LILLYWHITE, Margaret Mitchell b. 25 Nov 1824 London, Middlesex, England d. 22 Oct 1889 Beaver, Beaver, Utah, United States

1824 - 1889 (64 years)

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Name	LILLYWHITE, Margaret Mitchell
Birth	25 Nov 1824	London, Middlesex, England
Christening	3 Apr 1825	St Pancras St Jude Gray's Inn Road, London, England
Gender	Female
WAC	29 Jun 1861
_TAG	Reviewed on FS
Burial	Oct 1889	Beaver, Beaver, Utah, United States
Death	22 Oct 1889	Beaver, Beaver, Utah, United States
Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
Person ID	I20672	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

Family ID F11136 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Family	CAMPBELL, Jonathan Jr. , b. 26 Jan 1812, Ridgebury, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States Ridgebury, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United Statesd. 24 Nov 1886, Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States (Age 74 years)
Marriage	1853	Ridgebury, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States
Family ID	F10931	Group Sheet \| Family Chart
Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

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Notes

Margaret Mitchell was born November 25, 1823 in London, England. Benjamin Lillywhite Sr. was born October 6, 1819 in St. George, England. Benjamin was a painter by trade. Benjamin and Margaret were married July 3, 1842 in the St. Bride's Parish Church in London England. At the time of her marriage, Margaret gave her name as Margaret Masters, daughter of Benjamin Masters, who was really her step-father. Her own father was an officer in the British Army, and apparently was killed or had died. Margaret's mother, Rebecca, married Benjamin Masters during Margaret's childhood.
Just one year after her marriage, and several months before the birth of their first child, Margaret was baptized a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her husband, Benjamin, and several other members of the Lillywhite and Masters families also joined about the same time. Margaret and Benjamin had a great desire to come to America and join the Saints in Zion so they began to work and save and plan.
In September 1843, their first child, Benjamin Jr. was born. This made them want to gather to Zion even more so their son could have the privilege of growing up in a Latter-day Saint community. In 1845, they had a daughter, Sarah.
By 1846, they were beginning to make definite plans for their emigration. About this time it was learned that two missionaries from America, who were in charge of collecting the funds and making all necessary arrangements to bring the saints to America in organized groups, had, through mismanagement and misappropriation of these funds, lost all the money and incurred heavy debts for the church. Because of this, President Brigham Young ordered all Church sponsored immigration halted until a thorough investigation could be made. The men were later excommunicated from the church.
The Lillywhites kept the faith and decided to make their own. Near the end of 1846, they sold all their possessions and left their home in London for America. The family consisted of Benjamin Sr. (age 27), Margaret (age 23), Benjamin Jr. (age 4), and daughter Sarah (about 18 months). Sarah died on the ship and was buried at sea. It took about 6- 12 weeks to sail form London to New York City. After their arrival in Ney York, Benjamin Sr. obtained work and settled down to recoup their finances enough so they could continue their journey toward Zion. Joseph W. was born after arriving in New York City in November 1847.
During the summer of 1849, they made their way to St. Louis where they began to assemble teams and wagons for the trip west. Benjamin Sr. was stricken with cholera and died on June 28, 1849, leaving the young family stunned and heartbroken. Margaret was sad and alone, thousands of miles away from her family and friends, with no means of support and two small boys depending on her for care and protection. Rather than return to England and her parents, Margaret determined to press forward to Utah. She sent the two little boys, now ages 6 and 2, on with other familys, while she remained behind in St. Louis to work until she could finance her way to Utah.
Several years later Margaret married, as a plural wife, to permit a lone woman to travel over the pioneer trail without reproach and finally arrived in Utah. The marriage lasted only a short time, and was annulled. Upon reaching Utah she began searching for her boys. When she found Benjamin, the family didn't want to give him up! They had become very much attached to him and now he was old enough to help repay them for the years of care and protection they had given him. Margaret had more difficulty finding the family who had Joseph, but eventually they were reunited.
Not long after coming to Salt Lake Valley, Margaret received word from a maiden Aunt in England asking her to return home to claim a large fortune to witch she was rightful heir. She borrowed money and returned with Joseph to England. Once there she found that the fortune could be hers only upon the condition that she renounce her Mormon religion and remain in England. It was a difficult decision. Margaret had suffered extreme poverty. she looked at what seemed to be her obligation to her two sons as opposed to her obligation to her God. But as she studied over the matter, she was surprised to discover that both obligations merged into one. Once again she turned west toward the new land of Zion with its spirit of freedom, leaving her English background of class, privilege and prejudice.
Margaret was a very attractive and vivacious woman, who loved to to wear nice cloths as a good time. She wore a flower or a ribbon in her curly brown hair and no matter how old or shabby her cloths, she always managed to wear them with flair that made her appear well dressed. She was always cheerful and pleasant, never burdening others with any of her troubles. She remained firm in her testimony of the Gospel. Margaret married John Eldridge and had two children. After the death of Mr. Eldridge, Margaret married Elijah Elmer and had one son. She died in Beaver, Utah on October 22,1889 at the age of 66.

Benjamin Lillywhite Sr. and his wife, Margaret were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840’s in London, England. Anxious to join the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, they sold all of their possession and in 1845 bought passage on a chartered Mormon immigrant ship to America for themselves, Benjamin Jr. who was four and Sarah who was two. They arrived in New York, leaving there in early 1848 for St. Louis in a wagon train. During the last days of the journey, Benjamin Sr. contracted cholera. Benjamin Sr. never fully recovered from the disease and died in June of the following year. Soon after, young Sarah also died of cholera, although some reports say she died while they were still at sea. A son, Joseph, was born to Margaret this same year. At this time the Mormons were being driven west and it was impossible for Margaret to remain in St. Louis with her two sons. She followed the saints to Council Bluffs where arrangements were being made to travel west. Benjamin Jr. remembered being baptized there when he turned eight. Being grieved and handicapped by the death of her husband and daughter, Margaret was advised by those in charge to arrange for Benjamin to be taken to Utah with a wagon train while she worked to earn money to follow later. Benjamin Jr. was adopted by a couple named Miller who had no children. Legal papers were drawn up with the agreement that Benjamin would work for them until the age of twenty-one at which time they would provide him with a house. However, Mr. Miller died on the plains of Iowa leaving Benjamin, age nine, responsible for driving the oxen team to the Salt Lake Valley where they arrived in 1852. Mrs. Miller re-married a man named Mathew Mansfield and they were called to start a colony, farming in the Millcreek area of the valley. Benjamin worked for them for his keep, often in near starvation conditions as the saints suffered many crop failures. During a conference in Salt Lake City shortly after 1857, Benjamin met his mother and brother but she was too poor to reclaim him. She eventually settled in Beaver, Utah. In 1860, Benjamin left the Mansfield’s to be near his widowed mother and younger brother, Joseph in Beaver where he built them a cabin and helped care for them.
(Information taken from “A Lonely Boy” written by Herold Stoney Lillywhite and from a handwritten autobiography of Benjamin Lillywhite Jr. in possession of Margaret Lewis).