Wednesday, August 5, 2015

THE MYSTERIES OF COLLINS EASTMAN FLANDERS

COLLINS EASTMAN FLANDERS
was born on 6 March 1814 in Warner, Merrimack, New Hampshire to:
PHILIP FLANDERS 3rd (of Warner, New Hampshire) and
UNIS EASTMAN (of Hopkinton, New Hampshire) 

PARENTS MARRIAGE:
Hopkinton, NH Vital Records / Marriages 1737-1858
Mr. Philip Flanders 3rd of Warner and Miss Unis Eastman of Hopkinton were married at Hopkinton May 19, 1796 by Benjamin justice of the peace.
 

Book:  The Flanders Family from Europe to America (page 832) shows: 

Collins Eastman Flanders, born March 6, 1814, at Warner, NH, married first in New Hampshire:

(1) Mehitable Dow of Boscowen, NH, married on 29 Dec 1834, by Daniel Moody.  She was presumably the daughter of Nathaniel Dow and Sarah Pettingill.  Collins was 20 years old at the time of this marriage.  On his arm he had tattooed a picture of a woman with the name Mehitable beneath it.  It is possible that his wife Mehitable Dow, died before he went to Hawaii or later to Utah.


(2) Kealakahionua (no children listed) married in Hawaii on May 13, 1854 - 20 years after his previous marriage.  (source call #1014414 film, Source M518961 (dates 1826-1885).  There are no records of him traveling to Utah with any of the pioneer wagon trains, thus he most likely learned about the Church of Jesus Christ while living in Hawaii and then traveled to Utah from there.

Two months later Collins Eastman Flanders was baptized a member of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a Mormon) on July 17, 1854 by P.B. Lewis in the Salt Lake Temple, SLC, Utah. (40 years old)

Two years later he received his patriarchal blessing on July 30, 1856 in Santaquin, Utah from Isaac Morley (Volume 18, page 32, No. 26).  (42 years old)

One year later he was ordained into the 15th Quorum of Seventies on March 9, 1857, by H.W. Mikesell, signed by Joseph Young, President,.  By virtue of his office, was called to preach the gospel and officiate in all the ordinances thereof. (Robert Campbell, clerk).  From early Church records (Info file 1,750,676) shows Father as Phillip and Mother as Eunice Eastman.



He received his endowment in the Salt Lake Temple July 10, 1857 (43 years old) (which was the same date as his marriage to the following woman):

(3) Ellen Sophia Jacobs was sealed to Collins Eastman Flanders in the Salt Lake Temple on July 10, 1857.  She was born April 6, 1832 at Stangvik, Norway (daughter of Goodman Jacobs and Betsey ____).  Record (AFN:BXR9-QN) also show her married to Dimick Huntington.
Their Children:
1.  Ellen Sophia (1860 census shows her full name)
3.  Collins Eastman Jr.
4.  Sarah Olive
5.  Oden Goodman (Ricky Ralph Gurney is from this line)
Joseph Smith Flanders (a child age 5, born 1855) is listed on the 1860 census.  The child would have either been born to them prior to their temple sealing, or from a prior marriage (Dimick?), as Collins Eastman Flanders married Ellen Sophia Jacobs in 1857.

Six months later he married (in polygamy) to:

(4) Anna Joneson Simonson was born 15 December 1820 in Sweden.   They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on 20 Dec 1857 (she was 37 years old).  She died 30 December 1872 (15 years later).  They were married for 15 years.
Their children:
1.  Eunice Jemima - born 25 Sep 1858 at Santaquin, Utah.
2.  Hyrum Smith - born 7 Feb 1861 at Moroni, Utah
3.  Nancy Colburn - born 4 June 1864, died 1943
Mary A. Simonson Flanders - born in Sweden - a 10 year old child who was living with the family at time of 1860 Census, appears to be Anna's child from a previous marriage.

