Arabella Ann Chandler (1824 - 1894): Our Family History

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1824 - 1894 (70 years)

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Name	Arabella Ann Chandler
Birth	27 Feb 1824	Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Christening	17 Mar 1824	Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Gender	Female
Initiatory (LDS)	16 Nov 1855
FamilySearch ID	KWJC-W93
Death	9 Aug 1894	Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States
Burial	12 Aug 1894	Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Idaho, United States
Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
Person ID	I21116	mytree
Last Modified	25 Feb 2024

Father	George Wilkinson Chandler, b. 25 Jun 1797, Prestbury, Gloucestershire, England d. 11 Jun 1838, Lancaster, Lancashire, England (Age 40 years)
Mother	Esther Glover, b. 2 Aug 1793, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England d. 25 Apr 1848, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England (Age 54 years)
Marriage	11 Jan 1817	Worcestershire, England
Family ID	F10097	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Samuel Rose Parkinson, b. 12 Apr 1831, Barrowford, Lancashire, England d. 23 May 1919, Preston, Franklin, Idaho, United States (Age 88 years)

Marriage 1 Jan 1852 St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

Children

	1. Samuel Chandler Parkinson, b. 23 Feb 1853, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States d. 20 May 1922 (Age 69 years)
	2. Charlotte Chandler Parkinson, b. 1 Aug 1855, Kaysville, Davis, Utah, United States d. 11 Jun 1935, Preston, Franklin, Idaho, United States (Age 79 years)
+	3. William Chandler Parkinson, b. 2 Aug 1855, Kaysville, Davis, Utah, United States d. 18 Nov 1929, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 74 years)
	4. George Chandler Parkinson, b. 18 Jul 1857, Kaysville, Davis, Utah, United States d. 6 Jul 1920, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 62 years)
	5. Franklin Chandler Parkinson, b. 7 Jul 1858, Kaysville, Davis, Utah, United States d. 24 Feb 1943, Glendale, Los Angeles, California, United States (Age 84 years)
	6. Esther Chandler Parkinson, b. 2 Feb 1862, Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States d. 23 Mar 1932 (Age 70 years)
	7. Albert Chandler Parkinson, b. 8 Aug 1863, Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States d. 28 May 1864 (Age 0 years)
	8. Clara Janet Chandler Parkinson, b. 18 Apr 1865, Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States d. 20 Jan 1897 (Age 31 years)
	9. Caroline Parkinson, b. 10 Nov 1866, Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States d. 29 May 1957 (Age 90 years)

Family ID F307 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 5 May 2024

Event Map

	Birth - 27 Feb 1824 - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
	Christening - 17 Mar 1824 - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
	Marriage - 1 Jan 1852 - St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Death - 9 Aug 1894 - Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States
	Burial - 12 Aug 1894 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Idaho, United States

