Spouse: Living BLAU. Children were: Living BLAU, Living BLAU.

Spouse: Andrew Jackson HOPKINS. Martha Jane KERR and Andrew Jackson HOPKINS were married on 30 March 1845 in ,,Iowa.

Spouse: Emma Mason HENRY. Children were: William F. KERR.

Spouse: Mary Ann CLIFFORD. Mary Ann CLIFFORD and William KERR 10th Baron Fennehurst were married about 1591 in London, England. Children were: Benjamin CARR, William CARR Imm, George CARR Imm Sr, James CARR, Richard CARR Imm.

Spouse: Frances LOVELACE. Children were: Frances Lovelace KERR.

Spouse: John JESSUP. Joanna KERRICH and John JESSUP were married in 1624 in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. Children were: Edward JESSUP, John JESSUP, Johanna JESSUP, Elizabeth Ann JESSUP.

Spouse: Robert KERRIDGE. Mrs Robert KERRICH and Robert KERRIDGE were married in 1535. Children were: Margery KERRICH (MNU), William KERRIDGE, Rose KERRIDGE, Giles KERRIDGE, John KERRICH, Thomas KERRICH.

Spouse: William KERRICH. Mrs William KERRICH and William KERRICH were married between September 1552 and March in Saxted, Suffolk, England'. Children were: Robert KERRIDGE, William KERRICH, Annes KERRICH, Christiana KERRICH, Miss KERRICH, Miss KERRICH.

Spouse: William KERRICH. Mrs. Margery KERRICH and William KERRICH were married in 1565 in Saxtead,Suffolk,England. Children were: Rose KERRICH.

Spouse: William KERRICH. Mrs. William KERRICH and William KERRICH were married on 10 September 1551 in Saxtead,Suffolk,England. Children were: Robert KERRICH.

Spouse: Miss KIRK. Miss KIRK and Robert KERRICH were married in 1535 in Saxtead,Suffolk,England. Children were: William KERRICH.

Spouse: Thomas CLARKE. Rose KERRICH and Thomas CLARKE were married on 13 May 1600 in Westhorpe,Suffolk,England. Children were: Thomas CLARKE, Joseph CLARKE.

Children were: William KERRICH.

Children were: William KERRICH.

Spouse: Mrs. William KERRICH. Mrs. William KERRICH and William KERRICH were married on 10 September 1551 in Saxtead,Suffolk,England. Children were: Robert KERRICH.

Spouse: Mrs William KERRICH. Mrs William KERRICH and William KERRICH were married between September 1552 and March in Saxted, Suffolk, England'. Children were: Robert KERRIDGE, William KERRICH, Annes KERRICH, Christiana KERRICH, Miss KERRICH, Miss KERRICH.

Spouse: Mrs. Margery KERRICH. Mrs. Margery KERRICH and William KERRICH were married in 1565 in Saxtead,Suffolk,England. Children were: Rose KERRICH.

Spouse: William KERRIDGE. Margery KERRICH (MNU) and William KERRIDGE were married in 1565 in Saxted, Suffolk, England. Children were: Rose KERIDGE (KERRICH), Isabel KERRICK, Margaret KERRICK, Mary KERRICK, Margery KERRICK, Isabel KERRICH, Margaret KERRICH, John KERRIDGE, Mary KERRICH, Margery KERRICH, Isobel KERRICH.

Spouse: Mrs Robert KERRICH. Mrs Robert KERRICH and Robert KERRIDGE were married in 1535. Children were: Margery KERRICH (MNU), William KERRIDGE, Rose KERRIDGE, Giles KERRIDGE, John KERRICH, Thomas KERRICH.

Spouse: Margery KERRICH (MNU). Margery KERRICH (MNU) and William KERRIDGE were married in 1565 in Saxted, Suffolk, England. Children were: Rose KERIDGE (KERRICH), Isabel KERRICK, Margaret KERRICK, Mary KERRICK, Margery KERRICK, Isabel KERRICH, Margaret KERRICH, John KERRIDGE, Mary KERRICH, Margery KERRICH, Isobel KERRICH.

Spouse: Mary DICKENSON. Children were: Mary KERSEY.