Salt Lake Cemetery records show death for Anna Flanders as 28 Dec 1872 and birth date as 1818.  Also, that she died in Salt Lake City and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  It shows a child listed as:  Nina Colby Tubesing (?) Nancy Colburn? would only have been 8 years old at time of her death.
Nancy Colby Tubesing's info in Find-a-Grave shows her:
Death:   Oct. 12, 1943 in Ely, White Pine County, Nevada, USA
Spouses:    Eugene Whitear (1861 - 1923)  John Henry Tubesing (1861 - 1940)  
James Wesley King (1854 - 1946)*
Children:    
Anna May King Will (1885 - 1970)*
Burial:  Cloverdale Memorial Park, Boise, Ada County, Idaho, USA

Nine months after Anna's death Collins married (57 years old):

(5) Harriet Husbands Bell (a widow)
Born:               13 Feb 1832 in London, England                  
Died:               15 Aug 1899 in Salt Lake City, UT
Marriage:       29 Sep 1871
Their Children:
(1)  Eliza Ann Flanders (Twin) (1871-1932) Married a Meredith
(2)  Ruben P. Flanders (Twin) (1871-1874)  Died at 3 years old

Thomas Husbands had moved from his rural home in the village of Bishop's Frome, Hereford County, England, to London to obtain work in one of the breweries there.  In London, he met and married Margaret Maria Weaight and they raised a family of seven children.  Their second daughter, Harriet, was born in London on 15 February 1832.  Thomas was killed in an accident at the brewery on 13 May 1857.  His widow, who had been converted to the Mormon faith, decided to leave England for America.  They travelled on the clipper ship Underwriter, which arrived in New York on 1 May 1860.  They then travelled to the Mormon camp at Florence, Nebraska, (on the site previously known as Winter Quarters), followed by an additional eleven weeks crossing the plains to Salt Lake City, arriving there on 30 September 1860.
 
Ten weeks after her arrival in Salt Lake, the 28-year-old Harriet Husbands married 45-year-old Millard Bell were married.  Six children were born to this marriage, three of whom survived to adulthood.  Millard operated a lumber yard in Salt Lake City.   There is an old family story that at some point it suffered a devastating fire.  Eight years after their marriage, Millard Bell died of "apoplexy" (a stroke) on 18 August 1868.  


Following her husband's death, Harriet married into the polygamous family of Collins Eastman Flanders, on 29 September 1871.  She was the fifth of his five wives and bore him three children.  Harriet Bell (she retained the Bell surname) died of paralysis and myelitis (an inflamation of bone marrow) on 28 August 1899.  She is also buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery. 

The Salt Lake City Directory (1874) shows Collins Eastman Flanders in the 20th Ward (page 216) occupation as a stonecutter.


1850 Census in Hopkinton, Merrimack, New Hampshire
shows Collins E as 36 years old, a stonecutter with Mehitable H (age 44) and 3 children:  Judith Augusta (9) born in 1841, Mary A (Alice) (7) born in 1843, Harriet S (6) born in 1844.  It also shows Polly Eaton (age 59) living with them.  Mehitable was 8 years his senior.

June 1860 Census in Sanpete County, Fort Ephraim, Utah (page 47) shows Collins Eastman Flanders (age 46 years), stonecutter, with real estate value $100 and personal property valued at $200.  It shows Ellen Sophia (age 38), her son Joseph Smith (5 years) and Ellen Sophia, daughter (3 years).  It also shows Anna (age 40 years) with daughter Mary A (10 years) and Eunice Jemima (1 year old).  A man, Samuel Martin (age 27) from England lives with the family, as well as Mary (age 20, Samuel (age 7), Mary E (age 2) and Martha (age 1).  

Collins Eastman Flanders died at the St. Mary's hospital 28 January 1916 and was buried in the pauper's section of the Salt Lake City Cemetery in an unmarked grave.  It is said that he worked for 20 years as a stonecutter in building the Salt Lake Temple.

In gratitude to him, I would like to find family members who are willing to get together, order a headstone for Collins Eastman Flanders's grave!  I am truly grateful for his courage to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and to gift us (his posterity) the privilege of the ordinances and teachings of Jesus Christ.  If you are not a member and have not received the required ordinances of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, you can learn more here:  www.lds.org
 



 

 







 

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