Emily Steele Jensen Joins the Daughters of Utah Pioneers

In 1933, Emily Steele Jensen applied for membership in the Wiltshire Camp of the Los Angeles Company of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers organization.  She cited several pioneers in her lineage, including John Steele Jr, Catherine Campbell Steele, James Jepson, Eleanor Nightengale Jepson, Mahonri Moriancumer Steele and Mary Ellen Jepson Steele.  She was admitted on 12 June 1933 by the then-president Cornelia S. Lund, of Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Emily's application shows her pride in her pioneer heritage as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Her membership number 5972 indicates a rather small quorum in 1933, although today DUP boasts of over 88,000 members.  I was happy to show this old application to my fellow members here in the Yellow River Camp of the Gwinnett Company of DUP here in Georgia. 

Transcription:  My grandfather and his wife Catherine migrated from Scotland to Nauvoo July 8th 1845.  Came to Utah with the saints about 1847 where Elizabeth was born in Salt Lake City she being the first white child born in Utah.  Before coming to Utah three children had been born to John and Catherine the oldest Mary Campbell Steele, John and Margaret.  My father Mahonri was born May 1st 1849 at the corner of Liberty Park four other children were born in Utah, Susan, Ahna, Jane and Robert Henry making them the parents of nine children.  They went thru all the hardships of pioneering.  Brigham Young offered Grandfather a tract of land on the avenues in Salt Lake which at that time was hill and sage brush and looked useless and Grandfather was real insulted and told him if that was the best he could offer to keep it.  Later Brigham sent him to help settle Parowan and Toquerville, he was especially interested in Astronomy drawing charts for people and many of them came true.  Grandmother was engaged to the Kings guard before meeting Grandfather who was a fancy shoemaker and said she couldn't see how she ever married Grandfather but guessed she was to be tried thru all the trials she had to encounter.  She was a lovely woman and mother, her health was never very good and she died in Toquerville June 16, 1889.  Grandfather lived 14 years longer than Grandma. 

Emily Steele Jensen's Life Story

Alvin and Emily

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alvin Moroni Jensen lived over 22 years after his beloved wife Emily died.  He used that time to do genealogy work.  As part of preserving his heritage, he wrote his autobiography and this biography of his dear wife Emily.  In it, his love for Emily is clear.  This copy was typed from legal size to 8 1/2 x 11 by Alvin and Emily's son Garth.

 

I wanted to add an account sent to me by Emily's granddaughter Darla Jensen Pearce.  She shares her experience with the death of her Grandmother Emily Steele Jensen.

When Grandma Emily died on August 10, 1955, I was eleven years old and she hadn't been sick for a day in her life.  The night before she died, they wouldn't let us see her because she had been to the doctor and wasn't feeling good.  I told Joanie, my cousin [Mack's daughter] who lived next door to us and she came with me to see what we could see.  The little house was all lit up because it was so dark outside.  We had a perfect view peeking in the front window.  There was my grandmother throwing up in an old can from the kitchen and Ken was bending over her.  I told Joanie that this must be real serious and that we should pray to our Heavenly Father, so she would be okay.  Joanie wasn't a Mormon, did not believe in prayer but she was also alarmed at the way Grandma looked, so pale and so sickly.  So these two little girls knelt down in the patio and I said the prayer.  I prayed that Grandma would live and be healthy again.  A small child's prayer.  At five o'clock the next morning, my Dad woke us all up in our beds.  He said, "Grandma's dead and you only have a few minutes to say goodbye to her before the paramedics come."  So as a family we all trooped over in our PJ's and saw her lying in her bed, so still.  Grandpa had placed a board under the mattress the night before when she complained of not being able to breathe.  He thought if she was lifted up, she could breathe easier but she didn't.  Ken had just finished giving her CPR and it was all over.  Only the funeral was left and she was gone.  Gary, Blaine, Sandi, Joanie and I drove to the cemetery in Uncle Paul's bright orange convertible.  That was the only bearable part of that day.  Over a hundred cars followed the hearse winding up to Glen Haven where all of our loved ones are now buried.  Grandma Emily was the first.  I remember straining to turn around and watch all the cars come up that winding road one after another.  Who could have guessed how many people loved her?  I was so surprised.  Through the years, Uncle Kenny would take his fire truck up there and send a big spray of water on the thirsty ground to make sure the grass stayed green on our loved ones graves.  He did this over the years up until they moved to Nevada.  It's like we owned that place, so many relatives are [now] buried there.  (Darla Jensen Pearce, email to Melanie Johnson, January 3, 2005, p. 3)

Alvin Moroni Jensen's Autobiography

Alvin Moroni Jensen, my great grandfather, wrote a detailed autobiography which he passed on to his children and grandchildren.  My father shared this with me and I'm pleased to make it available to his other descendants here.  In this history, he describes his childhood and his parents' lives exquisitely.