Spouse: William Thomas LAMBDIN SR.. Mary KERSEY and William Thomas LAMBDIN SR. were married before 1694 in Maryland. Children were: DANIEL LAMBDIN, ANN LAMBDIN, ELIZABETH LAMBDIN, George LAMBDIN SR., WILLIAM THOMAS LAMBDIN JR., JOHN LAMBDIN, SARAH LAMBDIN.

Spouse: Elizabeth FISHER.

Spouse: MARTHA ELIZABETH SWASICK. Children were: THOMAS SHERMAN DANIELS, BUDD DAVID DANIELS.

G'day Vern,

Instead of breaking down piece by piece what I have on William I will attach pages of my Family History writings for your perusal.

I have other information on William's children from his first marriage as well as information on his ancestors.

I also have a copied picture of William and also his wife Maria. I do not know how they would come out scanned but will do so if you are interested.

If there are any other questions please feel free to ask.

Regards Wal "wal & ron" <walron at iprimus.com.au> Jun 2006.

William and Maria Kerswell

Much of the following information in relation to this couple and their family has been taken from the publication “Rabbit Hot, Rabbit Cold” written by a deceased cousin Owen Pearce. Some information has been added and alterations made where it was deemed necessary. It might be added here that the following is not as descriptive as that of Owen’s writings as he had much more insight into the family than I. However I have proceeded in my style as after all this couple were my great great grandparents and the information herein is for my family connections and do not cover the area covered by Owen’s great book.

William was born in the parish of Harberton, Devon in 1827. He was baptised in the parish church of St Andrews at Harberton on the 31st August 1827. He was the second youngest child to George and Sarah nee Farleigh. William, as was his siblings were brought up in Harberton and William in particular is believed to have received some schooling. Just how much will be shown in letters further on.

William was only twenty years of age when he married nineteen-year-old Maria Rymes in the Harberton parish church of St Andrews on the 20th August 1848.

Maria had been born in the small hamlet of Week in the parish of Dartington, Devon in 1829. She was the youngest child of Richard Rymes and Elizabeth nee Hufford.

Not long after William and Maria were married an opportunity obviously arose for free immigration to South Australia. This offer was accepted and accordingly William and Maria submitted their applications. This decision would have been a momentous one to make for people of their age. Here they would have to take their leave from their relatives and their friends. The decision was probably made because of the work and living conditions in the homeland.

Their applications were approved and they were advised to be at Plymouth by the 12th January 1849. There they were to board a vessel called Stebonieth for their voyage to Adelaide. When this vessel arrived at Plymouth it was found that there was not room for extra passengers. The intended passengers for the Stebonieth were then advised to await the next vessel bound for Adelaide provided of course there were empty berths available.igh Street

The next vessel turned out to be the barque called Florentia. She was a vessel of 453 tons and had been built in Newcastle, England in 1821. She was to make several voyages to Australia over the years.

For this voyage the surname of the Captain was Tindal and his ship’s Surgeon was Anderson Henderson. The following is a transcription of the of the Certificate of Final Departure from Plymouth:

We hereby certify that Florentia took her final departure from the port of Plymouth a 7am on the 9th day of March 1849 and is now on her way to South Australia having aboard the following emigrants who have embarked under Authority from Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners or their Officers.

The above entry was followed by the passenger list, which included our William and Maria.

The voyage was via the Cape of Good Hope and there is a report that when the Florentia was off the Cape it experienced a violent storm. Did this storm bring on the birth of William and Maria’s first child?

The birth was on the 31st May 1849 and the child was called Elizabeth. There is no information in the shipping papers as to Elizabeth’s birth registration. This registration may have been made at Adelaide after the Florentia’s arrival.

This arrival was on the 20th June 1849 at Port Adelaide, twenty days after Elizabeth’s birth. The voyage from Plymouth had taken one hundred and three days.

After disembarking the Florentia at Port Adelaide, William and Maria took up residence in a house at Norwood a suburb of Adelaide. It was at this time that it is learnt that William’s occupation was that of a Brick maker.

The family were to live at Norwood for about ten years and during that time three more children were born. The first of these was a son called George who was born in 1852. It becomes evident that Maria had not received any schooling as she made her mark (X) in lieu of her signature at the registration of George’s birth.

About fifteen months after George’s birth, another addition was made to the family with the birth of another boy who was called William. William was born in 1853.

