Elizabeth Hunt Thayne

   Elizabeth Hunt Thayne does not appear in the 1870 census in Utah which raises the question, where was she when the census was taken?

There are multiple explanations as to why she is not in the census, but the two reasons that seem most likely are:

      1) She was living at the sawmill up in Thayne canyon far away from the city

(or)

       2) She hid from the census taker because of the laws against polygamy.

    In the Utah History Encyclopedia it states that, "In 1862 the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories, disincorporated the Mormon Church, and restricted the church's ownership of property. The nation was in the midst of the Civil War, however, and the law was not enforced. In 1867 the Utah Territorial Legislature asked Congress to repeal the Morrill Act. Instead of doing that, the House Judiciary Committee asked why the law was not being enforced, and the Cullom Bill, an attempt to strengthen the Morrill Act, was introduced."

    The only census I have been able to find Elizabeth in is the 1841 census taken in England when she was only two years old. 

"1841 England Census for Great Somerford, Wiltshire, England," images Ancestry.com

Tracing the Thayne family in the Census

Who was Annie Thayne?

She is recorded as John Johnson Thayne's daughter in the 1880 U.S. Census, but I haven't been able to locate any other records about her. Is it possible that her and Edgar were twins? One possible explanation is she married the Sundance Kid and her father disowned her. It has been a challenge to find any information about her, but I did come across this one story...

"During this period, Sundance (McGraf) lived in the Mormon town of Colonia Dublan, with the family of Nephi Thayne, president of the Chihuahua branch of the Mormon Church.

It was no coincidence that Sundance chose this family with whom to reside, for Nephi Thayne was his brother-in-law. In January, 190 1, shortly before leaving for South America, Sundance had married pretty Annie Marie Thayne, daughter of John Johnson Thayne, Mormon bishop of Wellington, Utah (with whose polygamous family Etta Place had lived as a girl). The staunchly religious father disowned his daughter for her choice of husbands and she was compelled to leave home, her plight worsened by the fact that she was pregnant and abandoned by Sundance when he fled to South America. Annie Thayne Longabaugh gave birth to a son - Harold Thayne Longabaugh late in 1901, and she was killed in a train wreck in Oregon several years later. Her son was raised in a foster family and only discovered his true identity many years later, when he met his father in a hotel in the State of Washington, under the alias of Hiram Bebee. Harold Thayne Longabaugh died in a tragic hotel fire in Montana in the 1970s."

For more information and to see a picture of Annie click on the link on this page and check out the blog created by Carole Thayne Warburton.

Missionary to Canada, England, and Scotland

John Johnson served a mission to Canada, England, and Scotland from 1878-80.
To hear a letter written by Elizabeth to John while he was serving check out the podcast on this blog.  

the continuing story... as told by John Johnson Thayne's son Ebenezer Hunt Thayn

While John and Sidney were living in Canada, four children were born to them, Mary Ann, Nephi, John Lehi, and Ellen Jane. They then came to the United States and Settled in the state of Iowa. I think four more children were born to them while living there; Emma, Fanny, Eliza Catherine, and Janet. In 1861 they came to Utah. They had believed the gospel, but had not been baptized. When they were ready to leave from Council Bluffs as an independent company there were two girls from England wanting to come. He was asked if he could take one of them with his company and was told he could take his pick,so he picked one. Her name was Elizabeth Hunt.

 When they arrived in Salt Lake, Elizabeth lived with the family for about one year and then John Johnson took her to be his second wife. They were married on the 25th of October 1862. To them were born five boys; Joseph, who died as a baby, William Alvin, Brigham, Edgar and Ebenezer. Elizabeth’s son Joseph, and Sidney’s son, Hyrum were born the same day, Nov. 8, 1863. Sidney gave birth to two more children while living in Salt Lake.

Rootstech Confrence 2012

I had such a great time participating in the Rootstech conference this year! It was so fun being around people who love Family History as much as I do. I volunteered to help during the early registration shift and couldn't believe the number of people who came from all over the world to be apart of this conference. Genealogy is so addicting! Here are some jokes I love about Genealogy...

Genealogy

Genealogy begins as an interest,

Becomes a hobby,

Continues as an avocation,

Takes over as an obsession and in its last stages

Is an incurable disease.

Old genealogist never die they just lose their census

Marriage of John Johnson Thayne and Sidney Boyer 1848

To continue the life story of John Johnson Thayne I wanted to share a resource I found about this family. It is a book written by Kathy Thayne Rasmussen which I discovered at the FHL in Salt Lake City. This book is a gold mine of information about the Ebenezer Thayne family, it's entitled, "Following the fading footprints of the Thayne, Thain or Thayn family : an account of a family from Scotland who migrated to the Canadian frontier, then on to Iowa, across the plains to Utah, up to Thayne, Wyoming and on to Snowflake, Arizona"
This is the story contained in Kathy Rasmussen's book about how John and his wife Sidney Boyer meet and married.

John made a very strong glue and went house to house selling it. He felt it might help his sale if he dressed in Scottish clothes, probably his fathers. While selling the glue he met Sidney Boyer. As a young girl Sidney dreamed of a  man dressed in kilts, knee pants, long heavy stockings, and high topped shoes or boots. She saw his face so plainly that she felt she would know him anywhere. She was told in her dream that this was the man she was to marry. The dream was given to her three times, so it was impressed forcibly on her mind.
In September 1848, John knocked at the door of Abraham Boyer and stood there in his Scottish clothes. When Sidney saw him she knew this was the face and clothing she had seen in her dream. In a short time he and Sidney were making plans to be married. They were married, in Canada, on the 23 of October 1848.

Brief Introduction of John Johnson Thayne

The information that I am going to share on this blog is the result of my research for my History 317 class at BYU. I choose to discover more about this particular family because they are the ones who settled in the town of Wellington, Utah which is were my family still lives today. John Johnson Thayne is my direct line ancestor and the first of my Thayne ancestors to immigrate to America.

History of John Johnson Thayn
As told By His son
Ebenezer Hunt Thayn

 John Johnson Thayn was born in Glasgow, Scotland, November 11, 1825. When he was about two years old he came to Canada with his family. Soon after they arrived his father died. His mother was unable to support all of the children, so the oldest boy, Ebenezer, was let out to work for his board. There were only two boys but there were four girls. Following are the names of the children: Ellen, Jane, Ebenezer, Janet, John Johnson and Fanny.