A brief history of Ann Espy and her children
A brief history of Ann Espy and her children
Katkıda Bulunanlar
A Brief History of Ann Espy, Her Ancestry,
and a Short History of Her Children
In the summer of 1778, Ann Espy was a young child living along the Susquehanna River which cut through the lush, 1
beautiful frontier Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. However, this was not a peaceful time. These months were
filled with tension and terror. Many of the men from this newly settled area had been among the first to volunteer to
march to Connecticut two years earlier after the battles of Lexington and Concord in the early years of the
Revolutionary War. Ann’s father George was serving in General Washington’s army as the new country rebelled
against the British . At this time the men who remained to defend the area included George’s wife’s brother, Captain 2
Lazarus Stewart , and her mother’s brother, Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, his cousin. These men were among just a 3
few hundred pioneers left to protect the valley from British troops. British soldiers and supporters had allied with
native northeastern Indian tribes who attempted to drive these Wyoming Valley settlers away, making raids during
this particular time when they knew most of the men were serving with General Washington or captive in Niagra
after battles earlier in the year. These Tories, plus Indians sent from the British fort at Niagra, had already killed
many settlers on the Western side of the Susquehanna, scalping survivors, murdering women and children, and
taking prisoners. Eye-witness reports of torture and captives being burned alive abounded.4
These settlers had built cabins from the trees cleared with their own axes from the abundant forests that covered
Pennsylvania. They planted crops by hand, farming around the stumps as the physical effort required to remove
them could be better spent elsewhere. They built homes, schools and stores from the logs they cut themselves, only
building as high as they could lift the hewn trunks. They kept themselves warm in the winter by burning the
branches they had cut and gathered during the warmer months. As had happened in the preceding generations in New
England, it was assumed the succeeding generations would make further improvements to the settlements with
physical energy that amounted to significant progress over time. Some of the Pennsylvania settlers had come from
Rhode Island and Connecticut, the latter state claiming ownership of the northern half of Pennsylvania until 1782.
Ann’s family had come from Lancaster County, 80 miles south. Both of her grandfathers, Josiah Espy and John
Stewart, as young men, had immigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland with their parents about fifty years earlier, as
had both grandmothers, Elizabeth Crain and John Stewart’s wife Frances. 5
While Josiah Espy had been born in the north of Ireland, as were his father and grandfather, their ancestors had been
born in Scotland. These early Espy’s had emigrated to Ireland in the 17 Century as part of a British attempt to
th
control Catholic Ireland with help from loyal Protestant Scots. As conditions changed, many of these “Ulster-Scots”
or Scotch-Irish as they were known in North America, migrated in the early 18 century to the Pennsylvania Colony th
and other “frontier” areas of the country. Their desire for religious freedom in addition to their despisal of the
British were driving forces in their efforts to fight control of the Crown and to contribute to the settlement of a new
country. All of Ann’s ancestors shared this history of religious and political fervor. The Stewart’s and the Espy’s 6
origins were Scotland. Records of the Crain’s are not as early, but it is probably they were also part of this multigenerational
migration.
Ann’s grandfather Josiah Espy was a blacksmith who became prosperous from his own hard labors, a true American
success story. Captain Lazarus Stewart (whose ancestors were also Scotch-Irish), was one of the original forty 7
settlers of Wilkes-Barre, who built one of the many forts on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne Couty, 8
which they named Forty Fort. Upon Josiah’s death in the early 1760's, his various properties were divided among his
children. George Espy inherited land in Wilkes-Barre, which became the county seat of Luzerne. George would
later become the Justice of the Peace and an Elder in the Presbyterian Church.
But this continued civilization and freedom didn’t come without a hefty price paid in blood. By late June of 1778,
the allied Indians and Tories had burned many of the farms in the Wyoming Valley. The settlers had barricaded
themselves in forts built along the Susquehanna. The British demanded nothing less than complete surrender. Four
hundred men and boys had gathered to defend Forty Fort near Wilkes-Barre. Captain Lazarus Stewart insisted they 9
attack their enemies instead of waiting for inevitable captivity after their farms were burned. The decision was made
to fight, and he was among many who led the fatal attack. They met a force of over a thousand British and Indians
armed with rifles and tomahawks. A massacre of hundreds of these Wyoming men, including both Lazarus
Stewart’s, followed. Thousands of the settlers fled. Grandfather Josiah survived. Pennsylvania regiments of the 10 11
Continental Army reclaimed the land for the settlers during the following winter.