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Notes

ARABELLA ANN CHANDLER was born February 27, 1824, in Cheltenham, Glouces t ershire, England, the fourth child of George Chandler and Esther Glove r . The family group sheets give her name as Arabella, though in her his to ry her children George and Caroline call her “Arabell Ann,” so maybe t hat ’s how she pronounced her name. Arabella’s parents had thirteen child ren , of which seven died in childhood. George and Caroline describe the ir g randparents this way:
“George Chandler was an unusual character, being high-minded, stri c t in his habits, exacting in his discipline, and immaculate in his dre s s and personal appearance. Everything about him, both in private and i n p ublic, must conform to his social ambition. He would not recognize hi s ow n children until they were up to his standard in personal appearance .
“. . . Esther Glover, was of modest disposition, highly refined, na t urally artistic, scrupulously clean, and possessed of unusual executiv e a bility. Arabell Ann inherited these characteristics from her parents. ”
The Chandlers went to church and read the Bible in the home. Arabe l la’s family was prosperous. She went to school, studied literature, an d s pent a lot of time horse back riding. But then her father suffere d a fina ncial reversal. Much of their property was tied up in litigatio n and wa s never recovered. Arabella learned dress-making and millinery ( women’s h at making) to help support the family. George died in 1839, whe n Arabell a was about 15. Before long, Arabella was supporting her mothe r and broth er Frederick, who was only 5 when their father died .
In 1842, Esther, Arabella, and Frederick were baptized into The Chur c h of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Arabella was 18 at the time. Ar ab ella did missionary work by distributing tracts door-to-door in Chelte nha m. In 1849, when Arabella was 25, her mother died. Arabella’s siste r Clar issa and her husband John Alder, a member of the Church since 1842 , emigr ated to St. Louis in 1850.1 Arabella saved her money and earned e nough fo r her and Frederick to follow them in 1851. They sailed with a c ompany o f Saints on the George W. Bourne to New Orleans and then by rive rboat t o St. Louis. Arabella worked at dressmaking and millinery to tr y to ear n enough money to continue on to Zion. She met a recent convert , Samuel R ose Parkinson, also English, and married him on January 1, 185 2. She wa s 27 at the time, and he just 20.
Samuel was doing well as a drayman (someone who hauls things fo r a l iving), owned his teams, and had money in the bank. Their first chi ld, Sa muel Chandler, was born February 23, 1853. The Parkinsons left the ir hom e and business in 1854 to come to Utah, bringing Frederick as wel l as Sam uel’s little sister Lucy with them. Arabella had to cook over bu ffalo chi ps, and once they saw a buffalo stampede. They encountered Ind ians, incl uding a party of 350 fresh from raiding, whom the pioneers fe d and gave g ifts. The Parkinsons and their company narrowly escaped a ma ssacre at For t Laramie.
Arabella and Samuel moved first to Kaysville. Samuel built her a l o g house with a dirt roof and a dirt floor. On August 1, 1855, she ha d a g irl, Charlotte, and the next day, August 2, Charlotte’s twin brothe r, Wil liam. Arabella was in bed with them when a storm blew a part of th e roo f off the house, drenching mother and babies with rain and mud, bu t the y pulled through. Samuel gardened, raised stock, ran a threshing ma chine , and worked on the fort. Arabella kept house and sewed for her fa mily a nd for hire. Their son George was born July 18, 1857. Samuel wa s calle d up in the Utah War and spent much of that winter on guard dut y in the c liffs in Echo Canyon. On July 7, 1859, they had another son, F ranklin. Ar abella’s brother Frederick got restless in Utah and, contrar y to the coun sel of Brigham Young, left for California to look for gold . He wrote fo r a while but then stopped, and though they tried to find h im and reestab lish contact, they never could. Arabella sorrowed over hi m as long as sh e lived.
In the spring of 1860, the Parkinsons joined 12 other families wh o m oved to Cache Valley and settled along the Muddy River. They called t hei r village Green Meadows. When President Brigham Young visited in Jul y t o organize the ward, he asked them to change the name of the river t o Cu b Creek and the name of the town to Franklin, after Apostle Frankli n D. R ichards, and they obliged. For the first few years they thought th ey wer e in Utah, but when the surveys came through, Franklin proved to b e the o ldest town in Idaho. Samuel farmed, hauled goods to Montana, an d starte d a store in their house. Arabella made soap, molded candles, cu red meat , made the buckskin shirts and trousers that her husband and son s wore, w ove the linsey-woolsey cloth (a course mixture of wool and line n or cotto n) and sewed the dresses that she and her daughters wore. Ofte n she use d horsehair for thread.
Samuel worked on ditches, helped build the school, and served as co n stable and as a minuteman-they rode out in response to Indian raids eve r y year. Arabella was tending store one day when an Indian man came i n an d threatened to kill her if she didn’t give him liquor. She kept coo l an d ordered him from the store, and he obeyed. Arabella’s and Samuel’ s seco nd daughter, Esther, was born February 2, 1862.
In 1863 the U.S. Army attacked the Shoshoni on Bear River, 12 mil e s north of Franklin, killing many hundreds of men, women, and children . T he Mormons helped care for the survivors on both sides. Arabella an d Samu el took in a Shoshoni boy who survived the massacre and raised him , givin g him the name of Shem Parkinson. Shem was by some accounts an an gry boy , hard for Arabella to handle, and even pulled a knife on Samue l once. Bu t he joined the Church and became a deacon. He died of quick c onsumptio n in 1881. Arabella’s son Albert was born
Arabella during her trip to St. Louis, 1879 consumption in 1881. Ar a bella’s son Albert was born August 8, 1863 but died at 9 months. Arabel la ’s children write: “This caused her great sorrow. However, there wer e s o many responsibilities crowding on her that she was forced to dismis s he r sorrow as much as possible to carry out her duties.” Clara was bo rn Ap ril 18, 1865 and Caroline November 10, 1866, making five boys and f our gi rls born to Samuel and Arabella.
Samuel was doing well now at farming, freighting, and managing t h e store. According to his daughter Vivian, Samuel and Arabella discuss e d plural marriage even before they married. Samuel told Arabella: “Yo u k now, I know that’s true, that church. And if I join it I’m going t o joi n it whole hand or none. And that means if there ever comes a tim e I thi nk I should take another wife, I’m going to do it. So now you ma ke up yo ur mind because that’s what I’m going to do.
” After getting Arabella’s consent, Samuel made cautious inquirie s a bout marrying Charlotte Smart, the daughter of his friend and busines s pa rtner Thomas S. Smart. Charlotte was willing but on her father’s adv ice t old Samuel to wait a year. She also asked him not to court her duri ng tha t time, out of consideration for Arabella. They talked only briefl y at Ch urch functions, danced at parties, and were rarely if ever alone . Samue l married Charlotte in 1866. He was 35 and Charlotte 17.
Arabella, age 42, had given birth to Caroline, her youngest, ju s t a month before. Samuel married Charlotte’s sister Maria two years lat er , when Maria was also 17. According to George and Caroline, Arabella l ive d the law of Sarah: “She knew by the revelation from God that her dom esti c life for time and all eternity was involved in . . . the celestia l orde r of marriage, and upon this conviction she stepped forth and gav e her hu sband these two wives to become the mothers of his children.” Ch arlotte t ended Arabella’s children so Arabella could be present at Maria ’s wedding .
Samuel rotated between wives, a week at each. Arabella had a hous e , and Charlotte and Maria lived for years in separate rooms in anothe r on e. Between the three families Samuel eventually had 32 children. Th e var ious histories depict Samuel’s homes as happy and say all three wiv es wer e peacemakers and devoted to their families. Arabella’s children w ere hav ing children at the same time as the other wives, which must hav e meant S amuel’s two younger families got an extra portion of his attent ion. He ha d other demands that kept him away as well. He became the mana ger of th e Franklin Co-op, which included a woolen mill and other undert akings bes ides the store.
He served as a counselor in the same bishopric for 30 years, whic h t hey figured was a record. In 1873 the Church sent him on an explorati on m ission to Arizona. He went to prison for polygamy for five months i n 1886 . Arabella asked if she could send a bed with him, and the marsha l said n o, just a quilt and pillow. So she made him a quilt with eight p ounds o f wool. She sent him care packages with cakes, candies, and fruit . She ke pt the family going and looked over his financial affairs whil e he was go ne.