Description

“Sat in the Shadows”

Joseph Shipley was born November 1813, in Northhamptonshire, England. He married Elizabeth Garley in December 1842. In 1843, Joseph and Elizabeth heard the testimony of the missionaries and were baptized. Not long after, a son was born to them whom they named Nephi.

On September 1, 1845, Joseph, Betsy, and Nephi sailed from Liverpool on the ship Oregon, bound for New Orleans. The Shipley’s arrived in Nauvoo on November 6, 1845. Scarcely had they time to settle in when Brigham Young gave the call to leave Nauvoo for a new home somewhere in the West. Joseph and Betsy gathered up and just thirteen days after Brother Brigham, they followed the Prophet out onto the prairies of Iowa.

On April 24, 1846, the decision was made to establish a way-station settlement on the Grand River to help support and supply the saints in the great Exodus. Joseph was among those sturdy souls asked to stay and build Garden Grove. In days the settlement was raised and Joseph and Betsy moved on to help build the next settlement farther to the west that would be known as Mt. Pisgah.

It was here at Mt. Pisgah, that Captain James Allen came calling for volunteers to join the United States Army in the war with Mexico. President Young came personally to Mt. Pisgah endorsing the call and asking for volunteers. Joseph Shipley, most recently of her majesty’s realm, Great Britain, joined the army, and was part of Company C.

On the afternoon of July 19, 1846, a grand and merry ball was held in the open air in honor of the soldiers who would soon be leaving. Colonel Thomas L. Kane wrote of that occasion, “A more merry dancing rout I have never witnessed, though the company went without refreshments and their ballroom was of the most primitive kind… the spirit of people too happy to be slow or bashful, or constrained. Light-hearted, lithe figures, and light feet, had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped behind the sharp sky lines of the Omaha hills.”

And yet, it is said in family records, that “Joseph sat in the shadows, watching the dance. His thoughts were back at Mt. Pisgah, where he had left his wife and babies.”

On July 20, 1846, the Battalion marched out of Winter Quarters bound for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and from there, on to California. On the march to Santa Fe, Joseph was among those who became ill. Already worn down from hard work and the rigors of frontier travel, he became too ill to continue and was sent with the sick detachment to Pueblo, Colorado, where they spent the winter of 1846-47.

As soon as he could, Joseph left Pueblo in the spring of 1847, to join the Saints. He and others of the Battalion arrived in the Salt Lake Valley July 29, 1847—just five days after President Young’s arrival. It is written that President Young felt a great concern for those who were then out on the Trail and bound for the Salt Lake Valley behind him. He asked for men to go back along the trail, find out who was there, and help where they could. Joseph was among those who went.

Understandably, it was a difficult journey fraught with much hardship, hunger, and exposure. Joseph’s “prime reason for making this hard and weary journey was to be with his wife and family and to bring them back with him to the Salt Lake Valley.”

We have little of the details, but when Joseph arrived at Winter Quarters, he learned that his entire family was gone. Elizabeth and Nephi had both died of cholera in his absence and were buried at Mt. Pisgah. Joseph’s friend, Willard Richards wrote a letter to Lorenzo Snow on Joseph’s behalf. He said:

“Be pleased to inquire concerning his wife’s death, and the death of his child—when—under what circumstances [they] were buried, and all particulars.” The letters goes on to request that if any of Joseph effects were there to send them up “with a letter stating all the particulars you can learn, and confer a favor on one who has left all for to obey counsel.” “Your Brother in Christ, Willard Richards.”

There is no record of a reply. Notwithstanding, Joseph went on in faith to the Salt Lake Valley where he married, Elizabeth Anderton and together had 12 children. The family records concludes with this statement regarding Joseph and Elizabeth in their late years,

“This fine couple was revered in the memories of all who knew them. They stood steadfast to the truth through trials and persecutions. Each was found loyal and worthy in all the hardships and afflictions they were obliged to endure.”

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJW-9HS
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2b65a83e-039c-4be8-ae0b-500ffb1bd095/0/0