4
Young Ann Espy grew up in Wilkes-Barre with this ubiquitous history. Her brother John married Lovina Inman,
whose father, Colonel Edward Inman, with his sons, had fought in the Wyoming Battle. Five of Lovina’s uncles died
in the massacre. All of the settlers had been affected by this tragedy which became one of the rallying cries of the
War of Independence and prompted many, including Benjamin Franklin, to argue that the Continental Congress must
raise armies to defend not just the coast, but the interior as well from the British.
As peace settled in after the Revolutionary War, the settlements around Wilkes-Barre grew. Home manufacturing
which included weaving and spinning were followed with industries powered by the strength of the majestic
Susquehanna River. Skilled laborers continued to move into the valley. Ann’s father George Espy was a stone
mason and built the town jail, a sure sign of civilization. And at the end of the 18 Century, a young German 12 th
immigrant by the name of Ambrose Telle settled in Nescopeck, down the Susquehanna River from Wilkes-Barre.
The 1800 census shows Ambrose living alone in Nescopeck. Since his son George was born in 1804, it is safe to
assume that Ambrose and Ann married shortly after the turn of the century. They had two more sons, George and 13
Lewis, in the next few years. This family of five was enumerated in Kingston Township in 1810, across the river 14
from Wilkes-Barre, where Ambrose had recently purchased 159 acres. The youngest son Ambrose was born about
1811.
Not much is known of Ambrose Telle. An interesting deed was recorded in 1806, filed amongst the many land
records. Robert Patton sold Ambrose Telle what appears to be two thousand dollars’ worth of whiskey, at the time
stored in port at Baltimore or Philadelphia. George Espy was a witness to the recording of this deed. It could be
surmised that Ambrose was a merchant. The only written account of Ambrose is not very flattering. His granddaughter
Sarah Ann Telle King responded to an inquiry by her half-sister Martha Telle Cannon in 1880. Sarah
wrote, “[Our grandfather] was a German professor or scientist, a man of considerable learning, but of no practical
ability....” Ambrose died about 1818. He was probably close to 50 in age. Martha Telle Cannon, a 15 16
granddaughter of Ambrose, but one who never knew him, believed he was descended from William Tell, the Swiss
hero, and she told her grandchildren this. In researching the Telle name in Europe, there appeared a tiny amount of
evidence that indicated the name Telle is a version of Tell. The only location as yet found for the Telle name has
been Altdorft, Swizterland, an area where William Tell originated. It is possible that during a visit to Indiana to meet
her cousins, Martha learned of a family tradition concerning the name.
Records show that the widow Ann Telle went to court several times to appeal for guardians for her minor sons,
which was required by law. In 1818 her brother John Espy became the guardian of her 14 year old son George. In
1820 her brother’s father-in-law Edward Inman agreed to raise Lewis and Edwin. Certainly by 1826, but perhaps as
early as 1820, Ann had married Ephraim White, the son of William White, a Connecticut farmer who had been
given land in the Wyoming Valley by a quirk of Massachusetts land grants given to Connecticut settlers in the
previous century. William White had also died in the 1778 massacre. In 1826 Ephraim White was appointed by 17
the court to be the legal guardian of Ambrose, Ambrose Telle’s youngest son.
Ann and Ephraim had two sons of their own, Hamilton and Sidney. Ephraim White died in 1832, when Sidney 18 19
and Hamilton would have been relatively young. After Ephraim’s death they used the Telle name by which they
were known throughout their lives, and in fact, denied ever having a different father than their brothers. Martha 20
Telle Cannon believed her grandmother Ann Espy died in the early 1830's in a neighboring area called Hanover
Township. She would have been in her 50's.