The last addition to this family was a girl in 1856 who was called Hannah Maria. The name of Maria was no doubt after her mother.

By about 1859 it would appear that William had become discontented with his lot and was having difficulty providing for his family on the wage he was earning as a Brick maker. Accordingly a decision was made to move east. Where the intended destination was is not known. The first leg of the family’s journey was by a coastal vessel to Melbourne.

It was while William and Maria were at Melbourne that an event took place, which was to have an untold effect on the family for many years.

Apparently William was an active member of a new Mormon religion both in Devon and South Australia. On the family’s arrival in Melbourne, William is thought to have been approached by Elders of this church with a request to take his family to the Mormon “Zion” in Salt Lake City in Utah the United States of America.

William agreed to this but when he approached Maria, she refused. This culminated in William and Maria apparently having a violent argument, which brought about the couple separating and going their own ways.

It has been said that William stowed away on a vessel sailing to America, and as we shall see he did arrive at Salt Lake City. This all occurred in the July of 1859. It was to be some thirty-five years before William was to be heard of again. As we shall see it was one great shock when word DID come from him.

One can only but imagine the predicament that Maria was now in. She had four young children ranging from ten years of age down to three years of age.

Somehow Maria and her children found their way into New South Wales where eventually they arrived at Camden a little southwest of Sydney. From here it has been written that Maria found employment as a live in Housekeeper for a farmer in Burragorang Valley. The farmer’s name was Joseph Folden. This was in about 1870 almost eleven years after William had left her.

About three years later, in 1873, Maria was to receive another shock. Joseph did not make himself available for breakfast. On checking Maria found him dead in bed.

After this Maria worked at whatever work she could obtain. Things became a little easier when her daughter went out to work and her eldest son George was taken under the wing of a couple called Mannering at Goulburn.

This relief was short-lived when her daughter Elizabeth became an unmarried mother. Shortly thereafter Elizabeth was to marry. This was beneficial to Maria as in later years she went to live with Elizabeth and her husband on their farm on the Cox’s River.

Maria was about sixty-five years of age when she received another shock. Much of the following information has been taken from Owen Pearce’s book, as he was fortunate to be privy to much of this information.

This shock that Maria was to receive was to bring some happiness and some heartbreaking grief.

Maria received a letter from her, one can imagine long forgotten husband, William. None of the family had heard from him since his departure at Melbourne in 1859.

Owen had in his possession many letters which were to pass between the Kerswell family and William and extracts from these letters will be transcribed throughout these writings. The first of these letters indicate that there had been an earlier letter. This letter was headed “To my dear sons and daughters and grandchildren”. William had obviously gained quite an insight into how his deserted family had expanded.

Many members of the family had long thought that William had died many years before. However, here was proof that he was alive and was thinking of selling his property at Mapleton, Utah in America to finance a trip to Australia to see his family.

Apparently many following letters were to give a variety of reasons for William’s desertion of his family in Melbourne in 1859. One of these reasons was that he had urgent business in England and also had not seen his people for many years. Maria was probably fully aware of the reason. An extract from a letter to Maria from Mapleton, which was dated 23rd February 1896, gives one reason why William left “Dear wife, you think I did not have important business which called me to England, well yes I had. That is to me it was ---- and I longed to see my relatives as I now long to see to see you all”.

After reading William’s letters it would appear that he first sailed to England. He then sailed to America where he settled in the state of Utah. It is believed that William made a second visit to England in about 1877.

Below is an extract from a letter sent to Maria, which relates to this visit?

…I saw your sister Ann and she was the same as ever. I also saw her daughter (This would have been Mary Niner born in 1832). My mother was dead and also my brother Thomas. The most important business was to know if my mother was dead so I could do the work for my father and mother in the Temple. So I have been Baptised for my father and Brother Thomas and also had my father and mother sealed for eternity. John Yeoman, Sarah’s husband was dead. And her son John and daughter Anna Maria enquires…said you would remember her…I suppose I should have wrote”.

It must be mentioned here that William had been a very active member of the Mormon Church in South Australia and had continued to be so in America.
A little bit of information on Mapleton which in the 21st century has become Mapleton City and is nestled against the majestic foothills of Sierra Bonita Mountain in the Wasatch Range. A unique community having the advantage of 60 percent of the land being undeveloped within the corporate boundaries of the City. The rural atmosphere combined with the friendliness of its citizens have attracted an influx of new residents to the area. The current (about 1996) population is approximately 6,500 with the State projecting a population of 20,000 in the Year 2020.
Extracts from another letter, from Mapleton, which was written on the 24th March 1895 reads.

