsworth, for your strength, conviction, example, and testimony. You started your family out on the path you wanted them to follow and I am blessed immensely and forever for it.