5
The Second Generation
George, Edwin & Ambrose
In 1830 Ann’s oldest son George married Louisa Schull and moved to Philadelphia . They lived there for 13 years, 21
relocating westward to Salem, Indiana in 1843 with four children. There the couple had two more children. George
operated a tanning yard outside Salem. By this time Indiana had replaced Pennsylvania as the American frontier.
George’s brothers Edwin and Ambrose appear to have moved directly to Salem where they met and married their
wives. Edwin and his wife Emaline Cooley had six children by 1860. Edwin made saddles, perhaps in 22
collaboration with his brother George, the tanner. Ambrose, who had five children by 1852, ran a hotel with his wife
Harriet Cooley. There the three brothers permanently settled and raised their families.
23
In 1868 George attended a temperance rally and was shot by a rebellious young man who tried to interfere. George
died three days later at the age of 64. His wife Louisa lived almost twenty more years. Edwin died at the age of 24
72, 18 years after his wife Emaline’s death. Ambrose died at the age of 71; his widow Harriet died the next year.25
Many of the seventeen children of these three men remained in Salem. In 1893 Martha Telle Cannon, the daughter
of their brother Lewis, wrote a letter to the Postmaster of Salem asking that her letter be given to Telle relatives.
George Washington Telle, the oldest son of George Telle and a respected Presbyterian minister in Salem, replied to
her letter. In 1899 Martha visited Salem to meet these cousins and gather genealogy data. Apparently, she 26
received a warm welcome. George later wrote Martha and confessed that his family felt she had nearly converted
him to Mormonism.27
Lewis Telle & His Families
Lewis, Ann’s second son, was a carpenter. He left Pennsylvania for New York City in the mid-1820's. There was
28
plenty of work in New York City, and it was there that he married Tabitha Oakley, the descendant of a family rich 29
with Revolutionary War history. By 1837, Lewis and Tabitha had three surviving children, two daughters and a 30
son. By 1839 this couple had joined the Mormon Church and had moved with their children to Nauvoo, Illinois, a 31
new city being built on the swampy banks of the Mississippi River by the Mormon refugees from Missouri. There is
no record that Lewis and Tabitha were among the Mormons driven out of Missouri by anti-Mormon mobs in the
harsh winter of 1838. It is probable that Lewis and Tabitha moved directly from New York City, as did other
converts, to Nauvoo, where the couple and their children first lived in an old stone house. During this time Lewis 32
gave Joseph Smith $1000. Sadly, Tabitha was one of many who succumbed early on to malaria, dying there in 33
1840 along with her newborn son. Lewis took his three surviving children, Sarah Ann, age eleven, George, eight,
and Tabitha, a three year old, to New York. Tabitha was raised by her mother’s sister Jane not far away in Peekskill,
a city nestled on the edge of the Hudson River. While Sarah Ann and George returned to Nauvoo and lived there 34 35
for a few years, Sarah Ann eventually returned to New York City where she was taken in her mother’s brother
William Oakley. Young George stayed with his father and eventually made his home in Alexander County, in the
southern tip of Illinois.
Living in Nauvoo in the early 1840's was twenty-three year old Amelia Rogers. She was the daughter of David
Rogers and his wife Martha Collins who had both joined the Mormon Church in New York City in 1838 through the
missionary efforts of Parley P. Pratt. David was also a carpenter. Soon after the Roger’s were baptized in New 36
York, David moved his family to Far West, a Mormon settlement in western Missouri. During the trials of the
forced Mormon exodus from Missouri, he was among those sent by Joseph Smith to find a place where the Saints
could relocate. It was David Rogers who learned of the old military barracks of Fort Des Moines that were built
during the Black Hawk War against the Sac and Fox tribes in 1832. These vacant barracks, while about 200 miles
east of Far West on the Mississippi River outside Commerce, Illinois, were selected as the best option for the 37
Mormon refugees. David contacted the owner and made the arrangements to purchase the barracks for the Church.