My dear wife and children. Having heard from you through Sister Maybury whose sister lives at Goulburn New South Wales I thought I would write a few lines…I had given up all hope of ever hearing or seeing you again in this life. For John Whitlock told me a year, yes two years ago now that he heard from someone he had forgotten who it was told to him, that you were emigrating to Zion and that the ship that you were aboard of had foundered at sea and you were all lost. I am overjoyed to find that it was not so… now my dear wife and children I humbly ask your forgiveness for leaving you behind there for I have sorely regretted it, but I hope the Lord will prosper you so that you will be able to gather here for I would very much like to see you all again in the flesh before I die. Besides, this is the place for the people of God…

From the same letter:

…If any of you would come here I would help you all I could and make good on their arrival here…Tell your mother Maria I have got the letter she sent to her father and mother after I left Melbourne. I was looking at it not long since, not the letter but a copy of it I should have said. For her mother would not let me see it but while her mother was at a neighbours one day I copied it off. I see that she was very sorry at my leaving but it was too late then, but I freely forgive her for all that is past whether she is married or not. Well Bessy, George, William and Anna Maria it is a long time since I left you in that far off land but I was so glad to hear of you. I would have written to you long before if I had known your address…

At the bottom of this letter William proceeded to give a brief description of his assets:

…I have 20 acres of land and 3 horses, 3 cows, 2 calves, 2 hogs and an interest in a coal mine but not fully developed yet but a prospect of a good vein of coal…

It is interesting to note that he calls his two daughters Elizabeth and Hannah, Bessy and Anna.

Another letter which was dated 23rd February 1896 and which was sent to Maria was to include a startling disclosure. The letter was headed “My dear wife” and part of this letter reads.

…and after arriving here in Zion and not hearing from you for so long I gave up all hopes of ever seeing you any more so I concluded to marry and did so. The result of that union is that we had 3 girls and 3 boys. Our oldest girl died when 4 years old and also our eldest boy about the same age. The second girl is Taletha Elizabeth and the third is Mary Ellen…our two youngest boys Thomas Farley and William are still with us as is Mary…

William, in fact did get married again to a twice-widowed thirty-nine year old Sarah Elizabeth Garlick at Salt Lake City, Utah on the 26th October 1869. Sarah had been born in 1830. Her first marriage was to a Benjamin Richmond and from this union was one child who was called Alonzo. Sarah’s second marriage was to William Strong and from this marriage there were two children, John Albert and James Jacob.

From William’s marriage to Sarah there were six children. These children were all born at Mapleton, Utah, USA. The first of these children was Sarah Jane who was born on the 30th May 1861. Sarah died on the 27th October 1865.

Child number two was called Talitha Elizabeth who was born on the 21st July 1864. Talitha died at Yellowstone Park, Wyoming on the 3rd August 1930 and was buried on the 7th August 1930 at Evergreen Cemetery, Springville, Utah.

Benjamin was born on the 18th August 1867 and he was followed by Mary Ellen who was born on the 24th October 1869. Mary Ellen died on the 5th July 1935 at Moore Butte, Idaho and buried in the Lost River Cemetery, Moore Butte.

Thomas Farley was born on the 10th February 1873 and died on the 30th May 1939 at Idaho Falls, Bonneville, Idaho and was buried at Rigby, Jefferson, Idaho.

William Young was born on the 18th May 1876.

Continuing with the correspondence, another letter written by William which was dated 12 April 1896:

…Dear children, you suppose I tell my family all about you, yes I told my wife before I had married her that I had left a wife in Australia and that if ever she came to this country I should acknowledge her as my wife, so you see it is no secret to them. Talitha reads the letters I receive from all of you…but I must tell you my wife’s name, her maiden name was Sarah Garlick and she was married to a man named Benjamin Richmond, was a widow with three children when I married her in the L.D.S. Church at Salt Lake City on 26 October 1869…

Maria responded to William’s letter of the 24th March 1895 from Mapleton by dictating and having one of her granddaughters write it for her. An extract from this letter, which was headed “Cox’s River. May 1895. My dearest husband”. It read.

