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I would like to share a story of my ancestors, including my great great great uncle Charles Ball.
He was born in 1833 in Cromwell Common, Gloucestershire and christened in Wotton-under-Edge 12 June 1833. In 1841 he lived in Nottinghamshire and his father Peter was a bone gatherer. Living in New Brinsley, Charles became a miner and in 1855 he married Ann Hoyland. Four large mining families closely connected through marriages - the Balls, Hoylands, Englands and Clarks - lived in Nottinghamshire/ Derbyshire area and moved wherever their mining profession took them.
In the 1850s they encountered early Mormon missionaries from the USA and were convinced by what they were preaching. Several Charles' cousins left England and with their families embarked on a journey to New York. From New York they went accross America first to Florence, Nebraska and then to Alpine, Utah. They were the so-called Mormon pioneers. They made roads, built bridges, worked in the Canyon to get out timber and guarded the settlement from Indians. Days they would work with only an onion, salt and bread for his dinner. When I used to watch Westerns I regarded them as a great entertaining fairy tale, but now they feel very real. It is amazing to think that my ancestors were out there in the 'Wild West'.
Charles joined his cousins in America after 1881 with his second wife Emma Bamforth and his children. He died 16 Jan 1916, Bloomington, Bear Lake, Idaho, a long way away from Gloucestershire. The Mormon tradition was very strong in this branch of my family - my great grandfather's middle name was Maroni, the name of the red Indian chief who according to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, appeared to him and instructed him to find Golden plates on which the Book of Mormon was based.
Allan, Cheltenham
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