William Ellis Jones
William Ellis Jones is my great great great grandfather. He grew up in Wales and he was a member of the Independents sect then later the Methodist Church. On June 27, 1841 he was baptized a member of the LDS church by Elder James Burnham who was from America. He moved to America, or as he called it, "the land of zion", on February 2, 1842. William moved to Nauvoo and helped work at the Nauvoo brick yard. He married Louisa Leavitt on February 28, 1843. William was told to stand guard in Nauvoo and was doing this while Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. His wife Louisa died and he was married to Dinah Vaughn 8 months later. Dinah had three daughters, and William was also married Martha my great great great grandmother when she was 22. William and his family traveled the plains with the Joseph W. Young company and arrived in Salt Lake City on September 23 1861. William was sealed to his wives in the endowment house in Salt Lake. William moved between Beaver Dam and Santa Clara, and his wives lived with him in Santa Clara.
Sarah Sturtevant Leavitt
Sarah was born in Lime, New Hampshire September 5, 1798. She married Jeremiah Leavitt II on March 6, 1817 in Barton, Vermont. Sarah was a very religious person. She always wanted to do the right thing. My great great great grandparents were introduced to the LDS Church and the doctrines, and Sarah wrote "I read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and all the writings I could get from the Latter-Day Saints. It was the book of Doctrine and Covenants that confirmed my faith in the work." Both of my grandparents were baptized in Kirtland, Ohio on August 22, 1837. One experience I found really cool was that while living at Five-Mile Grove Sarah had the chills. She said that she could only sleep a couple minutes at a time or else they would overtake her and that somebody would have to wake her up. One night everyone in her family went to bed so they could catch some rest, and Sarah wrote, "I heard what was said and the first thought I had was it would kill me if I was not waked up. The next thought was that the angels will watch over me." That night after Sarah fell asleep, someone touched her and woke her up, and she said that the person had their back towards her, and they were going toward the fire. The next morning she found that no one had been up in the night. I believe Sarah was a valiant woman with a lot of faith and I hope I can be like her.
Dudley Leavitt
Dudley Leavitt is my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th great grandfather. Kind of weird huh? This is because he had multiple wives and after my parents were already dating they found out they were 5th cousins. When Dudley moved to Mesquite from St. George he had 5 wives and over 50 children! There was a law passed in 1882 in Nevada that anyone participating in plural marriage was to be fined heftily or imprisoned. Dudley couldn't afford either, so he told his kids to know nothing. Whenever his children were asked about their father they would say they didn't know of any man named Dudley. Teaching this to his children made it so that Dudley could avoid the authorities and not abandon his family.
The image above is of an Old Folk's Party held in Mesquite NV. This shows Dudley's wives, children and other family members. Dudley Leavitt is seated on the left side and the 9th person back (the tallest sitting).
The image above shows the property owned by those living in Bunkerville. An interesting fact about Bunkerville was that it got it's name over a coin toss. The Bunker family wanted it to be named after them and the Leavitt family after them. Obviously, the Bunker family won.