Timothy Miller & Elizabeth Mason –Fulfilling the dream to come to Zion
Compiled by Wendy Smith
Timothy Miller and Elizabeth Mason were married on Nov 10, 1845 in Lindfield, England they had 11 children 7 of which lived to adulthood.
When the some of the first missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came to England. The Miller family were taught the Gospel and soon accepted it. They were baptized on Nov 9, 1854.
The Miller family lived in the country around Ditchling, Sussex England as farmers and gardeners. “Timothy Miller had a chronic illness and became very ill for a few years while his family was young and was unable to work and make a living for the family. Aunt Louisa (Margaretta Louisa) tells of she and her sister Elizabeth (Elizabeth Emily) as little girls went out in the fields in the summer after harvesting and gathered by hand the broken, scattered heads of grain that were left. When they had enough to make a trip to the miller, their mother went with them and they had it ground into flour which they stored for use in the winter.
In winter time the two little sisters would hurry home from school, take a wheelbarrow and go into the woods where the village men were cutting wood. These good men allowed the girls to pick up the chips and small pieces of wood and take them home to burn and keep them warm. In England, these wood burning fireplaces were their only source of heat on cold and chilly days.” (1)
Their sons (Henry, William & Timothy) began working in the fields when they were as young as six to help support their family.
It wasn’t until 1888 when a missionary named John Biggs that was staying at the Miller home talked to Timothy and Elizabeth about coming to Zion. They didn’t have enough money for the trip and Elder Biggs was able to arrange for them to come to Cove Utah where his family lived and for Timothy to have a job. Timothy and Elizabeth decided to leave their children and grandchildren and come to Zion. They left Liverpool with the saints on the steamship Wisconsin on Saturday, Aug 11, 1888 in the Levi Naylor company. The arrived in New York on August 23, 1888. (2)
Levi Naylor records experiences of the trip in a letter printed in the Millennial Star. “It is now Thursday morning, eleven o’clock, and instead of being in New York on Wednesday as expected, we are still 150 miles from that place. This was due to an unforeseen accident caused by one of the stokers falling some considerable distance and striking a portion of the steam apparatus with such force as to break a main pipe, which occasioned the entire stoppage of the machinery of the vessel for twelve or thirteen hours; and since resuming our journey we have been crawling along at only half speed, as only half the power of the engine could be employed. The head of the poor stoker, though seemingly harder than the metal, received terrible damage, but under the doctor’s care he is rapidly recovering. With us all is well. Expect to arrive in New York late this evening. A singular feature in connection with this accident was, that during the time the vessel was disabled a dead calm prevailed, although immediately before and after we experienced extreme rough and heavy seas.” (2)
What a tender mercy, that the Lord allowed the seas to be calm when they had the issue with the engine. He was watching over that group just like he is watching over and protecting us. They made the rest of the trip from New York to Salt Lake City by train. (2)
They came to little town called Cove Utah. Cove is about 15 miles north of Logan. There Timothy worked for the Allen family and they lived in a small house across from the church. This house was called the “Relief Society House” and it was “built for a poor old English couple” (Timothy and Elizabeth). Timothy fell in love with the valley and he died there on May 9, 1893 and was buried on the hillside overlooking the beautiful valley that he loved. (3).
After Timothy passed away. Elizabeth moved to Chesterfield, Idaho to live with her son John Henry Miller and his family. It was there two years later on July 31, 1895 that she passed away. She is buried in the Chesterfield, Idaho cemetery.
Timothy and Elizabeth were sealed in the Logan Temple on June 18, 1890 that day their daughter Elizabeth Emily Miller and James Watts Palmer and their family were also sealed as a family. They also were able to do some work for some of their ancestors. The same day after those sealings occurred they stopped at the bank and James Palmer took out a loan for $200 to send back to England to help Henry, William and Timothy come to Zion. What a marvelous day that must have been. What a dream come true for Timothy and Elizabeth to come to Zion and to be able to go to the Temple to be sealed as an eternal family. (1)
Sources:
- Rudger and Letitia Palmer, “A Farm Boy from Idaho: The Life History of Morris D. Whitaker”, “Appendix Four: Life Story of James Watts Palmer and Elizabeth Emily Miller”, pages 195-200, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWCJ-9YT: accessed 2 Sept 2022
- Naylor, Levi W., [Letter], Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 50:38, (Sept. 17, 1888) pp. 606-07. Https://SaintsBySea.lib.byu.edu, Voyages > 1888 > Liverpool to New York 11 Aug 1888 – 23 Aug 1888 > Letter from Levi Naylor – August 21, 1888 : accessed 2 Sept 2022.
- Kaylene A. Griffin Cove, Utah research collection, circa 1899-2012; “History of Cove, Utah, 1871-1971”, 2012; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/31b50e1b-da3b-4f2e-81cc-1827994d49f6/806ff96f-c6f0-4b85-8eb4-b9b1a4fd9b83?view=browse : accessed: 2 Sept 2022.
Figure 1 & 2: Photo of Timothy Miller and Elizabeth Mason Miller in possession of Wendy Smith
Figure 5: Photo of Steamship Wisconsin, http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=wisco : accessed 2 Sept 2022.
Figure 6 & 7: Photos of Timothy’s gravesite: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38711248/timothy-miller : accessed 2 Sept 2022