Mathew Hayes Ivory, Jr. (great great great great grandpa)

HISTORY OF MATHEW HAYES IVORY, JR. ANCESTOR TO A MULTITUDECompiled for the IVORY FAMILY REUNION July 4, 1981 Fountain Green, Utah, City ParkCompiling a history of our common progenitor, Mathew Hayes Ivory, is comparable to working on a giant jigsaw puzzle, with most of the pieces missing. Extensive research has been done by many family members and this history would be much less complete were it not for the family traditions handed down by Mathew's two daughters, Mary Ann Ivory Field and Martha Amelia Ivory Hoopes. Many stores have been preserved by Myrtle Field Porter and Erma Field Martin, two daughters of Mary Ann Ivory Field, and this history also is aided by the memories of Mathew's son, Fred, through his daughter, Thelma Ivory Nelson. Extensive research over the past 40 years has been completed by Erma Field Martin, aided in recent years by the research of two of George Washington Ivory's grandchildren, Voniel Ivory DeMll and George Kay Ivory.There is still, however, much to be learned and many pieces of the puzzle are missing. Anyone who wants to help in further research efforts should contact the Ivory Family Association and coordinate their work so that we can all be more effective.The earliest written record we have been able to find for our Mathew is the record of his baptism on 26 August 1810 in St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This written record gives his date of birth as 16 July 1809 and his parents names as Mathew Ivory, Catholic and Ann McNulty, Non-Catholic. On the same day, the record indicates, Mathew's brother, Isaac, was also baptized, but a date of birth is not given for Isaac. We know very little about Mathew's parents and have not been able to find record of their marriage, other children, or their definite place or date of birth. In the 1880 Census for Beaver, Ut, Mathew indicates that his father was born in Ireland and his Mother in Germany. Locating these records for his parents is probably the greatest research challenge that we face. We find the names "Ivory" and "McNulty" in Ireland and Ivory is also found in England and Scotland.We are corresponding with a number of Ivory "Cousins" in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania at the present time and although we have not been able to find anyone there connected to our Mathew's line, they have provided us with much information of interest and value concerning the origin of the Ivory Family. Almost everyone we have contacted in these three states indicates that their family came from Ireland but thus far, no one has been able to provide us with exact names, dates, locations, etc. One interesting bit of information gives the origin of the name Ivory to a Rudolph de Iverio, a soldier in the Army of William the Conqueror who came to England in 1066, and was given a land grant at Oxford, England. Then a Captain William Ivorie went to Ireland in 1655 with the Army of Cromwell and settled in Wexford County. The name Mathew Ivory is quite common in early Pennsylvania/New Jersey and we have located at least six different men with that name in the early 1800's, which makes our research very difficult.A history written of our Mathew by his daughter, Martha Ivory Hoopes, reveals the story of his searching for the truth by first affiliating himself with the Presbyterian Church. Unable to find what he was looking for, he turned from there to the Baptists and, at the age of 25, still trying to find that which would satisfy him, he tried the Catholic Church again.
While doing this searching our Mathew was married, at the age of 21, on 30 Sept. 1830, to Mary Susan Breany Cox in Pennsylvania (or New Jersey) and to this union were born two sons and five daughters:Susan Cox Ivory 26 August 1831Ann Deacon Ivory 17 August 1833Margret Antron Ivory 21 September 1836Richard Cox Ivory 16 January 1838Mathew H. (Hayes) Ivory 23 November 1839Mary Cox Ivory 8 March 1842Elizabeth Ivory 20 November 1844This information comes to us from the Family Bible of Mathew Ivory and further research into Pennsylvania/New Jersey records needs to be done to try to locate any descendants of these "Cousins".We next find Mathew coming in contact with "Mormons" and accepting this new faith. Records indicate he was baptized, we know not where, on 1 Feb 1840 by Joseph Newton. This action apparently caused problems with his wife, as we find the following account in the journal of an early Church member, Charles Sreeve Peterson, published by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, Lessons for February, 1981.CHARLES SREEVE PETERSON STORYIn the spring, after leaving Mr. Wells, I went to work for a Mr. Powell, near Sreeveville, three miles above Mount Holly, New Jersey. My work was farm work in the summer and in the winter hauling fencing from the cedar swamps and wood and coal for fuel, and fertilizer for the land. This occupied my time from 4 o'clock in the morning until after dark at night. I lived in a house on the farm, rent free, and received cow feed the year around and $13 per month. January 1, 1842, a son Andrew was born. In the fall of this same year, while hauling coal, I met a man who lived near Burlington, New Jersey, who told me of a strange people whom he had just visited in