Mormon emigrants Halifax to Nebraska

[johnnyboy]

Hi Anne: My Mormon half-cousins are all from Scotland. I have lots of relatives from the Halifax area. My maternal grandfather emigrated as a child from Halifax to the U.S. and married into the part of the Scottish family that didn't become Mormons. His future mother in law, my maternal great grandmother, emigrated on her own at age 23 to Massachusetts. It was her stepmother and half-siblings (plus one of her full brothers) who converted and moved to Utah.

I'll try your suggestion about finding the book on Google.

Before my computer crashed a few hours ago, I was searching for the book on the BYU website, I came across links to various online state archives, including one for Washington State at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov.

I typed in "Tempest" and got lots of hits for various types of records. One that was intriguing was for the death record for Clair Tempest (died 1966), son of Alfred Tempest. I had seen his name on the U.S. Social Security Death Index as having his social security number issued in Washington State. But I discounted that as having any connection to your people because Clair Tempest died in Titusville, Pennsylvania, 3,000 miles from Washington State.

Well, once I saw his name in the Washington death records, I went back to the Social Security records and compared the birth dates. They matched: April 20, 1888.

Marriage records on the Washington State site show that Clair Tempest married Laura Thurman on Jan. 1, 1914. Their son Leroy was born in Washington in 1916.

Both Laura Thurman Tempest and Leroy Tempest are in the Social Security Death Index. Laura Tempest died in September 1985. Son Leroy Tempest died in January 1984.

So you have relatives in Pennsylvania. What's so unusual about that is that moving to Titusville, Pennsylvania from near to Spokane, Washington is like moving from Bristol to a small town near the Yorkshire Moors.

Titusville's claim to fame is that the first commercial oil well in the U.S. was drilled there in 1859.

Added: Forgot to mention that when you search the marriage records on the Washington State site, you'll find downloadable images of the marriage certificates for Clair (misspelled Clarir) and George Tempest. Identified by a magnifiying glass

Regards,
John 

[nickgc]

Yes, I've seen that rather puzzling second marriage.

Anyone with Mormon relatives from the 1800s should also look for the possibility of multiple wives, especially if they were "ranking" Mormons as Phineas appears to have been.

I was fascinated when searching a brother-in-law's family to find a 2 or 3x Mormon grt grandfather had multiple wives and nearly 40 children.  It became quite obvious what was going on since there were all these women with the same surname, living close together, having more children census after census, with no husband apparent.  Makes for lots of cousins in succeeding generations.

Nick 

[Marmaduke 123]

John

Thanks so much again! Clair is one of my missing Tempests, he is one of the sons of Alfred and Josephine and I had completely lost track of him. The other missing child is Ruba or Ruby Gladys, born 1894 in Washington state. Clair's middle name was Leroy I think.

I 'll have a look through the Washington State Archives website and see what I can find.

I had noticed quite a few Tempests in Pennsylvania, but no direct link that I could see.

Nick

I haven't found any multiple marriages in my lot, in fact I think they were of the section of the Mormons opposed to them.

I don't know much about the Mormons apart from the basics, so when I read of the positions Phineus held in the church I don't really know what it means e.g. "he was set apart as the 7th member of the High Council" (of the Bannock State of Zion)

He also held quite a few State offices in Idaho - took the 1900 census, police judge, JP, Notary Public etc. Not bad for a lad who started work half time in the mills in Halifax, aged eight and a half!

Anne

[johnnyboy]

John

Thanks so much again! Clair is one of my missing Tempests, he is one of the sons of Alfred and Josephine and I had completely lost track of him. The other missing child is Ruba or Ruby Gladys, born 1894 in Washington state. Clair's middle name was Leroy I think.

...
I had noticed quite a few Tempests in Pennsylvania, but no direct link that I could see.

...
I don't know much about the Mormons apart from the basics, so when I read of the positions Phineus held in the church I don't really know what it means e.g. "he was set apart as the 7th member of the High Council" (of the Bannock State of Zion)
...
Anne

Hi Anne:

Bannock State of Zion should be Bannock Stake of Zion. A Stake is the Mormon equivalent of a diocese.

As for Ruby Tempest, she married Ellis Botham on Nov. 16, 1913 in Fairfield, Washington. To see the certificate, you can go back to the Tempest marriage records on the Washington State digital archives site and click on the magnifying glass next to Ruby's name or you can click the following link to go directly to the image: http://media.digitalarchives.wa.gov/WA.Media/jpeg/8A3FFED6D4DC7D38FDE8B09D5913CF64_1.jpg.

Yes, Clair Tempest's middle name was Leroy.

John 

[johnnyboy]

To the moderator: Everyone mentioned in the attachments is deceased.

Hi Anne: Maybe I should go professional as a genealogist. I searched Google for Clair Tempest and got a hit on the Spokane newspaper. The I searched Google's newspaper archive and found a second item.

Attached are two newspaper stories from the Spokane Daily Chronicle, one from 1933, the other a picture of one of your Tempest's from 1940.

One story mentions a "normal school." I've never known a school to be normal. But here it's the antiquated American term for a teachers college.

The picture is pre-World War II for the U.S., but the military was making preparations...

Regards,
John

[Marmaduke 123]

Wow, fantastic! I googled for the older generations but not for these more recent ones. Silly really, with such a distictive name.

I've been looking at Fairfield on Google Earth - it's right over by the Idaho border, and still a very small farming town by the look of it on Streetview. Rexburg is much bigger by comparison, surrounded by quite small fields. Phineus apparently grew soft fruit commercially, especially raspberries. I found a few more bits about him in another book, on the Internet Archive.

Thanks for all your help John.

Anne

[johnnyboy]

Hi Anne: I thought I had done with the Tempests, but the Spokane Daily Chronicle kept giving up its news articles about them.

An obit for Ruby Tempest Botham is here: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0joTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fvgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5391,4463150&dq=botham&hl=en

The probating of Josephine Tempest's will is here: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P9QiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yvQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2922,2396970&dq=ruby-botham&hl=en

Alfred and Josephine Tempest's main asset was a 160-acre farm. It was a land grant through the U.S. Homestead Act of 1862, which offered individuals 160 acres of land. They got title to the land if they built a house and farmed for five years.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management administers land grants and has a database online. Go to http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/, type 00000 as your postal code, click Search Land Patents, click Standard, select All States at the bottom of the scroll down State menu, and type Tempest in the Last Name box, and hit enter. You'll get land grants for Alfred, Phineus, and James (son of Phineus?). Click on the magnifying glass for images.

Fairfield, Washington, where the Tempest farm seems to have been located, is at the northern end of a geographic region called the Palouse (Pah-loose), which is noted for its hills, its lentils, and the spotted horse called the Appaloosa. Wikipedia probably has an article on the Palouse.

Regards,
John 

[Marmaduke 123]

I can't thank you enough John, for all the help you have given me. I hadn't ever thought of searching the google newspaper archives, but will certainly do so in future.

I've just made contact with a descendent of Phineas/Phineus in Utah, so it looks as if I shall be kept busy with the american Tempests for a while longer. Then it's back to the stay-at-homes in Halifax.

Best regards

Anne

[Shelleybean]

Hi I see this is a pretty old post, but found it interesting. My Great grandma was Ruby Tempest she married Ellis Botham.  I still live in the area and visit the cemeteries. My mom also has some old Tempest photos, we have put some on find a grave, however we keep talking about needing to make more time to add some more. I am pretty sure she even has a photo of Clair Tempest. I also remember seeing one of the house in Fair field. Please let me know if I can help with anything, I will do my best 

Shelley