Marriage of Dorothy Jane Dennis MCGEE RAINEY-second wife of David Pinkney Rainey

Marriage of Dorothy Jane Dennis MCGEE RAINEY-second wife of David Pinkney Rainey

1817-BIRTH-David Pinkney Rainey was born February 1st, 1817 in Maury County, Tennessee.

He was the youngest of a family of eight children. His parents were David Lemuel Rainey and Nancy Davis RAINEY of Orange County , North Carolina.

David was the only member of his Rainey family to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He spoke very little about his family or his early life, consequently there are few known facts about his ancestors.

Abt. 1839-MARRIAGE-David Pinkney Rainey married Margaret Minerva Andrews when he was a young man about 1839 while still living in Tennessee. David was a true southern gentleman and Margaret loved and respected him.

1843-JOINED MORMON FAITH-David and Margaret heard the gospel message from Mormon missionaries soon after their marriage. They readily accepted the teachings; David and his wife Margaret joined the Mormon faith and LDS Church and were baptized on the 15th day of May 1843. They desired to join with the people of their new faith.They prepared and left their home in the early summer of 1843 and went to live with the Latter day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. Margaret's parents father John Andrews and mother Abigail Kerr ANDREWS and also Margaret's brother Joseph Albert W Andrews also moved with them to Nauvoo. Joseph was also known by just the initials JAW Andrews for short.

1843-MISSION TO TENESSEE-KENTUCKY-When David was baptized on the 15th day of May in 1843, he was ordained an elder in that same month by Brigham Young. Soon after his arrival in Nauvoo, in the summer of 1843, he was sent to serve as a missionary in Tennessee and Kentucky . Because of his keen knowledge of the scriptures and his ability to sincerely share his testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, he was a great missionary. At the time of David’s conversion in Tenessee, he was studying for the ministry. He loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had undertaken the task of memorizing many passages in the Bible. He was a man of great faith.

SOLD HIS CARRIAGE TO JOSEPH SMITH-David was a personal friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. He and his wife came to Nauvoo riding in a very fine carriage, and upon learning that the prophet Joseph Smith had need of this type of transportation, he was happy to sell his carriage to him. This was the official carriage that Joseph Smith rode in until his martyrdom on the 27th June 1844.

MISSION TO CAMPAIGN FOR JOSEPH SMITH AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES-In the spring of 1844 David P. Rainey and A. C. Smoot were sent on a stumping campaign through Tennessee and Alabama for the Prophet who was running as a candidate for the President of the United States. They were recalled back from that mission to Nauvoo upon recieving the news about the tragic martyrdom of their dear Prophet and his brother Hyrum on the 27th of June 1844.

1845-MISSION- In August of 1845 David was again sent on a mission to Tennessee and Alabama. Davids name is listed in the 70's hall roster in Nauvoo where Missionaries were called from. The persecution of the Saints increased in the Nauvoo area.

1846-NAUVOO TEMPLE WORK-One of the joys of Nauvoo was the building of the temple. David P. Rainey and Margaret were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple, on the 2nd of January 1846. David was called soon after as an Temple Ordinance Worker. His wife Margaret Minerva Andrews RAINEY was sealed to him. Margaret Minerva Andrews brother JAW Andrews worked in the temple as the recorder in the baptistry. Joseph later died in Nauvoo of the measles.

LEAVING NAUVOO-On February 4, 1846 Saints were beginning to prepare to leave Nauvoo in covered wagons -Every home was turned into preperation places to assemble wagons and prepare their food and necessaties. After continual persecutions and burning of hundreds of homes in the out-lying communities the Saints were driven out from their beloved Nauvoo sooner than expected. They left in two different companies. The first was composed of a thousand or so Saints, most of them able-bodied men, women and children. This company was led by Brigham Young. They were to scout the way into the wild unknown western territory. They were forced to leave Nauvoo in the dead cold of winter. Previously Brigham Young and other leaders of the church had made a proposition to the mob that if they would let them alone and assist them by buying their property, they would leave the State of Illinois in the spring in an orderly manner. The proposition was accepted, but the persecution was renewed in violation of the pledge and the first company of one thousand fled. They hoped to appease or delay their persecutors but it was to no avail.