Lewis and his first wife Tabitha settled at the same time as the fleeing Saints arrived. There Tabitha died in 1840,
and it was in Nauvoo in September, 1841 where Lewis Telle married Amelia Rogers.
Two sons were born to Amelia and Lewis in Nauvoo by 1844. At this time Nauvoo was a thriving metropolis, 38
rivaling Chicago in size, as new converts came by the thousands from England. However, in the years after the
murder of Joseph Smith in June of 1844, persecution against the Mormons became severely intense. During the
bitterly cold winter of 1846, murderous and unsympathetic mobs forced the Mormons to leave Nauvoo. Hundreds of
6
families followed Brigham Young and other church leaders in another mass exodus, this time west across the frozen
Mississippi River, out of the boundaries of the United States of America, and into the refuge of what was then known
as Indian Territory.
Lewis and Amelia, their two young sons Edwin and Lewis, and Lewis’ older son George, did not follow Brigham
Young. Instead, Lewis took his boys and pregnant wife down the Mississippi River to St. Louis where he found both
work and safety. Their third child Martha was born there in May. Amelia’s extended family had left Nauvoo, but
they did not go as far as Winter Quarters. Her parents, David and Martha Rogers, her younger brother Henry, her
two sisters, Caroline and Hester and their husbands, and her brother Ross and his family, settled in Iowa. It is
conceivable that the Telle family intended to go West when Amelia’s family did, although a very hostile letter from 39
Lewis’ daughter Sarah to Martha Telle Cannon indicates Lewis had fallen away from the Mormon Church. Shortly 40
after this, Lewis returned his family to Nauvoo where they lived for a year. However, in the summer of 1847, Lewis
accidentally shot Amelia in the night as she returned to bed after being up, thinking she was a robber seeking money
he had recently earned. Amelia refused to let Lewis inform any of her family members, perhaps feeling they would
unjustly blame him for this accident. It’s clear she didn’t believe she would die, as she lived four months before
succumbing to infection. But upon her death Lewis contacted her mother Martha Collins Rogers and told her
Amelia’s wish was that she raise the baby Martha, her namesake. The next Spring, Amelia’s sister Carolyn Daniels
left Iowa with neighbors traveling to Keokuk for supplies. Carolyn was not only carrying a toddler but expecting a
baby. The group drove a lumber wagon two hundred miles east to Nauvoo and retrieved baby Martha. Martha 41
never saw her father again.
Martha was actually raised by Amelia’s sister Hester Beebe who had just lost her first baby and who begged her
mother for the child. Hester and her husband George Beebe had followed the main body of Saints when the
Mormons left Nauvoo. However, they did not leave Iowa when the Mormons began making the thousand mile
journey to the Rocky Mountains the next year. They lived near Polk City for twenty years before emigrating to Utah,
raising Martha with their large family. Martha, after being educated as a teacher at Ames University, came west on
her own, joining the Mormons in Salt Lake City about1867 with the intention of marrying into polygamy. It was 42 43
to Hester and George Beebe that George Q. Cannon wrote in 1868, asking for their approbation of his marriage
proposal to their niece Martha. She became his fourth wife and had nine children, all surviving to adulthood. 44
Lewis and Amelia’s young sons Lewis and Edwin were cared for by Emma Smith, widow of the Prophet Joseph 45
Smith who also did not follow Brigham Young. They lived with her for about a year until Lewis married again.
Lewis married Rachael Chapman the year after Amelia’s death. He and Rachael had two daughters, Annie and 46
Frances. Lewis died during a snow storm on New Year’s Day in 1856 while hunting in the areas outside Nauvoo. 47 48
Rachael died in 1888.