The boys came to me with the letter on 6th May and I was very glad to hear that you are alive and well. But I would have been much better pleased to have seen you. I had given up hopes of ever seeing or hearing of you any more but I still live in hopes of meeting you again. I have struggled hard through thick and thin to keep my family from starving and now thank God they have grown up and able to take care of themselves. I have still to work and do all I can…

From this letter one can assume that Maria still had feelings for William even after all this time.

Another letter from William to Maria was headed “Mapleton 23 February 1896” and in part read.

…Now my dear Maria I must tell you my present wife here was a widow when I married her and had three boys…so you see she is only mine for this life for she has been sealed through me to her first husband. Now my dear Maria I want to ask you will you consent to be sealed to me for time and eternity. If so tell me in your letter when you write again. For you know the sealing power of the Holy Priesthood was conferred upon Joseph Smith by Holy Angels from Heaven… it rests with you to say whether we enjoy each others society through the milenium of a thousand years and for Eternity after that. It can be done by proxy as we are so far from each other if you give your consent.

Maria agreed to William’s request and after a great deal of effort, as her education had been nil, she sent the following reply.

This is to sertify tit i Maria Kerswell wife of William Kerswell do wish to be sealed to you for time and eteternity. Maria Kerswell.

This reply by Maria would seem to indicate that not only did Maria still have affections for William but was also strong in the Mormon Faith which she may well have followed back in South Australia and possibly back in Harberton, Devon.

Owen proceeded to set out in his book an explanation of some of the Mormon expressions and these explanations have been transcribed here using Owen’s words.

Sealing: This means that once a couple have been sealed they will continue so in the hereafter. Minor children of the marriage will also be with them. Once a child has reached the age of sixteen they are on their own. A husband must be sealed to his preceeding wife before he can be wed to others. A man can have many wives in the hereafter but a woman can be sealed to one man only.

Sarah Garlick, according to these rulings, was married to William for their time on this earth only as she had been sealed to her previous husband, Benjamin Richmond. Actually William was her third husband as before him she was married to a John Albert Strong who she left to marry William (It has previously been recorded that Sarah was twice widowed?). But Strong was in the same classification as William and if William had not stolen Sarah from him he had no claim on her in eternity. After death she belonged to her first husband Ben Richmond. This all took place during the period when the members of the Mormon Church practised polygamy.

Zion: The Salt Lake City area was referred to as Zion and it was the Mormon’s version of a Utopia or Heaven here on Earth.

William continued to send letters to Maria with invitations for Maria and the other members to “All come to Zion”.

In one letter William wrote:

Even if I ever come to Australia to visit you, it will only be to take home to Zion. I would never again stay in that far away country.

This would indicate that William had acquired a dislike for Australia.

In the July of 1896, a surprise letter was received by Maria from Sarah Kerswell nee Garlick. This letter was a friendly one and was more or less an invitation for Maria to go to Zion where she would be most welcome. In this letter Sarah referred to Maria as her sister.

Another move by William upset and bothered various members of The Valley family. He had arranged for Mormon Church representatives to call on his relatives in The Valley to persuade them to go to Zion and to tell them of the benefits in so doing.

From this, it has been said that many an argument raged in The Valley. Some of the Kerswell family gave these Mormons short thrift but still others welcomed them, as we will see.

Finally, because of a decision by one of her sons, Maria, at the age of seventy-four, and accompanied by some of the family members, Maria sailed for the United States of America aboard the vessel R.M.S. Mariposa. The year was 1902. Maria arrived in Springville, Utah in the July of 1903.

Maria was made welcome into William and Sarah’s home. William and Maria were Sealed for Eternity in the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City on the 25th August 1904.

Shortly after this Sarah was to become ill. She died on the 3rd November 1904 at Springville, Utah. She was seventy-four years of age. It has been said that she died of a broken heart. She was buried at Springville.

The family had to experience another upsetting event. Possibly because of age William and Maria were made wards of the State of Utah and were institutionalised there.

When one of William’s sons to Sarah moved from Utah to the State of Idaho he decided to take his father, William, with him.

