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Show Young Elizabeth Steel Stapley, First White Child Born In Utah, Honored By D.U.P. j By Mrs. Katherlne Larson Mrs. Maggie Neilson, president of the Hurricane north ward Daughters of Utah Pioneers, announced an-nounced on Wednesday, December Decem-ber 1 that a name had been selected select-ed for their camp. In honor to Mrs. Elizabeth Stapley, 90 year old resident of Hurricane and Utah's first white child, her name had been chosen to represent them. Rarely is consideration given or contemplation placed upon the sturdy women who accompanied their young Mormon Battalion husbands along the trail to Santa Fe. Such selfless women were the bulwark of we? tern migration. Th'ir acquaintanee with stark nece.--ity was a mattr of choiee, not a subj'-et for w'-Uim. Tb-y acepir-rl earh day's adventure as one step nearer the haven they I were marching toward. Utah's first white child, Young ElizalKth Steel was born to Catherine Camp-ibcl) Camp-ibcl) Steel, one of those serene (souls that had traveled from j Council Bluff to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River and on into the mountains between Las Vegas and Santa Fe where they were dishandefl, carrying with tier tin; child that was eventually to x? born in Utah Aujpi.M 9, 1H17. Proud was the father, John Steel, to announce eleven days after af-ter their arrival in Salt I.ake valley the birth of a daughter the fir-t white child to be born in Ijeseref. They named her Young in admiration for Brigham Yourvg and I.lizabeth for "Good Queen lie-'-.". 'J'he young couple born in Ireland were thousands of mil's from the Bonnie 1: h s yet their fContinued. on page A) Young Elizabeth Steel Stapley, First White Child Born In Utah, Honored By D.U.P. (Continued from first page) hearts returned when it came to giving a name to their child. Answer Call When Young Elizabeth was four and one-half years old, John and Catherine Steel answered the call Brigham Young had sent them and journeyed to Parowan in George A. Smith's Company to help settle set-tle Iron County. Here it was that . Elizabeth learned from her mother the art of carding and spinning wool. In the long winter evenings when she stood at the spinning wheel her mother told the children gathered about her of the days in Belfast. Ireland and of the story in her family that the Campbells had descended from royalty. Little dreaming as she taiked" that the gay child Young Elizabeth would some day be honored by the President of the Uniied States and the First Lady of the Land. Called again by church leaders to move south, John Steel became a resident of Toquerville, where he practiced his trade as shoe maker. Elizabeth as a girl of fourteen four-teen soon made friends and she, with the other five young people of Toquerville became the life of the town. She recalls with hearty amusement the narrow escape from tragedy she and these other -youna people experienced when one Sunday equipped with a new wagon, bows, wagon-cover and .spring seats they had set out on an excursion for Pocketville (Virgin). One of the girls, in her efforts to drive up the "twist" lo Northup, succeeded in turning the wagon upside down on the party. And how the boys, after the rescue by Uncle Thomas Stapley. refused to enter Toquerville Toquer-ville until after dark because they were ashamed of the dilapidated appearance they made. iUarrie-d in 1864 Elizabeth was married February 21. 1364 to James Stapley, a convert con-vert from Sidney, Australia, who had come to Toquerville, by Joshua Thomas Willis, Bishop of their ward. She describes with clearness that she worked for weeks to earn her wedding dress which was made of muslin with ' tiny red rose buds in a sprig design upon it. That the shoes she wore to the wedding dance had been half-soled for the occasion oc-casion by the prospective bridegroom. bride-groom. The refreshments at the wedding consisted of rice puding j sweetened with molassas and molasses mo-lasses cake. Her trouseau was composed of one sheet, one pair of pillow cases, one quilt and one linsey sheet. The young husband added to their belongings a set of knives and forks, his only possessions. pos-sessions. Have Eight Children In 1866 James and Elizabeth moved to Kanarraville where they joined in the usual round of Pioneer Pio-neer life and church work. Here I Mrs. Stapley in the role of mid-jwife mid-jwife endeared herself to the com-'munity. com-'munity. She recounts with plea-1 plea-1 sure that not only was she called by the white settlers for help in j times of sickness, but by the j Indians as well. She says, "Never ! once was I frighented or refused to accompany the Indians to their j wickiups." Chiel Powinkum at one j time came to her home with his twin papooses that had died and asked her to properly dress them i for burial which she did and in addition had them buried in the j Kanarraville cemetry. Eight children were born to 'James and Elizabeth Stapley, five of whom are living today. They 'are: Mrs. Sarah Catherine Roundy jof Hurricane at whose home Mrs. Stapley is so lovingly cared for; j William T., of Hinckley; John A., of Kanarra; Mahonri M., of Delta land Mrs. Mary E. Kay, of Mona. ! Honors have come to Mrs. 1 Stapley. She as the first white j child born in Utah, welcomed and ! had her picture taken with President Presi-dent and Mrs. Warren G. Harding ' in 1923 when they made an un- official visit to Zion National Park. : Later she headed the parade in j Salt Lake City when they cele-ibrated cele-ibrated Coverd Wagon Days for ' the first time. And now the Hurricane Hur-ricane north ward D.U.P.'s have christened their camp for the little lit-tle old lady with porcelain skin who sits, dressed immaculately, by her window and marks time. She has seen the building of a state, the rise of a religious group, the departure of hard times and the golden wedding of a daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Joel Roundy. As Mr. Roundy states it, "It isn't every bridegroom that can boast the presence of his mother-in-law at the fiftieth anniversary an-niversary of his wedding. Although ninety winters have left their trace since Young Elizabeth Eliza-beth was named, there is a glow of lasting loveliness in her countenance counten-ance that speaks of courage and contentment in the toilsome years that have passed. I |