LUCETTA STRATFORD PENROSE

 

A Biography

By Susan W. Howard

In early March 1851 a nineteen year-old Mormon missionary walked into the town of

Maldon, Essex, England, “without a farthing or a friend but the Lord.”   The young man, Charles

Penrose of London, was the first Mormon to preach in Maldon.  He himself had joined the

church only one year earlier—now as a brand new missionary he was assigned to organize a new

branch of the church in the area.  Maldon, an agricultural town of 4500 inhabitants, had many

different denominations competing for adherents, including Wesleyan Methodists.  Charles was

about to meet a feisty 16-year old girl named Lucetta Stratford, the daughter of cabinetmaker

George Stratford and his wife Eliza Barwell, who lived in Maldon with their six living children.

[1]  

The first Mormon (LDS) missionaries from the United States had arrived in England in

mid-1837.  They traveled “without purse or scrip” walking from town to town, wearing out shoe

leather, and occasionally going hungry if no sympathetic person offered them a meal.  Charles

knew well the misery of aching of feet and he’d already spent a night or two sleeping in a

haystack. 

The name Maldon (or Malden) came from the town’s association with a Danish victory

against the Anglo-Saxons in 991 C.E. This medieval town is located approximately 30 miles from

London. The site, near the Blackwater Estuary, was probably a late Roman port that was

eventually settled by the Saxons.

George Stratford was strongly attached to his daughter Lucetta, his second oldest child,

born 15 September 1834.  According to Lucetta’s daughter, Annie Crawford Davis, George often

took the young girl to work with him.  “ . . . She was strong and healthy and delighted him with

her brilliant traits of character and her beauty.”  

Lucetta’s mother, Eliza Barwell Stratford, was a dressmaker who also ran a clothing

school for young ladies who apprenticed with her for two years while they learned dressmaking. 

They assisted in sewing clothes for the town’s residents.  Lucetta also showed a talent for

designing clothes and making bonnets for her dolls.  If she didn’t have a doll she fitted the tiny

clothes onto her small fingers.     

Edwin Stratford, Lucetta’s older brother, wrote that his parents were not content for him

to have a spiritual education only, so they sent him to a British school for a time, and later to

“one of a higher order,” but his diary doesn’t mention the education of his siblings.  Lucetta may

have attended a local Methodist school along with her younger sisters. 

Even as a small child Lucetta demonstrated that she had an independent spirit.  Her father

once bought her a heavy pair of shoes.  “Being of dainty and refined nature, she threw them in

the fire, remarking that she would rather be punished for that than wear the shoes.”  Despite her

strong nature, she apparently had a fear of death.  She insisted that her mother promise to put a

generous slice of bread and butter in her casket in case she was accidentally buried alive.  

George’s father, Samuel Stratford, (born 22 April 1771) had lived most of his life in

Maldon.  He began as an “inmate of a workhouse” who apprenticed to a farmer.  He next became

a gardener and by his industry amassed considerable property before his death in 1836.  He

married Elizabeth Cass (born about 1773) and together they had 10 children.  Elizabeth died in

1849.  George was their eighth child, born in Maldon 7 November 1807.  Eliza Barwell was the

daughter of Robert Barwell and Eliza Rule.  She was born 5 October 1809.   

In 1843 when Lucetta was about nine years of age the family moved to London in the

hopes that George might earn a better living.  As that didn’t work out, they moved to Rayleigh

and were living there in 1845.  Again, the expectations weren’t realized so the family returned to

Maldon.

 Although George and Eliza Stratford had belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist

denomination, they became dissatisfied and left the group.  George became an advocate for

freedom of thought and believed that none of the sects of the day were right.  Edwin also

attended the Wesleyan chapel at the insistence of his grandmother, but he soon preferred to roam

in the fields or have a bath of salt water rather than attend religious meetings. 

The news of the arrival of the Mormon preacher in Maldon spread quickly.  (Edwin’s

diary gives the date as “about the 8th of March 1851.”)  The young preacher wasn’t able to find a

room immediately, so he distributed tracts.  He left several at Grandmother Barwell’s house and

one at the Stratford’s.  Although he was curious about the doctrines of the new church, Edwin

didn’t read the tract left at his parents’ home.  He was at his grandmother’s home when he picked

up the tracts and read them.  He leaned that Elder Penrose was hoping to see George Stratford.   

The Elder called but Father not knowing who he was did not care to see him.  He was

not to be repulsed so however for when I returned from work one evening I found Elder

Penrose there discussing with my Father.  I listened with attention.  I had never heard such

doctrines before and after the conversation was ended I told my Mother that was the religion

for me.[2] 

Shortly thereafter Elder Penrose baptized Grandmother Barwell, his aunt Lucetta

Barwell, and his mother, Eliza Stratford.  Between March and June 1851 other Stratford family

members joined the church, including Edwin and his father.[3]  In the case of the independent-

minded Lucetta, however, Elder Penrose faced a more difficult challenge.  She refused to join

until she was certain of her belief in this new religion.  She was the last one to convert to

Mormonism, which she did officially on 1 July 1851, two months before her seventeenth

birthday. 

Elder Penrose organized a branch of the church in Maldon where he stayed for fourteen

months until his mission leader assigned him to the nearby Colchester Branch.  A month later

Edwin Stratford was called as a missionary and assigned to be the companion of the now

seasoned missionary who had taught the family about the Mormon religion.  After eight months

in Colchester Elder Penrose (who will henceforth be known as Charles) was sent to Boxford,

where he remained until January 1853.  

The Courtship of Lucetta and Charles 

Charles William Penrose formally joined the Mormon Church on 14 May 1850 at age

eighteen.    Less than a year later the local leaders called him to serve as a missionary and

assigned him to travel with a companion to the town of Maldon.  He and his companion spent

their first night on the road sleeping in a haystack.  The next morning his companion quit and left

for home, leaving Charles to fend for himself.  After a difficult start, he established the branch in

Maldon and was appointed as its first branch president.  Despite a slight and self-described frail

appearance, Charles had energy and a strong desire to succeed in his calling.  He also possessed

a sense of humor that enabled him to make fun of himself at difficult moments—a quality that

Lucetta must have found attractive along with his intelligence and dedication to his work. 

Charles began keeping a missionary diary on the first day of January 1854.  He would

turn twenty-two in another month.  Lucetta was nineteen.  We see her through the eyes of

Charles as he wrote about their activities on the pages of his small notebook.  Edwin’s

missionary journal mentions some of the meetings where she was present, but he gives us no

insight as to what he thought of the blooming romance. 

By the beginning of 1854 the courtship of Charles and Lucetta was well underway.  As

Charles gained experience and maturity he was given greater responsibilities in the missionary

work.   The newly established church underwent difficult times in the early 1850’s.  In January

1853 the church published an announcement in the Millennial Star, the church publication for

members in Great Britain, confirming rumors that plural marriage (polygamy) was indeed a

doctrine of the church and that the Saints in Utah had been practicing it for several years.[4]  

Charles did not record his reaction or that of the Stratford family to this startling disclosure. 

Possibly he’d learned about the practice from Utah missionaries before the official

announcement.  Whatever their reaction might have been initially, Charles and the Stratford

family remained steady in their faith in Mormonism.  Other members were so appalled that they

disavowed Mormonism, or became so hostile that church leaders excommunicated them.  Many

members decided to emigrate to Utah, and Charles had the duty to assist them in making

arrangements to leave Great Britain.      

Young Elder Penrose was also a poet who yearned to join the members leaving for Utah. 

His longing to flee to the mountains of Zion in the United States found expression in the words

of a poem that when set to music, became a favorite hymn, “O Zion” or  “O Ye Mountains

High.”   Needing his talents and abilities, his mission leaders kept Charles as an active

missionary in England for several more years. 

The first entry in Charles’ diary, January 1, 1854, tells of preaching at a meeting of Saints

—“a very dull spirit among them.”  The next day he and Lucetta Stratford walked through deep

and slippery snow to Braintree, twenty-one miles away.  They arrived in time for an evening

festival where he enjoyed himself.  Edwin Stratford was apparently already there because

Charles, Edwin and Lucetta spent that night sleeping in a public house. 

Assuming that the independent minded young woman was not going to let Victorian

morality interfere with her courtship, and that her parents didn’t impose restrictions on their

daughter, (or perhaps they knew better than to try) the relationship of Charles and Lucetta

continued as Charles discretely records his long walks and visits with his wife-to-be.  These long

hours walking together unchaperoned to missionary assignments must have raised a few

eyebrows in Maldon.   However proper and discreet their actions, at least one woman berated

Charles and wouldn’t let him spend the night in her home, relenting only when her husband

intervened on behalf of the missionary.  On another occasion later in 1854 the conference

president reprimanded Charles for going to Hockley with Lucetta. 

At this point Charles had been serving as a missionary for nearly three years and had

asked Lucetta to marry him, which necessitated the permission of the mission leaders. Neither

the permission nor the release from his mission came.

Fortunately his increasing duties didn’t preclude a little entertainment.  He writes on

August 14 that he walked to Maldon.  Lucetta walked three miles from town to join him and

accompany him to her home.  He spent the night with the Stratford family, and the following day

he and Lucetta joined about “twenty Saints for a party on the water.  It was a beautiful day.  The

sun shone with splendour and we were all merry and lighthearted.  We sailed very pleasantly as

far as Bradwell where we landed and after some refreshment played at ‘cricket.’”  

While at bat, Charles was hit on the nose with the ball, but though he was “blinded and

smothered with blood,” he manfully kept playing so as to not let down his team (and probably

not to disgrace himself in front of Lucetta.)  Again he slept at the Stratfords, and awoke “so still

in his limbs” that he could barely move. 