This left poor old Maria by herself once again. And so it was in the Institute that she had been confined that she died on the 4th February 1915 at Provo. As she was a ward of the State of Utah she was buried in an unmarked grave at Springville. She was recorded as being eighty-six years of age.

William died the following year when he passed away on the 12th May 1916 at Moore, Butte County Idaho. He was recorded as being eighty-nine years of age. He was buried in the Lost River Cemetery in Butte County.

Before finishing with this part of the family a transcription of a letter written by a stepson of Williams. He was a son, called John Albert, born to Sarah and her second husband William Strong and will give a little bit of information on Sarah before she married William. It will also give an insight into what William’s stepsons thought of him.

Benjamin Richmond (Sarah’s first husband) became desperately ill and on his death bed he extracted a promise from his close friend, William Strong asking that after he was gone Wm. Was to marry his widow Sarah for this life only and that he would see that she and the children were sealed to Richmond… Wm. Strong married Sarah Garlick-Richmond. She had a son Alonzo before she wed Wm. Strong. Then she had two sons, John Albert and James Jacob Strong. Then a man named Kerswell came and took her away from my father. She was willing to divorce my father to marry Kerswell…From this we now know that Sarah was not twice widowed.

All I ever knew was work, work, work. In the Summer I herded cows on the Union Bank. Many times I had my dinner taken away from me by Indians … My half brother Alonzo Richmond was three years older than myself. My Stepfather Kerswell was a well digger by trade. We two boys had to wind up the dirt in the windlass and let the rock down for him to make the walls. At this time I was 9 and Alonzo was 12 …

While working on a well one day a man came along who we had known since boyhood? and he knew how Stepfather treated us. Seeing what we were doing he whispered in my ear to let go of the rope when the bucket was full of rock and let it fall and kill the old man and call it an accident. I wouldn’t do it. This was the beginning of the ruination of my life. He kept us out of school and I had no education … My half brother and I hauled wood out of the canyon in the fall … People wondered how we, just being boys could do it …

About this time the Church held a trial for Kerswell charging him with cruelty to his stepsons. The person who complained was Sarah Stewart … When he was called up to give evidence, stepfather said he had never whipped us excessively which was untrue. On the morning of the trial he told us we could have a vacation which was very unreal so we took our lunch and went to the foothills. He did this so that they couldn’t get any evidence from us. When my mother was called to testify she sided with Kerswell which was wrong. Mrs. Stewart who had brought the complaint was asked for her evidence. She said that the testimonies of my mother and stepfather were not true because she lived across the street and saw and knew about stepfathers cruelty to us.

She said that if it was possible one day he had whipped us until the dishes in her cupboard rattled. So ended the trial without any settlement because she couldn’t find the boys to testify … I was about 11 at the time.

We did all the building and fences in our locality. People said they could tell it was just boys who cut the timber because we couldn’t chop it. We just hacked it. Stepfather never did any canyon work in his life. He was too lazy. He just dug wells in the winter which kept we boys out of school as we had to work with him … my brother Jacob had a white swelling on his leg where stepfather had hit him. At the time he was 8 yrs. Old and stepfather made him glean wheat in the fields and tie it in bundles, strap it on his back and carry it home on crutches.

Of course the above letter may indicate that William’s stepsons were prejudiced against him. Consider also how well the above letter was written and recall the comment in the letter that the author had been kept from an education by William.

The LDS Historical Database is a multimedia compilation of over 200,000 individuals by Vern Taylor of Stockton California Dec 2003-5. Most notes and biographies were collected from the Internet. Some were digitally keyed by Renda Taylor.
Contact me at <stanleyscribe@@yahoo.com> if you would like me to include additional individuals. All my data is included in this file.
I have tried to error correct and standardize the place names. Unless otherwise indicated, all places are USA. Abbreviations used are Cem=Cemetery, Mt.=Mount, Twp=Township, St.=Saint, (xxx)=current name in use.
Parents: .

Spouse: Sarah Elizabeth GARLICK. Sarah Elizabeth GARLICK and William KERSWELL were married on 26 October 1859 in springville, Utah, Utah. Children were: Sarah Jane KERSWELL, Talitha Elizabeth KERSWELL, Benjamin Franklin Richmond KERSWELL, Mary Ellen KERSWELL, Thomas Farley KERSWELL, William Young KERSWELL.