Illinois. He had become converted to their faith. His name was Mathew Ivory. His rehearsal of the faith and principles of their Church gave me peculiar feelings that I could not throw off my mind. I did not believe in any of the numerous sects, although my parents were members of the Methodist Church, and were I believe, honest in their convictions; but there was such a difference in the beliefs of the different sects in regard to the meaning of the writings in the Bible that I had become almost an infidel.In a short time I passed Mr. Ivory's again, and he came out from the field and commenced talking again. He said he had some pamphlets he wished me to read. I told him I would be pleased to read them. He said he would have them in the field when I returned with my load of coal. They were locked in his chest and he dared not let his wife see them or know where they were. She was so bitter against those people and their doctrines that she would have burned the pamphlets had she found them. When I returned, Mr. Ivory had the pamphlets ready for me. They were headed "The Gospel Reflector" by Benjamin Winchester. I then learned for the first time that this strange and hated people were called Mormons or Latter Day Saints. I took the Pamphlets home and in the evening read while my wife sewed. We were so interested that midnight was upon us before we were aware of it. From that day to the present, I have never doubted the truth of the Latter Day work.I think it was in December I told Mr. Ivory to send the first Latter Day Saint Elder he saw to my house, and he said there would be an elder up from Philadelphia in a few days. Accordingly, he sent Elder Joseph H. Newton to my house.I engaged the school house in Sreeveville for him to preach in. He delivered two discourses and I told him we were ready and wanted to be baptized, and on the first Sunday in February, my wife and myself and Thomas Leary, a young man, were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In a short time there was a branch of the Church organized with forty members, called the Sreeveville Branch.END OF THE PETERSON STORYBy the winter of 1846-47, it was necessary for Mathew to make a choice, with his wife demanding he give up his faith or leave. He made the great sacrifice of departing from his family and going west to join the Mormons who were then at Winter Quarters preparing for the great Exodus to the Rocky Mountains. He, along with David Powell, after experiencing many hardships in the mid of winter, met John Brown who was traveling from Mississippi through St. Louis, Missouri with five Negro slaves to join Brigham Young for the journey west. We don't know exactly when they arrived at Winter Quarters but on 3 April 1847, our Mathew was given a Patriarchal Blessing at Winter Quarters by John Smith.A few days later our Mathew left Winter Quarters in the first Company of Pioneers under the leadership of Brigham Young to make the epic journey across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. Mathew was a member of the Group of Ten commanded by John Brown and entered the Salt Lake Valley, along with the main body of Pioneers, on 24 July 1847. Thus his name will forever be found on that elite list of First Pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley and this special list is found on the Brigham Young Monument in the center of the intersection at South Temple and Main Street in Salt Lake City, Utah.Our Mathew, along with others, again under the leadership of Brigham Young, left the Salt Lake Valley in August of that same year to return to the East to help the main body of the Church undertake the great task of migrating to the Rocky Mountains.We now lose track of Mathew for a few years with the next occurrence we know being that of his marriage to Mary Judith Elizabeth Bemus on 14 Dec. 1854, although we don't know exactly where this marriage took place. We know that the Bemus Family was located in Illinois so it is quite likely that the marriage occurred there, but this has not been verified. At the time of this marriage, Mathew was 45 years old and Mary Judith was 22. This marriage resulted in the birth of seven children beginning with George Washington Ivory on 2 Oct. 1855 and the location of his birth is given as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, although an official record of this location has never been found. Their next child, Reuben Norris Ivory, was born 8 Feb. 1857 and the location of his birth was given in the 1880 Census as "Illinois".The next written record we find is the Endowment and Sealing of Mathew and Mary Judith in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on 11 Sept. 1857. Thus if Reuben was born 8 Feb. 1857 in Illinois and they were Endowed 11 Sept. 1857 in Salt Lake City they must have made the journey across the plains in the summer of 1857, but an actual record of that journey has not been located.Mary Ann Ivory Field related a story to her daughter, Erma Field Martin, of an experience Mathew had which could have been during the years from 1847 to 1857 when he was apparently in the east and we include that story now, although the exact time in unclear.Mathew, still wanting to have his first wife and family for time and all eternity, again returned to Philadelphia to see Mary Susan Cox