When a cholera epidemic broke out in the area Lucetta accompanied Charles on visits to

sick members so that he could lay his hands on them and give them a healing blessing.  Medical

science had just begun to understand the connection between this disease and sanitation,

especially the need to clean up the source of drinking water. 

In a meeting on September 11 Charles learned that a Brother Paxman had been released

from traveling because he had married “without counsel” a sister who had four children.  “I was

very sorry for him, as were all the Brethren.”   The British press painted lurid pictures of

Mormon Elders attempting to seduce young English girls into their polygamous “harems.”  The

missionaries, however, were forbidden to marry without permission from their leaders.  The

missionaries from the States were forbidden to court English girls either as first or plural wives,

yet the rules don’t always govern the affairs of the heart.  

As noted, Charles had asked permission to marry Lucetta.  After a meeting with a Brother

Black, who had taken Charles’ case to Pastor Kimball,  (mission area leaders were called pastors

at this time) Charles was advised that he had acted wisely in waiting, and that he was to remain

single for a time “and that all would work out in the end.”  He walked with Lucetta the next day

and presumably told her the disappointing news.   

By mid-October Charles and Lucetta were walking together again, and spending the night

at different member’s homes.  After walking to Chelmsford and then Hockley, Lucetta’s feet

were so sore she could go no farther, necessitating another night’s stay at a member’s home.  At

this point the young couple must have wondered what the point of keeping them from marrying

could have been.  Charles was dedicated to his missionary work, but he still spent much time

with Lucetta.   (This was the trip that resulted in a reprimand for Elder Penrose.)

In mid-November Lucetta told Charles that she was avoiding her father because he had

acted meanly towards her.  Charles didn’t record the explanation for his behavior, but it isn’t

difficult to imagine that there were a few tense moments in the Stratford household because

Lucetta spent so much time with Charles.  Finally in December the mission leaders granted the

desired permission, but for Charles there was no release from his missionary labors.  Instead, his

responsibilities increased. 

Charles was the only son of Matilda Sims Penrose and Richard Penrose, a former wine

merchant and “gentleman” who died before Charles joined the church.  Matilda lived in London

with her three daughters, Matilda Eliza, Emma Roxana, and Cecilia Elvira.  An older sister,

Juliana, had married when Charles was sixteen.  Despite the reluctance of his mother and sisters

to join his church, Charles was on good terms with them.  After receiving permission to marry he

went to London to see his mother and share the news of his engagement.   She was happy for

him.  Luckily, a church member who was about to depart for Utah gave him some money to buy

a wedding ring for Lucetta.   

On Christmas Charles returned to Maldon.  He and Lucetta sat up until eleven pm to plan

their “approaching union.”  The Stratford family, relieved that permission for the marriage had

been granted at last, joined together for a family party to celebrate.  Charles spent a couple of

nights with them before returning to his missionary work and to search for a place to live with

Lucetta.  He also had to walk to Rockford and pay to publish the banns as required by law. 

At the start of 1855, Charles was reassigned to Orsett, a town 20 to 25 miles southwest of

Maldon.  Some members had given him money; others offered household items, including a

chest, for his new home.  He packed up his worldly goods in the chest and went to Orsett where

he found a four-room house to rent.  He also arranged for the services of a Sister Bateman to

clean it for him. 

A Missionary Marriage 

While Charles made living arrangements, Lucetta stayed in Maldon to prepare for her

new life.  The couple received more gifts from family and members   Charles, suffering sore and

aching feet as a result of all the walking, had long ago worn out his shoes.  Still he walked back

to Maldon, and again walked to Rockford on Saturday, January 20 to obtain the marriage

certificate. Once again he walked back to Maldon to clean up as best he could for his wedding.   

The marriage was solemnized at the Register Office, Maldon, in the district of Maldon in

the county of Essex.  The certificate[5] read: 

 

No. 36.  -  21 Jan 1855  Charles William Penrose, 22 yrs, bachelor

Occupation Traveler

Residence Hockley, Essex

Father’s name & Occupation   Richard Penrose, deceased, gentleman

  Lucetta Stratford, 20 yrs, spinster

Residence Saint Mary, Maldon

Father’s name & Occupation    George Stratford, Carpenter

Wit: Edwin Stratford & Ellen Gill

Sunday morning at 9 AM Lucetta, “looking beautiful” and Charles, “feeling shabby” in

his worn out clothes, rode in a brougham to the registrar’s office.  According to Charles, Edwin

Stratford played the “Daddy” role.  After the marriage ceremony, Charles wrote that he felt

supremely happy.  “I was united to one whom I loved sincerely and who returned the feeling

with fervor.  I had the approbation of God, his servants and our parents.”    That afternoon he

preached a sermon, and then, “We slept together at Brother G. Stratford’s, now my father-in-

law.” 

The next day the couple stayed at the Stratford home and prepared for their move the

following day.  That evening family and friends joined them for a small party.  The next day a

boy and a donkey cart arrived to carry their household goods to Orsett.  A heavy snow made it

hard going for Charles and Lucetta traveling on foot, but seeing her new home for the first time

thrilled Lucetta—the newlyweds spent the evening putting things in order.   While Charles was

traveling around his assigned “conference” or missionary district, Lucetta usually remained at

home.  She may have visited members and prospective members, but we can assume that she

used her sewing talents to repair her husband’s threadbare wardrobe and to sew needed

household items.

While Lucetta organized the new home, Charles returned to his missionary duties.  This

January he battled cold and waist deep snow to attend meetings.  One day the snowdrifts were

eight feet high, nearly burying him.  He climbed a hill, got lost, missed the road and wandered

into a field, then got stuck in a snow bank.  Still cursed with broken, leaky boots that chafed his

feet, it was a misery for him to walk.

 The second week of February, not even a month married, Charles spent a week away

from Lucetta on a missionary journey.  It seemed a long time to him, but he returned to find her

well and “things all right.” 

The Orsett branch gave the Penroses a small amount to assist with their expenses. 

Despite having shabby clothes and worn-out shoes, Charles was still better off than some

members he found living in near-desperate conditions.  Most converts were working class, but

the young couple observed many of the Saints living in poverty, sickness and suffering. The

financial hardship that Lucetta suffered as the wife of a missionary had to have been made more

bearable by seeing the hard lives of members as they tried to scrape together the money to

emigrate to Utah. Charles wrote in his diary about five adults and two children living in a single

room until they could leave England.  For members such as these, who barely had enough to eat

anyway, the Sundays on which members fasted were altered so that the weakest of these

wouldn’t suffer more deprivation.  

At last Charles scraped together enough money to have a new pair of boots made for him,

and eventually a new suit of clothes.  A trip to London on church business gave him a chance to

visit his mother and sisters.  While there he found the means to attend the Victoria Theater.  He

loved the theater and usually included a short review of the play he had seen in his diary entries

about his trips.           

Being the wife of a missionary was sometimes a challenge for Lucetta.  One evening

towards the end of March Charles returned home to find his wife “in a bad temper because I had

been gone so long, as she was waiting to go out with me.”   She recovered from her anger and

walked with her husband to attend an evening meeting.  Lucetta’s patience with the demands on

Charles time may have worn thin, but he doesn’t report any more bad tempers on her part.  While

Lucetta had to learn to respect Charles’ devotion to his missionary duties, Charles learned to be

more considerate of his young wife.  

Charles had several occasions to visit London in the spring and summer of 1855.  Lucetta

accompanied him and frequently attended theater performances with him.  In late May the

couple traveled to London by train and Lucetta met her new mother-in-law for the first time.  

Before going to see his mother, Charles and Lucetta stopped by the establishment of Elias

Moses & Sons of Aldgate.   Moses & Sons had opened this large emporium in 1851 to provide

inexpensive ready-made clothing to the working classes.  With the invention of the sewing

machine in the 1850’s, less costly clothing could be produced and made available to a wider

range of customers.  Charles bought a new suit made of black cloth as well as a hat for £2-9.6

(Some of the branch members had raised money for him so that he could spruce up his shabby

wardrobe.) 

From Moses & Sons they walked to his mother’s house on Kennington road where

Lucetta met her mother-in-law, Matilda Penrose.  Matilda was glad to see them and had a bed

made up in the back room so that they could spend the night with her.   The next day Charles and

his sister Annie (Juliana) visited Guy’s Hospital where their younger sister Matilda was seriously

ill.  Charles “had a little talk with her about the gospel,” but he did not persuade her to accept his

faith in the Mormon Church. 

Later, after having tea at a coffee shop, the couple witnessed a performance of “Mat

Greaves” in the pit of the Victoria Theater.  In his brief critique of the play Charles wrote that he

was impressed by the ability of the actor, who played two parts, to change his clothes and

appearance.  He also noted that the play showed the horrors of slavery.  The next day Annie

walked with them to Shoreditch where they took the train to Romford.  There he found one of

the member sisters very ill, so he gave her a blessing.  Later Charles learned that she had been on

a drinking binge for several days before his arrival.  

Charles’ days were spent preaching, conducting services, or working on church business. 

Occasionally, in rainy weather he stayed at home, wrote and continued his study of Latin.  (In

addition to his missionary duties Charles took whatever free time he had to further his education

by studying languages and other subjects.)  He continued to write poems that he submitted to the

Millennial Star for publication. 

Despite what seem like hardships of missionary life, Charles liked to joke and tell stories

poking fun at himself.   He joked about polygamy.  He teasingly remarked to someone “perhaps

a certain Yankee was one of those Mormonites come for more wives!”   Other times the joke was

on him, for example, one day he and another missionary were hurrying to catch a train.  The

engineers slowed the train as if to stop, then sped up again, laughing as the two missionaries ran

after it.  