1846-MADE THEIR WAY TO COUNCIL BLUFFS (now Kanesville , Iowa) , IOWA--This first company crossed the Mississippi River in early: February 1846, many of them on the frozen ice, as it was bitter cold. David Pinkney Rainey was in this company with his wife Margaret Minerva Andrews RAINEY and mother-in-law Abigail Kerr ANDREWS. Many were cold and frozen and sick. They stayed just over the Mississippi River in Quincy with kind neighbors until the winter weather cleared. They encountered every hard ship that could be imagined. Traveling west they finally arrived in June 1846 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

1846-MORMON BATTILION-Shortly after their arrival in Council Bluffs, Iowa Captain J. Allen of the U.S. Army came to their camp asking on behalf of the president of the United States for 500 men to assist in the war with Mexico. David was among the first to enlist in the memorable Mormon Battalion and was mustered out on the 16th day of June 1846. They first traveled to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to be outfitted. Information from -The Mormon Battalion veterans.-Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847) David Pinkney Rainey's Age at Departure:was 29. The Battalion members suffered many hardships on that long march: cold, hunger, hot weather, and sickness. David P. Rainey attained the rank of Sergeant in Company "B" under the command of Captain Jesse D. Hunter. His serial number was l25-26-55- (23l-2-3-27l).

He was present when Brigham Young made the promise that not one of them should lose his life except through his own carelessness, and that their names should be held in honorable remembrance through all future generations. He trusted in the Lord and knew that the promises made through His servants would be fulfilled. He left his wife and her mother and all his earthly possessions in the covered wagon in which they had made their journey. Off he started on one of the greatest marches in all U.S. history. It started early in the morning to the tune of “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” played by the Nauvoo Military Band. It was a march of hardship and privation.He was mustered into Company B of the Mormon Battalion and selected as 1st corporal on 16 July 1846 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. He marched with the battalion to Ft. Leavenworth where they were outfitted.

BATTALION ILLNESS- They were mistreated at times and the objects of ridicule from some of the US officers who misunderstood the ideals of the L.D.S. soldiers. David one time became very ill, while marching, and the driver of the mess wagon hid him in the boxes of provisions. At the approach of an officer, the driver would give a certain whistle, which was a pre-arranged signal to David to stifle his groans until the officer had passed. Had he been discovered he would have been compelled to walk and forced to take questionable medicine. Anyone too sick to walk was left behind to die. While on guard one night in the desert, it was hot and sultry and the men were suffering from thirst. An officer passed and said, ”Who’s on guard here?” David answered, “Rainey”, and the officer replied, “That’s a **** wet name for this dry country.

They marched on to Santa Fe.Along their journey the Battalion witnessed a Mexican bullfight through Mexican territory.

DANCE IN SANTA FE-While the Battalion was in Santa Fe on October 15th 1846 Lt. Col. Cooke, their new commander, requested the battalion to participate with the New Mexicans in a fandango dancing to show respect for the residents and interest in their culture. It was thought that about three-fourths of the Mormon Battalion attended the dance. They paid a fee of $2 per person. John D. Lee, who had been dispatched from the Mormon camps on the Missouri River thought that it foolish. He worried it's purpose was to get more of the battalion's members hard earned pay out of them. He thought the whole thing was a waste of precious money. He felt they should have carried back their money to the in need Mormon camps. But Lee couldn't resist a chance to later investigate what was really going on. After dark he along with Sgt. William Hyde and Corporal David R.(P.) Rainey went to privately look in. They found such a "throng of ruffians" about the entrance that they decided against joining in. David P. Rainey and the rest of the battalion continued onto California. Here Company B was assigned to garrison duty at San Diego. In early March of 1847 David P. Rainey was promoted to sergeant of Company B..

SALT- In early July of 1847 his company was ordered to travel onto Los Angeles and en route as they were marching along the ocean, David Rainey and Robert Bliss noticed something large and white in the distance. When they went to check it out, they found it to be about one hundred acres of salt about half an inch in depth and brought a pint of the salt back to the company.

DISBANDED MORMON BATTALION IN SAN DIEGO-They were disbanded and dismissed from the U.S. Army near San Diego, California, in the early fall of 1847. The members were without any money, clothes or food. They were left to find their own way home by any method they could invent. While traveling David and his Mormon Battalion companions raised the first American flag at Fort Moor Hill.

SAN FRANCISCO-David P. Rainey and a large party moved north toward Sutter's Fort (now Lodi ,California) with the Hancock Company. From this advance party on August 21, 1847, former officers Andrew Lytle and George Rosecrans along with David P. Rainey stopped along the way in the American settlement of San Francisco. They inquired there about any news from the Church. They marched on to Sutter's Fort and then north and east to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the Truckee route. On September 6th the advance party met up with Samuel Brannan east of Donner Lake early in the morning. There they learned some news that the Mormon's had settled in the Great Salt Lake. They also learned , that Capt. James Brown was only a short distance behind him, bringing letters and counsel from the Church. David Rainey was in this advance party and an hour after meeting Brannan, he accompanied Brannan west to the main party under the leader Hancock. The various parties of the Mormon Battalion men came together near present-day Truckee. After getting the counsel from the Mormon leaders in Salt Lake that provisions were scarce in Salt lake Valley and they were counciled that they should come on to Salt Lake only if they had sufficient means.