and, although the years had softened her heart some, it was not enough for her to accept his faith. While there he was arrested for Bigamy (which probably places the time after 1854 when he married Mary Judith Bemus). His first wife refused to testify against him so a nephew who was greatly embittered was only too glad to do so. Mathew appeared in court on the day set and waited for his accuser to come, but he didn't appear and Mathew was released. He later heard that the nephew had been stricken with a fatal illness and had died. Again the hand of fate was with our Mathew.After arriving in Utah our little family spent most of their lives in Beaver, Utah and the next two children were born there. Lynus Brigham Ivory was born 21 Dec. 1858 and Isaac Eneas Ivory on 22 Dec. 1860. After four sons, our family finally had a daughter, Martha Amelia Ivory, and her birth date is given as 13 Oct. 1862 in Monroe, Utah.Another daughter, Mary Ann Ivory, was born 1 Feb. 1864 in Manti, Utah. Next we find our family in a small, recently settled, valley in what is now Lincoln County Nevada, called Eagle Valley where their last son, Frederick Olson Ivory, was born 1 Oct. 1866. Eagle Valley was first settled in the spring of 1865 and the small valley held less than a dozen families, most of whom left within two years time and returned to Utah. Descendants of one of the original families, however, are still living in Eagle Valley and our Association is corresponding with them in an effort to learn more about this settlement.Out Mathew with his wife and seven children apparently returned to Utah shortly after the birth of Frederick as we understand that Mathew's wife, Mary Judith, became quite ill and went to Manti in Sanpete Country to stay with her mother. Where the children were during the next few years, is not known but we understand that Mary Judith continued to have health problems and died 29 Jan. 1870 in Manti, Utah, leaving Mathew with a family of seven children from the oldest, George W., 14 years old, down to the youngest, Frederick, who was just past three years of age. Mathew at this time was 60 years old and now had the full responsibility of raising a young family.Frederick passed down stories through his children of the "Olden Days" about his mother dying when he was very young and about him being reared by family friends, the Olsons. He said Mrs. Olson was like a mother to him and he referred to her as "Mercy".Mary Ann passed on stories to her family of her father, Mathew, as a man who was very exacting in all his actions who taught his family law and order in all the household duties. She told of his stories of food in the cellar, it's neat arrangement on shelves and in bins. Always a big barrel of good Dixie Molasses. This was the case with his carpenter shop, tool shed but above all his home. Though left motherless at the age of five, Mary Ann was schooled well in the cleanliness and order of the home. Mathew's pride and joy to exceed all others was his orchard and garden. Mary Ann's daughter, Erma Martin, visited that hallowed spot in the summer of 1914 and has fond memories of it. At about the age of eight, Mary Ann, with other children, was playing around a fire. In those days they wore heavy quilted petticoats and hers caught fire, burning slowly and holding the heat. In her excitement she ran through the yard, across the wood, down a hill and jumped into a large ditch, putting out the fire, thus causing the intense heat to go in, causing severe burns. There was one especially deep burn in her side where the petticoat was tight fitting. Her father, Mathew, rushed her to the house, poured a solution of olive oil and steamed balm gillied buds over the burns. (A remedy he always had on hand for burns.) This, together with their faith and prayers, healed her but to the day of her death she carried the scar.Mathew, though he loved his children, did not see the need for a Santa Claus a Christmas Time and Mary Ann's heart ached for Santa to visit her as he did her friends. So anxious was she that one Christmas she saved her money and bought a little doll and after all were asleep, she crept in and placed the doll in her stocking, telling has friends the next morning that Santa had brought her gifts.Mathew lived long enough to raise his little family and by the spring of 1879 was able to accept a call to serve a mission for the Church. As recorded on page 708 of the Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4 "On April 9, 1879, as a resident of Beaver, Beaver Co., Ut. Mathew Ivory was set apart for a mission to New Jersey. From this mission he returned Sept. 12, 1879."In the year 1885, Mathew had agreed to build a building to house a gristmill and Friday seemed to be the day when work was ready to begin. Owing to his superstition regarding starting anything on Friday, he wished to postpone the work of starting until the next week, but was persuaded to start on Friday. He was an expert mechanic and he fitted up the mill stones in the newly erected grain chopper. Before leaving the job, he made one final test and for a time all went well, when suddenly, one of the stones came loose and while still revolving at a tremendous rate, struck Mathew in the stomach, killing him almost instantly. This accident occurred 17 Oct. 1885.