Charles writing style was clear and direct.  He gave straightforward reports of casting out

evil spirits, prophesying, blessing the sick with good results, and witnessing occasions where

members spoke in tongues.   He had occasion to command an evil spirit to leave the body of

Sister Bateman, which had “in a moment deprived her of strength and sense.  The spirit obeyed

the command, and Sis. Bateman went home well.”[6] 

When he visited his sister Matilda, he saw two or three children affected with chorea, or

St. Vitus’ dance.  “They were possessed with devils I had no doubt for they were dreadfully

distorted and worked about by some unseen power.”  (St. Vitus’ dance is a disorder characterized

by jerky, uncontrollable movements, either of the face or arms and legs.  It is associated with

rheumatic fever, an infectious disease that is easily cured with modern medicines.)  Although in

the 19th Century some diseases were still misdiagnosed as “Evil Spirits,” Charles was matter-of-

fact about such events, nonjudgmental, and his belief in himself had the effect of calming those

to whom he ministered.  

In August the work slowed because of the harvest.  Lucetta attended a missionary

meeting with her husband.  After the meeting in which the missionaries prayed and were given

blessings, Pastor Kimball had the young couple stand before the group while he performed a

marriage ceremony “according to the order of the church. “  Not long after they had an interview

with the Pastor, who gave the couple  “some excellent advice upon matrimonial affairs.”  (This

was probably William H. Kimball, pastor 1852-1855.) 

They also had some time to visit Maldon and Lucetta’s family.  During this more relaxed

slowdown in the missionaries’ schedule Lucetta became pregnant with their first child, but the

discreet Charles didn’t mention this in his diary until shortly before the child’s birth. 

On another trip into London to see his mother and the theater, Matilda returned to Orsett

with her son.  Lucetta was glad to see her.  Matilda had brought a gift of some cups and saucers. 

She also attended an evening meeting where Brother Squires spoke.  She liked the preaching

“but would not receive it.”  She rode back to London the next day.  A few weeks later when he

was in London he talked his mother, and sisters Emma and Cecilia into attending a church

meeting.  

English hostility against the “damned Mormonites” remained high and even increased. 

The missionaries were threatened with violence and occasionally pelted with rocks, stones or

eggs.  Some of the sister members were disturbed by a book called Female Life Among the

Mormons by Maria Ward, published in 1855.  Charles talked them into turning the book over to

him, although he doesn’t mention what he did with it.          

On December 27th Charles was once again in London.  He arrived at his mother’s home

and found her greatly troubled.  Matilda’s own mother, Jemima Hornblower Sims, had died

suddenly on December 25th.  He stayed a few days to help his mother sort through Jemima’s

business affairs.  On Saturday the 28th he wrote:  “Went with Mother to Mrs. Matthews to see the

corpse of my grandmother and arrange about the funeral also to seek for her papers which we

found and arranged all things satisfactorily.” 

Later Charles went to Paddington station to meet his aunt who had come from Wales.  He

doesn’t state her name anywhere in his diary.   

After leaving the Aunt with his mother, he went to a conference in Whitechapel, where

Lucetta joined him at the meetings.  Here he sang a new song about the handcart pioneers that he

had been asked to write.  His sister Emma attended one of the meetings, and again liked what she

heard.  She would not embrace Mormonism, however, because of polygamy. 

At years’ end Charles wrote in his diary that during 1855 he walked 2356 miles and rode

another 1009, for a total of 3365 miles traveled.  

On January 2, 1856 Charles wrote:  “We went with Mother & Sister E to bury

grandmother.  My Aunt from Wales though she came up to see after what property would accrue

to her would not go to the funeral nor go near the house where the body lay.   She was buried in

Victory Cemetery she was about [blank] of age her name Jemima Sims.  [She was 71.] Mother

was very much affected.  I felt no grief therefore manifested none.  In the same evening Lucetta

and I visited my sisters Matilda & Cecilia whom we found well both in service at the same place

they were much pleased to see us.”  (“Sister E” was most likely Charles’ sister Emma.) 

Richard Penrose and Matilda Sims were first cousins.  Richard’s father, also named

Richard, had married Rosamond Hornblower, Jemima’s sister.  Jemima Hornblower married

James Sims, and they were the parents of Matilda.   It seems more likely that the “Aunt” came

from the Hornblower side of the family rather than the Penrose side. 

Charles apparent lack of grief over his grandmother’s death resulted most like from angry

feelings, but he gives us no clue as to the reason.  Charles’ granddaughter, Dorothy Penrose

Woodland, often told her family that after Charles had joined the church, his family disowned

him.  As he recounts in his diaries over the years, he was on good terms with mother and sisters,

despite their resistance to his efforts to convert them to Mormonism.  He again visited his mother

and sisters’ families during later visits to England.  Perhaps it was his grandmother who was

angry when the only son of her cousin and sister turned away from the traditional family

religion, and possibly a more respected occupation than “traveling Elder.”  He made no mention

of an inheritance or income from any of his family.   

The day after the funeral in order to cheer up his mother’s mind, Charles met her and his

sister Emma and they all went to Surrey Theater together.  The following day he and Lucetta,

now four to five months pregnant, walked to Shoreditch, caught the train to Maldon, and spent

the night at his father-in-law’s home.   

At a Council Meeting with Pastors Kimball & Dunbar Charles learned that his brother-in-

law Elder Edwin Stratford and H. Kemp were released with permission to emigrate.  Two weeks

earlier Edwin married Marianna Crabb.  They soon departed England and eventually settled in

Cache Valley, Utah.  It must have been hard for Charles and Lucetta to say farewell to her

brother and his friend while they remained behind in England to continue in the missionary

work. 

Charles was given greater responsibilities in the district, but was told that he too, would

soon be allowed to emigrate.  The district was having financial difficulties and Charles worked

hard to help straighten out its business affairs despite the fact that he and Lucetta were

increasingly in debt themselves.  Many of his diary entries are about money problems, usually

those of the members, several of whom were ready to emigrate.  The missionaries worked to

make certain they had funds and that all arrangements were made.  The emigrating members

were organized into groups to make the ocean voyage together. One church elder was made the

leader and assisted by two or three others.  Once arriving in a US port, a church member would

meet the group and help them obtain passage to begin the long journey to Utah. 

Although Zion—Utah—was far away, events there influenced the lives of the young

Penrose family.  In 1855 Brigham Young had announced that the church needed a

“reformation.”  He counseled the members to repent, confess and be re-baptized.  Towards the

end of 1855 the missionaries in Great Britain received word that the missionaries themselves

should be rebaptized and perform the same ordinance for the members. Charles was rebaptized at

the beginning of 1856 but he makes no mention of a similar ceremony for Lucetta, who by then

was several months pregnant. 

The Word of Wisdom, the church teaching that proscribed the use of alcohol, was in that

era a source of advice, and not a requirement of the members.   It wasn’t unusual for the Saints to

provide some wine for the missionaries.   Charles noted that one evening the brethren had a few

bottles of wine together.  On one occasion when Charles had been ill with what sounds like food

poisoning or the flu, he bought a bottle of brandy, drank a little in the evening and the following

day.  Apart from an occasional member such as the Sister who had been drinking too much, the

Saints and missionaries were generally remained quite sober.  Nevertheless, at the start of the

new year Charles resolved to do better at keeping the Word of Wisdom. 

Charles developed a painful boil on his leg and suffered bouts of poor health.  Despite all

these difficulties, he and Lucetta moved to a new residence in Maldon in late January, where

Charles was to preside over the Essex District.  They borrowed money from her grandfather[7] to

buy needed new furniture that they would pay back in weekly installments, and also papered the

walls.  Charles wrote that they “felt very comfortable in our new place,” which was in a room

above the meeting rooms. 

Despite her growing pregnancy and Charles’ frequent travels around the district, and his

becoming intimately immersed in mission financial difficulties and the personal problems of the

members, Lucetta seems to have been doing well because her husband rarely mentions her and

has no complaints to report or concerns about the approaching birth of his child. 

On May 2 Charles wrote: 

I had made an appointment to preach at Terling and was getting ready to go when my

wife was taken in labor.  She begged me to stay but I steeled my heart and went feeling in

great suspense.  I laid hands on her & left her in the care of her mother.  I visited . . . the

president of the Terling Branch . . . had some conversation with his unbelieving wife. 

Preached to the Saints had a good meeting and started for home.  The night was pitch dark

and I knew the road but imperfectly.  I tried to discern the letters on a fingerpost when I came

to four cross roads but could not while looking something cold touched my hand and a chain

rattled behind me.  I turned sharply & there stood a great dog.  I started him and thinking I

heard somebody coming along the road I shouted “which is the way to Maldon” no answer

but still I heard “tramp, tramp.”  I walked on and came to an old horse biting the grass which

was the sound I heard and I had been interrogating him as to the way home.  I arrived ½ past

12 and found my wife had given birth to a son about ½ hour after I left.

I was proud and happy as my firstborn was pronounced exactly like me in feature. It

was also very small (like me in that) poor little fellow came one month too soon.  All the old

women predicted clearly its death.  I slept at my Father’s in law. 

While he sometimes related humorous incidents in his diary, Charles account of

stumbling in the dark while his wife was in labor prematurely indicates some anxiety, and

possibly guilt feelings, on his part.  He doesn’t say whether Lucetta ever reproached him for this

behavior.  