SUTTERS MILL- CALIFORNIA GOLD-They took a northerly course to return to Winter Quarters through California, turning east past Sutter’s Mill, where others from the Mormon Battalion discovered the gold that started the California Gold Rush. At Sutter’s Mill one of the men decided to go it all alone in the direction of Salt Lake where he understood his wife had joined the saints. He loaded his pockets with gold nuggets, against the advice of his friends, and started out. He sadly never arrived in Salt Lake. After leaving Sutter’s Mill, where they saw plenty of gold and took a few nuggets for souvenirs, they connected with an old trapper’s trail which finally led them through Soda Springs, and from there into Wyoming and Nebraska. When their already well-worn boots were gone they wrapped their feet in sacks, bark or skins of animals found along the trail.

While half of the company returned to California, Rainey decided to continue with Hancock on to Salt Lake, arriving on October 16th 1847. Two days later between two and three dozen men , whose families were not in Salt Lake ,started a trek accross the plains to find their families back in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Davids and his companions first trecked from the Salt Lake Valley as recorded in 1847. He is Listed as traveling with Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847) Age at Departure: 29 . The men were anxious to get back to their families and wives they had left back in Council Bluffs , Iowa before winter was to set in. They separated into smaller groups, one of which had some ten or twelve men that ran out of food and traveled a few days without eating and had no idea where they could obtain food.

THE DONKEY PACK MULE-Along the way, David’s pack-mule gave out and was left to die by the road. Well east of Grand Island on the Platte River, according to William Pace's journal, "one of D. P. Rainy's Animals a mule gave out. We called a halt but finally drove on and encamped near Wood River. After traveling for two days and after considerable consultations we agreed to go back and make a supper out of the old Jack". A few men went back to where the mule was and killed it.They returned with part of the animal for "a much needed meal for some ten or twelve half starved Mormon Soldiers." David was given first choice of the meat because the mule was his. He chose the heart and liver, hoping it would be more tender and edible. After the animal was further divided, the men scraped the hide and cut it in strips. They took the hide strips along to chew on as they crossed the desert. An entry in a Andrew Jenson's journal stated , “The head of a donkey was found which had been killed sometime before, for food. It was supposed to have belonged to Sergeant David B. Rainey. Captain Allred took an axe and opened the Donkey's head. He and his messmates cooked it and made a fine supper of the brains.” The starved company of men were without water for so long, that at one time when they finally did reach a stream, the officers would not let them drink, because they were so dehydrated. They had them first soak their parched bodies in the stream. Then they drank.

MIRACLE OF THE FROZEN RIVER-When they came to the Platte River there was no way to cross and they were at a loss as to what to do, so they camped for the night. During the night it turned bitterly cold and when they arose early the next morning they found the river frozen hard enough to walk across. They gave thanks to their Heavenly Father for paving the way for them to cross. Within two hours the ice had all melted as they stopped long enough to glean some Indian corn and forage for other food.

FOOD-The corn was shriveled and hard and in small amounts, but they divided it equally among themselves and each man gave his starving mule a little. This was all the food they found until they reached the saints at Winter Quarters, on the West Bank of the Missouri River.

ARRIVAL In COUNCIL BLUFFS- They finally arrived in the Winter Quarters-Council Bluffs area to rejoin their families in mid-December of 1847. When their little company approached Council Bluffs , the news spread like wildfire. David’s wife Margaret Minerva Andrews RAINEY-prepared a ‘feast’ and invited a number of friends to welcome him home. He was so weak that he had to be lifted from his mule. He was carried in, bathed and dressed in clean clothing. Everyone was seated at a table loaded with good things to eat, but he had been so long without food that he was given a very small portion and a few spoonfuls of water. He was led from the table back to his bed where he wept like a child. He could not rest in bed and begged to go back outside to sleep on the ground , where he had slept for so many months. 1847-

MOTHER IN LAW HAD DIED-During the time David was away his wife’s mother Abigail Kerr Andrews became ill and had died.