The baby’s health was further endangered because Lucetta’s nipples were inverted,

causing her problems in suckling the child.  The young couple tried several remedies to no avail,

and only succeeded in making Lucetta ill.  To make matters worse, Lucetta’s mother slipped and

fell, badly bruising herself, while getting off of a train on her way to visit.   

With Eliza Stratford on hand, Charles was able to take Lucetta away for a day.  They

went to London to see the Crystal Palace in Sydenham Hill.  Charles described it as the most

beautiful exhibition he had ever seen—“it baffled all description.”  “The building itself was a

wonder in art composed of iron and glass, its contents curiosities of different nations.”   The next

day they went with his sisters Emma and Celia to Cremone Gardens and enjoyed themselves. 

Despite this brief relaxing interlude the baby’s health failed even though a wet nurse was

brought in for him.  After a day of fits and convulsions and prayers, the baby died while Charles

was out visiting members. 

I was very much grieved.  I had full faith that he would live.  My wife was overcome

with sorrow.  I felt calm and to say the will of God be done.  Poor little fellow he looked

beautiful in his sleep of death. How much more beautiful will he look when the resurrection

morning breaks and the graves open.  May I and my dear Lucetta be faithful that he may be

ours in that grand day that we may be his guardians to educate him in the principles of

Salvation.   

They named the baby Charles Kimball Penrose.  Charles wrote to a church brother in

Chelmsford to ask for a loan of money to bury him.  He planned to conduct the service himself,

but friends dissuaded him. 

“We buried our boy at the Chapel burial ground Rev R. Burls performed the ceremony

we rode in a Brougham there & back.”  Charles took Lucetta with him to visit members and then

to see her uncle Barwell. 

Following the birth of his child Charles’ beautiful clear and even handwriting frequently

turns cramped and messy, and the account of his son’s burial begins a line that looks as if it had

been erased and written over.  The words “We buried our boy” are slightly smeared, as if the

page under the ink might have been damp with the tears of the young father.  He was deeply

affected by his son’s death--his reaction not at all like that to his grandmother’s death six months

earlier. 

The level of harassment of the missionaries increased in 1856.  On one occasion Charles

and his companion were accused of wanting to get in bed with “six wives” and other times of

wanting to seduce the sister of a possible convert.  Charles distributed copies of a new tract

called Marriage and Morals, but didn't say whether it was a success in repairing damage to the

reputation of the church. 

Charles was traveling more often and given greater responsibility, which meant that

Lucetta was often left alone.  She did sometimes accompany him on his walks to meetings in

Hockley.  Other times she stayed with her family in Maldon. Yet there were still opportunities to

attend the theater performances in London with Charles and his family.  

In August 1856 Charles noted that his hymn “O Zion”  (O Ye Mountains High) had been

published in the Star.  It had been introduced to the new counselor to the Mission President, Ezra

T. Benson “a good tempered stout jolly man familiar with everybody.” Charles soon became a

close companion of the “stout jolly man.” 

In October Lucetta’s sister, Julia, was in London to make preparations to emigrate to

Utah, so a small party was held for her and her traveling companion.  William Budge, an

American missionary, was also in attendance.  Afterward he asked Charles what sort of girl Julia

was.  Charles answered:  “She was a virtuous girl, rather self-willed, but a good one.”  There was

a quick courtship and William asked Julia to be his wife.  She agreed if her parents would give

permission.  Lucetta helped obtain it, although her parents were “thunderstruck” by the

marriage.  Lucetta helped Julia sew the wedding clothes.  Shortly after, the Stratford parents

were again “astonished” to find Julia already married and not emigrated.  The Penrose and

Budge families would share close times in the next few years.  (In 1860 the Budge family went

to the States and settled in Cache Valley.) 

In December the Charles and Lucetta learned that they were to move once again.  Charles

was assigned to be Secretary of the London conference.  While Charles looked for new lodgings,

Lucetta stayed with her mother in Maldon, and remained there while he visited the various

branches to bid them farewell for the time being.  

London 1857 

In London Charles once more indulged in his love for the theater, often in the company

of his mother and sisters or with his wife.  He continued to review briefly in his diary the plays

they had seen—not all of them were satisfactorily acted or written—the Merry Wives of Windsor

was “a very coarse piece.”  On at least one occasion local church members accompanied Charles

and his mother to a performance.   

A small local “war” far from England would have a significant effect on the Penrose

family.  In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a new territorial governor for Utah.  Fearing that

Brigham Young would not give up his office peacefully, Buchanan sent a force of 2500 military

men to accompany the new governor, Alfred Cumming, to Salt Lake City.  Not surprisingly,

Young reacted by calling up the militia and recalling 88 British missionaries to return to the

States, leaving the British missions seriously undermanned.  Emigration of members to Utah was

also suspended. Once again, Charles and Lucetta’s dream of moving to Utah was put aside. 

News of the war made Charles’ blood boil.  Unable to be in Utah to help defend the Saints, he

wrote a poem, “Up Awake Ye Defenders of Zion” that was set to the music of “Columbia Gem

of the Ocean.”   The Utah Mormons soon adopted the militant hymn as they prepare to meet “the

foe at the door” of their homes.

In August Charles visited his mother again.  While there he talked his sister Emma into

going to Chelsea to hear Ezra T. Benson. Brother Benson preached a first-rate discourse while

Charles contributed by singing his hymn “O Zion.”  Emma liked the meeting “but would not say

she believed.”  That evening Charles returned to his mother’s home to sleep.  A few days later,

August 31 Charles visited his mother and told her he would be preaching that evening.  Emma

came but wandered in the rain until the end because she couldn’t find the meeting room.  Charles

put her on the bus for home.

Despite taking mother and sisters to hear speeches and meetings and to attend the theater,

none of the family ever joined the church.  Polygamy, it seemed, did not appeal to these British

ladies.  Charles gives no indication as to whether he contemplated taking another wife if he ever

managed to make it to Utah, nor did he mention whether he’d discussed the matter with Lucetta. 

Lucetta’s sister, Eliza, also came to London.  Charles reports that Julia and William were

put out with quite put out with Lucetta over Eliza.  Apparently “Lu” wasn’t too happy about all

the fuss made over her younger sister.  Charles had to smooth things over with her and the

Budges.  By August 1857 Lucetta was well into her second pregnancy, so perhaps Eliza had

come to the city to help her sister.  On one occasion Charles found his wife very ill and he gave

her a blessing.  Shortly after he visited his mother and found that she too was quite ill, but as she

had no faith in Mormonism, Charles couldn’t minister to her. 

In September Lucetta, accompanied by Charles, went to Maldon to be with her family. 

Julia was also expecting her first child.  William and Charles had frequent meetings together.  At

the end of one busy September day, William went for the doctor.  Julia was safely delivered of a

nice little fellow “just like his father.”  That night Charles didn’t make it to bed until 3 am.  The

son of Julia and William was born 28 September 1857. 

While Charles heard reports of events of Utah and wished that he could be with “the

boys” to fight against the US government, he continued with his duties in London.  On October

11th he learned that the Budges’ child was very ill.  Soon after the baby died of bronchitis. 

Charles wrote:  “He died in the same way that my child died.  It seems that this is constitutional

with two or three of Mother Stratford’s children having died in this same way.”   

Understandably, Lucetta was much upset about the death of her sister’s baby, having lost

her own child and now pregnant a second time. Charles accompanied his in-laws to bury the

child in Victoria Cemetery.  In November Lucetta became ill—Charles reports her as being in a

very weak state.  He prayed with her and prescribed some herbs, which caused her to brighten up

a good deal. 

December:  Thursday Dec 10th Charles wrote:

 Early in the morning my wife was seized with violent pains which increased upon

her (she was pregnant eight months.)  I ran for the doctor who told her to go to bed and all

would be right, the pains would pass away… I administered to her and gave her some

raspberry leaf tea.  I soon had to run for the Doctor again and Sister King & he came.  I was

banished the room of course,  & in great anxiety waited the result . . .  Now I had engaged to

go with Bro Ross, Budge and their wives to Bromley to attend a festival and they would pass

along the Kent Road about 4 o’clock pm.  The time was almost come and I knew not what to

do, just upon the stroke of 4 I heard the child cry and about 10 minutes to five the Doctor

came down.  I ran up and saw the little boy (very little indeed but fat) and then scampered off

to fulfill my engagement.  Met the Brethren and obtained permission to stay at home.  In

about an hour Julia came.  She went a little way and returned to town feeling that she could

not go any further while her sister was so ill.  I waited for Mother Stratford to come. 

The next day Charles went to meet Mother Stratford to the joy of Lucetta who was

progressing favorably, but still with the nipple problem.  Charles tried several techniques while

Lucetta suffered a great deal.  Finally, through the “warm water bottle method” he was able to

draw one forth.  The baby boy survived.  Ernest Stratford Penrose was born 10 Dec 1857. 

The last entry in Charles’ diary reports that William Budge was called to preside over the

Birmingham Pastorate.  Charles, busier than ever with his missionary duties and his wife and

baby, was later sent to the city of Cheltenham where his next two children were born:  Jessie

Lucetta Stratford on 10 Dec 1858 and Kate Penrose, on 1 March 1860.  While living there a

young English convert, Louise Elizabeth Lusty, helped them care for their small children.

At last in 1861 Charles was released from his ten-year long mission, six years of which

he and Lucetta had been married. Along with their children and George and Eliza Stratford, they

prepared to emigrate to Utah.  They left from Liverpool 23 April 1861.  Lucetta was pregnant a

fifth time. 

Journey to Utah 

         As the Penrose and Stratford families made their last minute preparations to leave

England in April of 1861, the United States prepared for war.  The Civil War broke out into

actual fighting on April 12 when the Confederate Army attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston,

South Carolina.  War preparations slowed travel and travelers competing with armies to

obtain scarce supplies increased the cost off needed items.  Lincoln had ordered a blockade

of the Southern ports, which meant that the easier and cheaper route through New Orleans

and by boat up the Mississippi River was no longer feasible.  

Charles, now 29 and Lucetta, not yet 27, along with the Lucetta’s parents and three

of the Stratford daughters boarded the 1168-ton clipper ship Underwriter on April 23, 1861

in Liverpool.  The ship’s master was Captain John Pratt Roberts.  They arrived in Castle

Garden, NY on May 21—a relatively quick passage.   Like most of the 640 Mormon

passengers, they traveled in steerage.  Milos Andrus presided over the 624 Saints on board. 

He chose Charles to be his assistant. 

During the voyage Charles preached at Sunday services.  Apparently the weather

was reasonably calm for most of the trip, although Charles later wrote that within a couple

of days after departing Liverpool, most of the passengers were suffering “the peculiar

pleasures” of sea-sickness.[8]  Shipboard life was demoralizing.  The food was not the best. 

The Mormons tried to keep their quarters clean, but sanitation was not good.  The heads

could smell like cesspools.  Pests sometimes flourished.  “Charles W. Penrose awakened one

morning to find that a rat had given birth in his shoe.”[9]   

The Penrose’s baby daughter, Kate, was so sick that they didn’t expect her to survive

the voyage.  They brought a small metal casket on board with them so that she would not

have to be buried at sea.  During the voyage they sold the casket to another family for their

young son, one of two small children who died of consumption during the journey. 

The first week or so the weather remained fair, but on May 12 a strong gale arose,

tossing and pitching the ship in the water.  Lucetta’s daughter relates this story: 

            During the sailing they had encountered a terrific storm, and Mother showed her

fearlessness.  She induced Father to persuade the Captain to let her and Father be lashed

to the mast so they could witness the savage fury of the awe-inspiring storm.[10] 

          While this story may be consistent with Lucetta’s character, it seems doubtful that Charles

and the captain agreed to this.  Lucetta was four to five months pregnant at the time. She had a

sick fifteen-month old baby and two small children aged 3 and 4.  She had lost one child and had

given birth prematurely at least twice.  Furthermore, Charles doesn’t mention this in his account

of the journey, nor did others this incident.  If it did happen, then it demonstrates Lucetta’s

determined character.  This may be one of those instances of family tall stories that moved from

being a tale to truth.  “All families have myths which, to a greater or lesser extent, they know are

not true factually, even if they may be emotionally.”[11] 

The company arrived in New York on May 22.  They traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri, a

nine-day journey made more difficult as the US prepared to fight the first battle of Bull Run just

a few miles from Washington DC on July 21, 1861, necessitating the diversion of supplies from

travelers.  The company then spent three days on a riverboat traveling up the Missouri River to

Florence, Nebraska, (now Omaha) then a part of the Western Territories.  Here the family met

Edwin Stratford and his wife Marianna Crabb and their family.  They had immigrated in 1855

but remained in Nebraska until Charles and Lucetta arrived with the rest of the family.  They

proceeded to outfit themselves for the overland journey west. 

        George Stratford had contracted typhoid fever on board ship, and here in Nebraska he died

at age 54 on 23 June 1861.  He was buried in Florence.  His daughter must have mourned him

deeply.  How tragic for his family that he had come so far, yet died more than a thousand miles

from their destination.  Eliza Barwell Stratford lived with Edwin and his family in Ogden for 22

years until her death at age eighty-three, 8 December 1893.  She did not remarry. 

        On June 25th the Penrose’s and Stratfords began the overland trip with the Homer Duncan

family.  Charles was put in charge of a group of 25.  He had borrowed money to buy and cart and

team of oxen, whom he named “Tom” and “Jerry.”  

        The journey took thirteen weeks.  Imagine Lucetta, grieving over the loss of her father, now

nearly six months pregnant and growing larger each day, walking as much as she was able in the

heat of the prairie summer.  Imagine her riding in a jouncing wagon, needing rest but also

needing to keep up with the company.  Having her mother and sisters close at hand must have

lessened the discomfort of the journey.   

            The little company continued their journey, and on reaching Echo canyon, Mother

gave birth to a baby girl who was named Bertha, being attended only by her husband and her

mother.  The emigrant band having gone on, necessary conditions obliged them, through

forced marches, to overtake them in three days.  When they reached Salt Lake the baby died

and was buried there. 

            They first settled in Farmington, Utah.  Father secured a one-room log home with a

dirt roof, where they lived for three and one-half years.  While there Father did various kinds

of manual labor to provide for his family, working in a molasses mill, hauling logs, and

teaching school.[12] 

The small log cabin still stands in Farmington.[13] 

Besides doing manual labor, Charles taught school during the winter months.  Despite all

the hardships, Lucetta conceived another child.   Alice Cecilia Penrose, named after Charles’

youngest sister, was born 21 Nov 1862.    

Polygamy and the Penroses 

The church leaders encouraged men who had the talents and abilities to become leaders

to take additional wives.   According to one version of Lucetta’s biography[14] both Lucetta and

Charles “desired to obey the principals and the rules of the Church, which included Plural

Marriage.”  Despite the economic difficulties of life in pioneer Utah, the family welcomed

another young woman into the circle.  

As mentioned above, the Penroses got to know Louise Elizabeth Lusty in Cheltenham. 

Her widowed mother, Mary Ann Price Lusty Underwood, a brother and two half-brothers had

joined the church there.  In 1862 she was the only member of her family who had the funds to

emigrate, so the eighteen-year old girl made the voyage and the journey alone.  When she arrived

in Salt Lake, Charles and Lucetta met her and took her to their home.  Six months later the now

nineteen-year old young woman became the second wife of Charles Penrose, who was thirty-

one.  They all lived together in the small cabin in Farmington.  

Ten months after their marriage, Lizzie gave birth to a baby girl, Amy Blanch, on 2

November 1863.  Three months later, Lucetta gave birth to twin girls, Clara and Cora, on 2 Feb

1864.  With Dad, two wives, four children from ages seven to fifteen months, and three small

babies all living together in one small cabin, the challenge of keeping everyone clean and fed

must have been formidable. 

        Three days after the birth of the twins Charles noticed that the wind was increasing and that

“clouds had settled low like a pillow on the mountains.”  The winter of 1863-4 was especially

harsh with severe winds frequently blowing from east to west.  The Penrose cabin faced the

brunt of the storm. 

        Charles later wrote:

             The wind was rising and I knew something was going to happen.  The wind

grew stronger until it was blowing terribly.  I fastened the latch on the door and drew two

heavy boxes of clothing against it, further securing the latch with a pair of scissors.  I felt

pretty safe.  My wife was in bed with a pair of twins three days old.  I lay down on the

floor and the wind began to howl in such a way you cannot imagine; it was a most

horrible sound, rushing and screeching like a whirlwind.  It blew everything loose on the

house.  I was wondering what to do when the door blew open, pushing the two boxes of

clothing before it, and snow blew right over my wife’s bed.  Well, I can’t describe my

feelings.  I grabbed the door and tried to push it shut, putting my head against it, but to no

avail.  I finally drove a big spike into the ground against the door and decided to go for

help.  I rushed out the back entrance and waited until the wind lulled a bit, then ran.[15]

        Before he left he told Lizzie to hold on for dear life.  When he returned he found nearly

frozen with her with her head against the door.  He had to rub snow on her to bring her back

from the brink of serious injury. 

With the help of three neighbors Charles was able to get the door nailed shut. 

        He then tried to go back to sleep on the floor, but was soon to be awakened by the sound of

the window crashing to the floor.  He looked out and saw the ground had been swept bare of

snow by the wind, which now picked up rocks and hurled them against the house.  He nailed an

old buffalo robe across the window and went outside again to let the cow loose.  They had no

cowshed so it isn’t clear what happened to the cow.  Charles made his way back inside by

grabbing and holding onto weeds. 

        Next he built a fire in a small sheet-iron stove he had borrowed to ward off the extreme

cold.  The stove soon became red hot and set the logs of the house on fire.  Packing snow against

it didn’t help, so once again he ran for help from a neighbor. 

        The wind blew throughout the night.  When it subsided the next day he learned of the

damage it had caused:  cows and sheep destroyed, barns blown away, the roof taken off a new

house.  The woman who lived there ran into the night with her baby and both were found frozen

to death against a fence.  The memory of this terrible night inspired him to write the song, “Blow

Gently Ye Wild Winds on My Loved Ones at Home” after he was called to serve another

mission in England. 

        Two weeks later twin baby Clara died, and Cora followed her in August at age six months.

Of the eight children now born to her, Lucetta had lost four of them as babies.   

        The next fall an old friend from the English mission, Ezra T. Benson, invited the Penrose

family to move to Logan in Cache Valley.  Lucetta’s brother Edwin had settled in Cache Valley,

as had William and Julia Stratford Budge. 

        The Penrose’s obtained some land and a log cabin.  Lucetta and Charles taught school while

Lizzie sewed clothing to contribute to the family income.  By spring of 1865 Lucetta was

pregnant again.  Probably before she became aware that she was pregnant, Charles was called to

serve another mission in England.  He left April 29th.  Lucetta may have taught for the rest of the

year, but by fall she had to give up teaching. 

        Lucetta did needlework and the children gleaned wheat barefooted in the fields.  They

carried the wheat to the mill and received flour in exchange. 