FARMED IN IOWA-Before David Pinkney Rainey could rejoin the Saints in the Rocky Mountains he had to get enough money and supplies to make the trip, so he took up a piece of land, and stayed about nine years in the Iowa area to farm it and then sell it. We find the Rainey family is listed in the 1850 Census of Iowa.

WIFE MARGARET FEEBLE-Margaret Minerva Andrews RAINEY had never been strong. No children had been born to them. The anxiety and the rigors of pioneer life had taken their toll on her. By the time they planned to leave Council Bluffs for the trek onward through the Rocky Mountains, she had become an invalid, having to be helped in and out of the wagon.. David arranged space and the necessary provisions for a man and wife to travel with them to help take care of Minerva along the way.

1856- TREK TO UTAH-David Pinkney Rainey-9 years after he had returned to Council Bluffs , Iowa from the Mormon Battilion , David and his wife left Council Bluffs to Pioneer to Utah with the Philemon C. Merrill Company (1856) His age at Departure: 38-He traveled with wife Margaret Minerva Andrews Rainey (Age: 36) They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 1856 and went first to live in Provo.

1856-DENNIS FAMILY-Dorothy Jane Dennis MC GEE-The Raineys became fast friends with the William Taylor Dennis family. Dorothy Jane Dennis , the oldest daughter of the Dennis family, became the nursenaid to weakened Minerva in her illnress. Dorothy was so caring and kind that the two women became very attached to each other. Dorothy Jane had suffered previous heartache by an unfaithful husband, Franklin McGee. He had deserted her and disappeared from Utah. She was left only with a cherished dear little baby girl she had named Martha Jane McGee.

1857-DAVID MARRIES FOR A SECOND TIME TO WIFE DOROTHY -Margaret pled with Dorothy to marry her husband David Pinkney Rainey before her impending death. 1857-Dorothy agreed and became David's second wife in a marriage ceremony that was performed at Margaret's bedside on the 9th February 1857, Twelve days after the marriage, David's first wife Margaret Minerva passed away and was buried in the Provo, Utah Cemetery.

DAVID AND DORTHY-David Pinkney Rainey was twenty-two years older than young Dorothy Jane. At the time of Dorothy's marriage to David, Dorothy Jane was still a young woman of seventeen and exceptionally good looking. Up to the time she and her family came to Utah, she had been reared in ease and luxury, and was the oldest daughter of a southern plantation owner. She was quick to learn and very resourceful and soon became an expert at spinning, weaving, churning and milking. She became famous for her southern-style cooking and was an exceedingly good nurse. David was a fine gentleman of southern refinement. A happy and prosperous life now began for David and Dorothy Jane. Although David P. was much older, Dorthy soon became very attached to him. He was a man of refinement and great intelligence, contributing much to the building of Zion. Dorothy loved and respected him. She bore him fifteen children.

1857-SENT ON A MISSION-SF AS PRINTER's ASSISTANT-At General Conference in April 1857, David was called to go to San Francisco, California to assist George Q. Cannon in publishing a paper. The paper was called ‘The Western Standard” a twenty-four column weekly Folio. This employment lasted for about a year and a half. Its publication was brought to a close by the outbreak of the “Utah War” (Johnston’s Army)

1857-BABY MARTHA JANE McGEE--About four months after David had left in April for San Francisco, Dorothy’s baby girl Martha Jane McGee ,by her first husband took sick and died. The child, Martha Jane was about 15 months old having been born the 25th of May 1856. She died the 10th of August 1857, leaving the young mother with an aching heart,.

1858-MOVE TO PONDTOWN-David returned from San Francisco at Christmastime and Dorothy gave birth to a baby boy the 6th of January 1858. They named him David William. Early in the year of 1858 they left Provo and moved south with other Saints, locating at Pond Town now called Salem , Utah. David served as the Bishop there. He was a fluent speaker and was much in demand as orator of 'The Day’ for celebrations, funerals and other special occasions.

Spring 1860-CALLED TO MOVE TO RICHMOND NEAR CACHE VALLEY - When young son David William was a little past two years old the Rainey family moved to Richmond, Utah. They had a small farm about three miles south of Richmond.Their first home was just a simple dugout in Richmond, Utah while they began a farm plowing and planting. This farm was quite rocky and not very productive, so it was necessary that David work at other jobs to supplement the family income. David was a school teacher, and a freighter. Before long they built a good one-room house. When they moved into it , their sweet two-and-a-half year-old son David William Rainey Jr. looked around their new home and said, “This is quite comfortable.”