        At this time the Indians were very hostile and Mrs. Penrose worried about leaving the

children alone while she was at work.  Indians used to come to her home and demand provisions

and anything else they might want.  One day they took two loaves of bread which was all the

food she had in the house.  Finally she got a young boy to stay with the children and a large

Newfoundland dog to accompany her to and from work.  One night the boy heard a disturbance

outside and was just in time to save the life of an Indian that the dog had by the throat and would

have killed in a few minutes.[16] 

        On New Years’ Eve 1865 Lucetta gave birth to a girl, Lucetta.  The baby died two weeks

later on January 14. 

Charles Again in England

        Charles arrived in England and passed through Birmingham on the way to London. 

According to his diary:  “My feelings were indescribable.  The familiar scenes of my former

travels there arose before me.  My wife Lucetta had walked that very street with me many times

and Lizzie had visited us there in that town.  It seemed that I must wend my way to the old spot

where we lived together and that I had just woke from a long dream.” 

        Charles again took advantage of the chance to attend performances of the theater.  Once in

London, he sought out the home of his sister, Matilda, and her husband, Charlie Parker.  Then

the three of them went to his mother’s house, where she almost fainted with joy at the sight of

her only son, whom she had not seen for four years.  The next day he visited his sister Emma. 

He also learned that his youngest sister, Cecilia, was about to marry a cabinetmaker named John

Howard.  A few days later Charles stood up and gave his sister away in her marriage to John. 

        He had carried gifts for the English members. Many were old friends who were thrilled to

see him again.

        He also visited Lizzie’s brother, James [Underwood] and his wife who were shocked to see

him, as they had no word that he was in London.  They attended a meeting where Charles spoke. 

        Charles went to Danbury where he was again overwhelmed with feelings of nostalgia for

his early days with Lucetta:

           I experience sensations of the most sensitive kind, at looking upon the various

spots endeared to my memory by so many never to be forgotten associations.  Here I

walked when sent on my first mission in 1851, foot sore, hungry, weary and homeless,

here I had walked afterwards full of hope and joy having been successful in my labors. 

Here I had walked with Lucetta in the days of our courtship and also in my first days of

marriage.  My thoughts wandered back to those days and then to my home in the

mountains as they do every day and my soul went up to heaven in fervent prayer for the

dear ones left at home. (5 Aug 1865.) 

        Five months passed before Charles at last received the first letters from Lucetta and Lizzie. 

He learned that grasshoppers had eaten the crops, the cattle were starving, and a wagon wheel

smashed, but all of this was good news to the lonely missionary.  

        However difficult it may have been for Charles to be so far from his families, his suffering

was alleviated by frequent visits with his mother and sisters.  Matilda Penrose and occasionally

one of her daughters often accompanied Charles to the theater to see a performance.  Charles

also preached and wrote articles for the Millennial Star, as well as poems.  He became

reacquainted with and enjoyed the company of old friends.  He spent Christmas with his mother

and family, and then visited James Underwood again. 

        At the end of January his mother visited him to give him a letter from Lucetta.  Charles had

been worrying about her, knowing that her delivery time approached.  Her letter said that she

was ill.  He also had the impression that Lizzie was pregnant.

        It wasn’t until March 8 that Edwin Stratford’s letter arrived telling him that the baby had

died, but that Lucetta was all right.  Lucetta wasn’t alone; she had family, including her mother

nearby and of course, Lizzie.  One wonders if Lizzie wasn’t overwhelmed by the heavy

responsibility of helping to care for a sister wife and many small children. 

        Charles worked closely with the English Latter-day Saints, providing them with

encouragement and practical help to get them to emigrate to the US.  When church members did

leave the country, they often carried gift packages from Charles for Lucetta and Lizzie and the

children.   The arrival of these gifts, often of fabric or clothing, must have brightened the difficult

life in the log cabin. 

In England Charles worked with men who would later be important to him in his political

and newspaper careers.  Brigham Young, Jr. was mission president.  Moses Thatcher, William

Godbe, and Orson Pratt later became important in Utah politics and church leadership.  After

Apostle Franklin D. Richards arrived as the new mission president, Charles worked with him on

mission business and had the opportunity to demonstrate how talented he was.  Richards would

play an important role in Charles’ life after his return to Logan, Utah.  

How much did Lucetta and Lizzie know about Charles’ life in Europe—attending the

theater, meeting important men, traveling to Paris and writing poems?  Back in Utah Lucetta was

home with small babies, fending off plagues, predatory animals and Indians.  She seems to have

been a practical person, if not by nature, then of necessity.  Would the girl who preferred to

throw a pair of heavy shoes into the fireplace rather than wear them now be grateful to own such

useful footwear?  While Lucetta may have been unhappy with her husband’s long absence, she

may have been too tired and worn down—lacking the time or energy to write.

        Four months passed without a letter from Lucetta—finally one arrived in December. 

Charles was overjoyed with the long letter, even though Lucetta reported that the children’s eyes

were weak—still, there was good news—the family had enough bread to last a year, and the

parcels carried by a Bro. Bates arrived.  Charles immediately sent her a long letter with a note to

Lizzie saying that he would write more in a few days.  Then Lizzie failed to write him. 

        On Feb 4 1867, Charles’ 35th birthday, he lamented that it had now been four months since

he had received a letter from Lizzie.  This “letterless” Lizzie period continued until March 30. 

He might well have wondered whether his beautiful young wife was attracting attention from

available suitors while Charles’ mission stretched onward without a termination date. 

Was Lizzie dissatisfied with her new life as the plural wife of an absent husband?  That

Charles mentioned repeatedly in his diary that another week had gone by without a letter from

her.  They hadn’t been married long when he left, and she may have felt isolated and alone in a

little log cabin—what a change from the neat home in a beautiful and clean city.  It must have

been a challenge for a woman still in her early twenties. 

        At last Lizzie wrote to say that she had gone to stay in Salt Lake, and that she would be

there at least until fall.  Her brother and his family had made the trip to from England to Utah,

and possibly her mother was there also.  She may have had friends in the city.  She had to

support herself and her little girl, and she may have felt she could do better for herself in Salt

Lake than out on a farm near Logan.  Lucetta did have family members, including her mother,

living close enough to help her and provide her with adult companionship.           

        Nothing in Charles’ diary or family written family stories suggests that the relationship

between the wives was other than harmonious.  On the other hand, there is no record stating that

that they got along well.  Possibly Lucetta, older, more experienced, with a strong and

determined character, might have seemed overbearing to Lizzie, whose relationship with the

family had begun as a caretaker for Lucetta’s children.  At any rate, Lizzie’s time on her own in

Salt Lake seems to have been a positive experience for her.  Still, we wonder why she did not

write for such a long time, and why Lucetta apparently didn’t inform Charles that Lizzie had left

the farm.  The marriage of Charles and Lizzie lasted until his death more than sixty years later. 

        In 1867 Charles had been the London Conference (District) president, and before that, the

Essex president at the London Conference.  He was next transferred to Liverpool to begin his

journalistic career as a “sub-editor” of the Millennial Star, the publication for English church

members and missionaries.  His first editorial was published June 1, 1867. 

        On June 19th he received a letter and a portrait of Lizzie, which made him a happy man.  In

July Lucetta wrote him that the last cow was lost, all the chickens were gone, and grasshoppers

were jumping around the crops.  Perhaps this list of difficulties was a hint to Charles that he

ought to be trying to secure a release and return home. 

The Mission President Franklin D. Richards believed he couldn’t get along without

Charles and delayed his release.  Charles finally persuaded him otherwise and prevailed.  Three-

and-a-half years after beginning his mission, on September 8, 1868 he boarded the Manhattan. 

While he missed his family and they needed his support, if one can take a long-range view, those

years were well spent.  Upon returning to Utah, Franklin Richards launched Charles into a career

in journalism.  His son Franklin S. Richards acted as lawyer for the church during the struggle

with the US government over the issue of plural marriage.  Charles would also work with Moses

Thatcher, Orson Pratt, William Godbe and Brigham Young, Jr.  From a career point of view,

they were all valuable people to know. 

        Charles also had many opportunities for to speak in public and to hone his skills before an

audience.  As sub-editor for the Star, he learned and practiced journalism skills.  He also spent

time with his mother, sisters and an aunt.  Although he took them to meetings where he

preached, none of his family ever joined the church or left England.  Charles also visited

galleries, museums, and in addition to seeing plays and performances, he saw magicians and an

Electric-biologist (hypnotist.)  With some of his fellow missionaries he also spent an exciting

week or so in Paris sightseeing, absorbing the art and gardens.   

        He normally wasn’t judgmental about what he saw—at least not in his diaries.  He took

everything in, and when he had time, he studied French and German.  Those four years may have

been the equivalent of a college education and apprenticeship for him.   

        While all this is positive, there was a cost to be paid and it was paid by the wives left at

home who did not travel and see the plays and art, and who daily struggled to keep the children

fed and clothed.  Their stories have not really been written.  Was the sacrifice worth it to them in

the long run?  Lucetta, reportedly ambitious and eager to make her home a finer place, must have

understood the importance of Charles’ second missionary experience.  

The Move to Ogden

        Charles’ arrival in Farmington must have been a joy and yet a challenge to his wives and

children.  He had certainly matured and developed his abilities, but they too had survived on

their own and learned a thing or two.  Shortly after his return the two Penrose families moved the

central part of Logan.  Soon after the families settled in, Charles was asked by Franklin D.

Richards to come be an assistant editor on a new newspaper he was starting, The Ogden

Junction.  Her daughter writes about this: 

          The family moved from the outskirts of Logan to the main street.  While living here,

Mother papered her front room with the first wallpaper known in these parts, always having a

love of the beautiful, she was ever striving to better conditions.  She also helped to provide a

living by engaging in millinery, her older children gathering the straw and she weaving and

shaping them into hats.  At this time, Sept. 21, 1869, Emma Louise was born, dying October

7, 1869, while Father was in Ogden, where Father had been called to edit the Ogden Junction.

Shortly after the death of this child, Mother surprised her husband by moving her family to

Ogden, being several days on the way.  One night during a storm, she opened a school house

window to obtain shelter for the night, continuing her journey the next day.  On her arrival

there she secured one room in the Fife house directly east of the Ogden Stake Tabernacle,

where they resided until they purchased a two-room house in a more desirable location.   

          They immediately began improving it by enlarging the house and planting an orchard

and vegetable garden to supply their family with food.  During the ten years they resided

here, seven more children were added to the family, only two surviving, George William and

Edwin C.  Mother, with her perseverance and ambition and her eagerness to help establish a

millinery store, which she operated herself and was very successful.  Through her sufferings

and privations and loss of so many children, her health failed and she suffered with insomnia.

[17] 

        On 14 July 1869 Lizzie gave birth to a son, Herbert Lusty Penrose while soon after, 21 Sept

1869 Lucetta gave birth to a daughter Emma Louise, who only lived a little more than two

weeks.  Another girl was born just a little more than nine months later on 30 June 1870.  Lettie

Penrose lived four days.  One after another, five of Lucetta’s babies died within a few days or

weeks of birth.  With one exception, despite a three-year rest from childbearing, Lucetta and

Charles did not bring forth a baby that lived.  Whether because of some weakness, as Charles

had speculated after the birth of their first son, or the conditions at the time and lack of medical

care, the pregnancies and losses must have been heartbreaking to endure.   

        Lucetta’s next child, George William Penrose born 14 Oct 1871, lived.  Lizzie also had a

baby, Ettie May, born 18 Sept 1871.  

        Lucetta had three more babies close together.  All of them died.  They were Ella Maude, 6

November 1872, who died two months later, Frederick Edgar, 15 November 1873, died 4 days

later, and Lou Belle, who was born and died in 1874.    

        On 4 July 1876 another boy was born and named Edwin Centennius.  Lucetta probably

didn’t expect him to survive as he was weak and frail, but he did.   While living in Ogden she

had another boy, Wallace Harold 19 July 1877, who died two weeks later.  After the family

moved to Salt Lake she gave birth to her last child, a girl, Lucile, on 21 Jan 1880, Charles and

Lucetta’s 25th wedding anniversary. 

        Lizzie next had a baby girl, Nellie on 9 Feb 1875.  Less than a year later, she gave birth to

Frank William on 25 Jan 1876.  Lizzie had five more children: Flora Penrose, born 22 Jan 1878,

who died at three months, Lulu Penrose, born 19 Dec 1879, Arthur James Penrose, born 16 Dec

1881, who died at ten months, Bertrand August Penrose, born 28 Aug 1883, and Leo Eugene

Penrose, born 1 Aug 1886.  These last five were born in Salt Lake City. 

        During the eight years the families lived in Ogden Charles had been elected a member of

the City Council and was also made a member of the Weber Stake High Council.  In that

position he had frequent occasions to preach and do public speaking.  His talents had not gone

unnoticed by Brigham Young, who extended an offer to Charles to join the staff of the church-

owned Deseret News as assistant editor.  In 1877 the Penrose families moved to Salt Lake City

where they would reside the rest of their lives.  Each of the wives would have their own separate

homes. 

        Charles worked under George Q. Cannon and Brigham Young, Jr., who were also apostles. 

Frequently Charles was left in charge of the newspaper while the other two traveled or were busy

with church responsibilities.  His public speaking talents led to many requests to speak at Sunday

Services in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.  He became involved in women’s rights, preaching that

some women stayed at home too much and that they ought to get out more and get more outdoor

exercise.  We wonder what Lucetta and Lizzie had to say to him after he gave that speech![18] 

He also helped organize demonstrations against government actions imprisoning LDS men on

polygamy charges.  He was elected to a seat in the Territorial legislature.  In addition to his

political activities he was a member of his LDS Stake Presidency for twenty years.  In 1880 at

age 48 he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Deseret News. 

        In 1862 Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law making bigamy in the territories a

crime punishable by a fine and five years in prison.   The church challenged the government in

court in Reynolds v United States, (1879) but the U.S. Supreme court upheld the law.  Other anti-

bigamy laws, aimed at the Mormon practice of polygamy included the Edmunds Act (1882) that

made bigamous cohabitation a misdemeanor.  As the pressure to abandon plural marriage

increased, many Mormon men defiantly took more wives.  While Charles had not yet taken a

third wife, he became active in attempts to attain statehood for Utah and to prevent the passage

of even more stringent laws outlawing the practice of polygamy.  He was so busy in the next few

decades that it is difficult to imagine him having time to spare to make another marriage and

begin a third family.  Nevertheless, he was violating the law of the land and Lucetta must have

begun to worry that he might be prosecuted, especially after the Court ruled the law

constitutional in the Reynolds case.   

The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 allowed the US government to disincorporate the LDS

church, seize its assets, and included a provision that would compel a spouse to testify against

her polygamous husband.  Charles had traveled to Washington, DC to lobby against the passage

of these laws, but it became clear that not only would Utah not gain statehood until the church

abandoned polygamy, the continued existence of the church itself was at stake. 

        According to Lucetta’s granddaughter, after the move to Salt Lake in 1877 and the Penroses

at last began to enjoy the first real comforts of life, the anti-polygamy persecutions began and

“they suffered all the terrors of that time.”[19]

 Another Loss 

         On the Fourth of July, 1880, Lucetta stayed home from the holiday celebrations with her

baby Lucile, now six months old and looking as if she would survive those early perilous months

of life.  One of her younger sons was with her—probably Edwin unless he went to celebrate his

fourth birthday in the park.   

        Lucetta fell, broke her leg and injured her spine.  With only a small boy to stay with her,

there was no way she could get help.  Later she had surgery on her spine, but she did not regain

the ability to walk.          

        Lucetta was now 46 years old.  Her husband was an active, well-known editor and public

figure.  Charles’ biographer Kenneth Godfrey tells us that Charles had a special couch made for

her and saw that she was taken out for rides every day.  “After a time she was able to attend the

Salt Lake Theater, where, from her invalid chair, she witnessed dramatic productions.  Even with

her physical handicaps, Lucetta tried to improve her mind, keep up with current events and

reading the best literature.  Having a large home, she often invited her neighbors to square dance

in her dining room as she watched.”[20]  As a result of her poor health, she also suffered from

insomnia. 

The enforcers of the anti-polygamy laws couldn’t ignore a public figure with two wives.  

Near the end of 1884 an arrest warrant was issued for Charles.  Learning that a federal marshal

named Ireland was after him, church leaders sent him away from Utah to Washington, New York

and Boston to lobby against passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, (which passed in 1887) and to

look for support for statehood.  With Marshal Ireland close on his heels, Charles left Utah in

January 1885.

        On Monday, February 9, Charles received a letter from Lucetta with the distressing news

that she and all the children except Lucile had been called before the federal grand jury in Salt

Lake.  Lucetta had declined to testify but “Alice and the rest were prompted till all that was

wanted was obtained.”[21]

       Church Historian Andrew Jensen gives us this account of the hearing: “In the beginning of

January, 1885, he [CWP] was sent on a brief mission to the States, and during his absence his

legal wife and family, down to a boy eight years old, were compelled to go before the grand

jury.  The wife refused to testify against her husband, but the evidence desired was extorted from

the children.” [22]           

        Charles had several close calls, and while he evaded the marshal, he and others who

traveled with him, including Brigham Young, Jr. were not able to accomplish their goals.  While

still in Washington, Utah’s congressional representative, John Caine, gave Charles a letter that

called him to the English mission.  He was to leave immediately, but asked for some time to

prepare.  He left at the end of February, but not before learning the distressing news that while he

would continue as Editor of the News, his salary was cut and each of his families would have

only $7 a week in a cash allowance while he was away.  This is one of the few times that Charles

records that he is depressed. 

        He wrote home telling his “dear ones” good-bye. 

       Returning to London, Charles was able to visit his mother and sisters again.  As usual, his

diary records the letters he received from home and his prompt answers.  On May 26 he

mentions writing home to his and Lucetta’s children Katie and Eddie, who was nearly nine years

old.

       Charles had his portrait taken and on June 6th sent it along with a reply to Lucetta’s

“excellent” letter.  (He now called her “Cetta” in his diary.)  By mid-July Charles noted that

Cetta had not written as expected. He wrote to her again on the 16th and “a good long letter”

again on the 18th.  At last on July 25th he received a fine letter from Lizzie and one from Cetta,

about which he remarked only that Cetta’s letter was “an unkind one.”  Without the letters, we

can only wonder what was upsetting Lucetta.  Charles doesn’t say, but a few days later, his diary

gives us a hint:  Thursday, July 30:    

        “I wrote to Lizzie also to R.B.P.”

Charles must have been referring to Romania Bunnell Pratt, MD, who would soon

become his third wife.  On July 31 he wrote another long letter to Lucetta, and then on August 26

reported that he had a portrait for Cetta for her birthday, and also that he had “bought locket for

Cetta.”