INDIAN TROUBLE-In this new and dangerous territory families were constantly threatened by roving Indians who stole their cattle, horses and anything they could get their hands on. They ambushed the settlers and burned their houses and barns and killed innocent people.

FREIGHTING-David worked as a farmer, and at different times a school teacher, but his main occupation was freighting supplies to Salt Lake City, and also as far away as Montana. David regularily hauled freight to and from Salt Lake City. The trip took him about a week each way. Butter, eggs, grain and whatever his neighbors had went down to sell and David brought back sugar, salt, cloth, matches and farm implements. Once he brought his wife Dorothy some lovely calico fabric (white with tiny black dots) as a gift. She was expecting a baby and so excited for a new dress. On another trip he brought her a real treat, some beautiful peaches but sadly in some way the peaches got mixed with the salt and were inedible!

1875-MISSION-David and Dorthy were nearly always expecting a baby but in 1875 David was again called on a mission, this time to preside over the Southern States. This was his fourth mission and during his absence their twelfth child Chloe Eugenia was born. He was out serving less than a year when he contracted Malaria and had to come home in 1876. He never completely recovered from this illness.

DAVID AS A FATHER-He was the father of fifteen children, named herein in the order of their birth: David William, Margaret Minerva, Joseph P. (probably Pinkney), Mary Elizabeth, George Washington, James Albert, Frederick Henry, Emma Catherine, Grace Ann, Talitha Dean, Sina Marie, Chloe Eugenia, Junius Roland, Jennie Bell and Inez Leona.

DEATH-David Pinkney Rainey died of pneumonia the 6th day of November 1888, and was buried in the family plot at Richmond, Cache County, Utah. David Pinkney Rainey died leaving a large family.

He was loved and respected as a citizen, a soldier, a pioneer and a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

PATRIARCAL BLESSING-David received his Patriarchal Blessing under the hands of Patriarch John Smith, on the 18th day of June 1845 in Nauvoo, Ill. It is recorded in Vol. 9, pg. 247, No. 748 and can be read in the Historian’s (Church) Office, in Salt Lake City.

BIRTHDATE-At the time he was given this Blessing he gave his birth date as February First, 1817. Some records state that he was born 1st February 1818, but the date that was given by himself (1st Feb. 1817) is accepted as authentic by genealogists as it comes closest to his date of birth, when he was about 28 years old. Sources-An article appeared on the Editorial page of the Deseret News, November 21st, 1888, entitled The Death of a Veteran”. The Article was a sketch of the life of David Pinkney Rainey and was submitted by Marriner V. Merrill, Jr. of Richmond.

Pioneer-His picture is on page 463 of “Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah”, published in 1913 and found in L.D.S. Genealogical Libraries. His name is listed with the others of the Mormon Battalion on the monument to their memory on the State Capitol Grounds in Salt Lake City, Utah. His name can be found by referring to his number, rank and Company, herein recorded.

Church Service- Quorum:Q8; Presidency of Q29 Nauvoo Data:Baptized 1843; Endowed Nauvoo Temple 1/2/46 (Seventy); Mormon Battalion Post-Nauvoo Data:Bishop Salem UT; Farmer; Mission CA, USA Southern States; Richmond UT Sources:M36:5; N489; S113; Q8+

PARENTS-The children of his father and mother, David and Nancy Davis Rainey are listed below in order of their birth: Chesley Orren Rainey, William Rainey, Anderson Comar Rainey, Sarah Rainey , Nancy Rainey , Mary Rainey, Doctor Rainey, and David Pinkney Rainey (our ancestor) for more data, see family group sheets Special Collections BYU Library MSS SC 1063

ANCESTRY- David Rainey David Pinkney Rainey told his oldest son, David William, that his ancestors came from the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel. It is assumed that if the Rainey’s came from the Isle of Guernsey, they were of French descent, but it has not yet been proven.

Ancestors-Dorothy Jane Dennis’ father, William Taylor Dennis, was half Welsh and half French and her mother, Talitha Cumi Bankhead was Irish. SOURCES-"Death of a Veteran," Deseret News [Weekly], 28 Nov. 1888, 729. "Emigrants for Utah,"

Deseret News, 6 August 1856, 8. Much of this history- This history compiled by Julia T. Rainey Brown, Logan, Utah, a granddaughter This history is on file at The Mormon Battalion Memorial Visitors' Center, 2510 Juan Street, Old Town, San Diego, California 92110 titled THE LIFE SKETCH OF DAVID PINKNEY RAINEY (Compiled from various histories, letters and authentic documents relating to him and his 2nd wife Dorothy Jane Dennis)