        Whatever Lucetta’s feelings about the possibility that Charles might take another wife, it is

easy to imagine that she was concerned that he would consider endangering himself and his two

families by joining with other Mormon men who were thumbing their noses at the federal

government by continuing to take wives in violation of the law.  While Romania, a practicing

physician in Salt Lake who had been divorced from Parley P. Pratt, Jr. for several years, would

not be a financial drain on the family, another marriage would put Charles at greater risk for his

freedom.  As the pressure to abandon plural marriage increased, longer prison sentences were

given to convicted polygamists.

        Charles and Romania did marry after his return to Utah on 11 March 1886 but the marriage

was kept secret from the public for many years.     

        Still in London, Charles visited his mother and sisters again, especially his sister Matilda,

who was ill and hospitalized.  He spent long hours with her and promised that if anything

happened to her, he would take her daughter Florrie back to America to live with his family.  He

also had he opportunity to attend the theater again, as well as travel to Scandinavia.  Despite his

reduced salary, he was able to send gifts back to his wives and children, including fabric and

ribbons to Lucetta and Lizzie.  By early November 1885 Charles was back in Utah, although he

made no public appearances.

        In 1889 Charles negotiated with President Grover Cleveland for a pardon for himself and

George Q. Cannon.  Cleveland granted the pardon, but it did not cover Romania Pratt.   That

third marriage later caused him some difficult moments before a judge in Salt Lake after Charles

refused to answer questions about his wives on cross-examination on an issue that had nothing to

do with his marital status.  Judge Anderson cited him for contempt and Charles went to jail.  A

few days later, the judge released him.

        Charles continued to be involved in the struggle to obtain statehood for Utah, returning

again to lobby in Washington.  By mid-1890 it was clear that statehood would remain

unattainable until the Mormons gave up the practice of polygamy, which they officially

abandoned with the Manifesto of 1890 in September.  While no new plural marriages were to be

contracted, those already living “the Principle” intended to continue living with all of their

families.  Charles and Romania didn’t risk revealing the fact of their marriage.  She continued to

practice as Dr. Pratt until 1905 when Charles revealed it while testifying at the Smoot hearings in

Washington. 

        Lucetta’s youngest son, Edwin, was called to the Southern States Mission where he served

from 1897 until his release in March 1899.  Edwin’s daughter Dorothy kept many of the letters

he wrote home.[23]  Most were addressed to his father or “My Dear Parents,” however Edwin

appears to be writing mainly to his father, although he usually included a note about his mother’s

health.  In April 1898 he sent Lucetta flowers, but the letter doesn’t state why they were sent.  In

June Edwin contracted malaria.  His letter describing the extreme symptoms of his illness

alarmed both of his parents.  He soon wrote an apology for causing them to worry about him. 

Judging from the letters, his relationship with Lucetta seemed rather formal, while he is much

closer and more at ease with Charles, and frequently sought his father’s approval.

        Seven of Lucetta’s children grew to adulthood and all of them married.  By the time of her

death she had eighteen grandchildren.  Alice had divorced and remarried twice, which caused her

parents to worry.   Most of the Penrose offspring lived in Salt Lake or Cache Valley, and we can

imagine that Lucetta stayed close to her daughters Jessie, Kate, Alice and Lucile, as well as her

daughters-in-law.  Lucetta’s mother, Eliza Barwell Stratford, died in Ogden on 8 Dec 1893, more

than thirty years after the death of her husband, George.  During those thirty years she continued

to live with her son Edwin Stratford and his family.

 Lucetta’s Last Years

        In 1886 Charles left the Deseret News, but not to retire.  He continued his busy life as an

assistant church historian, writing the missionary tracts Rays of Living Life, and editing the Salt

Lake Herald. In 1898 he was reappointed Editor of the Deseret News. 

Despite her health problems, Lucetta enjoyed reading, attending the theater, and spending

time with her children and grandchildren.  Friends and family frequently visited, as “visiting”

was an important part of women’s lives during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 1900 Census

shows Lucetta living at her home at 306 East 5th South with Charles, Alice, Lucile, Jessie

[Penrose] Crawford and her daughter, and a servant, Nora Bennett.  

        On Halloween, 1902, Lucetta and Charles attended a surprise party for their son Edwin. 

Several of her children and their spouses were present, along with many of Edwin’s in-laws.[24] 

A few weeks later Lucetta came down with a cold.  She wasn’t in the best of health and the cold

soon turned into pneumonia. 

        As her conditioned worsened, her family gathered around her bedside.  On the afternoon of

January 19 she asked for a drink of water, took a sip, then laid her head back down on the pillow

and died quietly.  January 21 would have been her 48th wedding anniversary.  She was sixty-eight

years old.

        The Deseret News obituary published a large picture of the young Lucetta with the

headline:  “Good Woman goes to Rest.”  This was a tepid summing up of the life of this

remarkable human being.[25]

         Her funeral was held in the Ninth Ward meeting house and she was buried in the Salt Lake

Cemetery where Charles and Elizabeth—Aunt Lizzie—would eventually join her.  She had

eighteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild.  The speakers remembered her for many

admirable traits of character, including her devotion to her family and her faithfulness to her

beliefs.  

        Charles still had two wives and many tumultuous years to live in the public eye—his years

as apostle and counselor in the First Presidency of the Mormon church, his service as president

of the European Missions, and his return to Washington, DC to testify in the Smoot Hearings of

1905 that resulted in bitter attacks on his character made in the editorial pages of his nemesis, the

Salt Lake Tribune.

        We have seen Lucetta through the eyes of her parents, her husband, and a few of her

children and grandchildren.  Looking at only her reflection through what is at best a foggy

mirror, we wonder how much of her true character and personality are still hidden from us. 

While she endured hardships with stoic determination, she was strong and forthright when she

felt it was necessary.

        Lucetta died before her younger grandchildren were born.  Dorothy Penrose Woodland

wrote that she regretted not knowing her, and that “Aunt Lizzie” took her grandmother’s place in

the little girl’s affections.  Dorothy also said that many family members said that she was like

Lucetta in many ways.  Dorothy wrote:  “When I think of the agony and heartbreak that my

Grandmother endured each time a baby died, my heart aches for her and the sadness that she had

to face.  She was a very great lady.”

Susan W. Howard      

May 30 2007 

 Bibliography

Annie Loreen Crawford Davis, “Lucetta Stratford Penrose,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1968. 

Loreen was the daughter of Alice Cecilia Penrose. 

Handwritten manuscript, author unknown, but similar to Davis, above, “Lucetta Stratford

Penrose, in my possession.

Deseret News  

Richard L. Evans, A Century of “Mormonism” in Great Britain, (Publishers Press, Salt Lake

City, 1937, 1984).

Judith Flanders, Circle of Sisters, (Norton, New York, 2001).  This is an excellent biography of

four sisters of the McDonald family growing up in Victorian England. It is a good source of

details of daily life in this era.

Kenneth W. Godfrey, Charles W. Penrose:  His Life and Thought, (unpublished manuscript

available at Utah Historical Society.)   

Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, Jull Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices:  An Untold

History of the Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1989).  

Andrew Jensen, Latter Day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia, (1901).

Richard L. Jensen and Malcolm R. Thorp, eds. Mormons in Early Victorian Britain, (University

of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1989.) 

Lynda Nead, Victorian Babylon:  People, Streets and Images in Nineteenth Century London,

(Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000.) 

Penrose Diaries, 1854-1899, Utah Historical Library.  Many thanks to Kenneth W. Godfrey for

making copies of these diaries available. 

Penrose Family Publication, 1968-1973.  Published by the Penrose Family Organization in Salt

Lake City, Utah.

 Conway B. Sonne, Saints on the Seas: A Maritime History of Mormon Migration 1830-1890

(University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1983). 

Missionary Diary of Edwin Stratford, Microfilm copy at Family History Library, Salt Lake City.

Edward W. Tullidge, History of Salt Lake City, (1886). 

[1] Diary of Edwin Stratford, Charles W. Penrose Diaries, Daughters of Utah Pioneer Histories. 

See Bibliography for a complete list.  Four of the Stratford children had died as infants.

[2] Diary of Edwin Stratford.

[3] On May 30th Edwin and his father went to London to see the Great Exposition and to attend

the London Conference.  They also went to the Kennington branch—Elder Penrose’s home

branch.  Later they heard Apostle John Taylor speak.  George Stratford was baptized June 2nd

and four apostles were present and spoke:  John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow and

Franklin D. Richards. 

[4]Jensen and Thorp, Mormons in Early Victorian Britain, 25.

[5] Penrose Family Publication, 1968-9, p. 9.

[6] As far as I can determine, this Sister Bateman was not related to Charles and Lucetta’s future

daughter-in-law, a granddaughter of Thomas Bateman of Manchester, England.

[7] This must have been her grandfather Robert Barwell. 

[8] Godfrey, Charles W. Penrose:  His Life and Thought, 69-70.

[9] Sonne, Saints on the Seas, 86.

[10] Davis, DUP Biography.

[11] See the “mouse pie” incident in Flanders, Circle of Sisters, 33-34. 

[12] Davis, DUP biography.

[13] The cabin is a museum, open by appointment.

[14] A version similar to the DUP biography in the form of a handwritten manuscript (not

complete) in my possession.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.  This was Conrad Manns, a homeless youth.

[17] Handwritten manuscript.

[18] Godfrey, Charles W. Penrose, 183.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Godfrey, Charles W. Penrose, 304

[21] Penrose Diary Feb 9, 1885.

[22] Jensen, Latter Day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia, See also Tullidge’s History of Salt

Lake City, 140.

[23] These letters can be read at http://penrosefam.org

[24] Deseret News, 1 November 1902, 8.

[25] Deseret News, 17 January 1903, 8.