Sidney
Ann Espy Telle White’s fifth son Sidney moved to Warren County, New Jersey where about 1844 he married a
woman named Clarissa. By the early 1850's the couple had buried four young children. Between 1851 and 1868 49
they moved to New York City and then back to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. During this time they had six more
children, all of whom survived to adulthood. Sidney worked as a shoemaker and a boatman. He was a Union 50
soldier in the Civil War. His 1864 Army discharge papers state that he was 5 feet 10 ½ inches tall, with grey eyes 51
and red hair. He was shot in the arm during the war, and apparently the injury was severe enough to warrant his
release. His youngest son George was born in 1868, and there is no record of Sidney after that. From Clarissa’s
will written in 1888, it’s clear he predeceased her. 52 53
Hamilton
Ann’s youngest son Hamilton married was married to a woman named Jane by 1850. They lived in New York City
where he worked as a cabinet maker. Hamilton was also a Union soldier in the Civil War. Lewis’ daughter
Tabitha lived near him and wrote, “[Uncle Hamilton] belonged to a military company, and he and Aunt Jane 54
dressed handsomely and went to balls, and enjoyed life immensely. . . he has never lost his military step and soldier
look though he left his regiment many years ago.” Hamilton and Jane never had children. They both died in the late
19 century. th
7
1. The Susquehanna River begins from snow melts in the lower portions of New York State. In this river, just south
of the New York border in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Mormons recognize that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were
baptized. Further down the river, but a generation earlier, Ann Espy grew up along its shores in the new frontier of
what is still known as the Wyoming Valley. Wyoming Valley was located among the northern branches of the
Susquehanna River.
2. Four years earlier George had been among the Yankee prisoners held by the British. Documents Relating to the
Connecticut Settlement in the Wyoming Valley, edited by William Henry Egle, publisher: Bowie; Heritage 1990
[reprint of 1893 volume] A List of Yankee Prisoners in 1774.
3. Annals of Luzerne County to 1866, Stewart Pearce; published in Philadelphia by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1866;
pp 100-119. The first hand and eye-witness accounts of torture and horrible and grisly murders committed during
Indian raids led to extreme hostility, even among Quakers who usually sought for peace. Violent acts such as these
led Captain Stewart to organize the Paxton Rangers, who tried to defend the Valley from incursions by the Indians
over the next twenty years.
History of Luzerne County, H. C. Bradsby; Chicago: S. R. Nelson and Sons, 1893, p. 41, “[About 1763] the
marauds of the savages became more daring, bloody and frequent. . . . Lazarus Stewart. . . a young man of high
character and noble courage, had been west on a military expedition and hastening his return to meet his affianced
and marry her, found the family home in smoking ruins, the family butchered, and the lovely girl’s head had been
severed and stuck on a pole. The tiger was now roused and he swore a terrible vengeance. . . .” This source also
stated that the internal settlers became frustrated with the Quakers who ran the colony from Philadelphia, believing
the Quakers and the also peaceful Moravians shielded the Indians from justice. One incident describes Lazarus
Stewart and his associates, known as the Paxton Rangers, retrieving an Indian from a prison in Philadelphia where
they believed he was being unjustly protected. The Rangers pulled him outside the gates and killed him.
4. Historical Address at the Wyoming Monument 3d of July 1878 on the 100th Anniversary of the Battle and
Massacre of Wyoming by Steuben Jenkins, Wilkes-Barre, PA [currently found at
ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/luzerne/history/local/battlewyom.txt.]
5. Pennsylvania Genealogies, Egle, William Henry, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969,
(reproduction of 1896 edition,) gives detailed information about several of Elizabeth Crain’s [Josiah Espy’s wife]
nephews who were military officers in the Revolutionary War. These men were Ann’s father’s first cousins and it’s
very likely she knew them.
6. Ireland, Its Wars and Plantations, by Kevin Sweety [http://www.local.ie/content/1874.shtml]
The Plantations of Ireland and the Ulster Scots, by Brian Orr. [http://www.tartans.com/articles/plantation1.html]
7. The Espy-Espey Genealogy Book, by Rita Espy Kuhbander, [1987] “In addition to his farm he carried on a
blacksmith shop and was highly respected and esteemed; he grew to be the wealthiest man of the locality. When he
died in 1760, he left considerable property....”
8. Kulp, George B., Families of the Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, E. B. Yordy: 1885-1890.
9. Jenkins, Ibid.
10. History and Genealogy of the Espy Family in America, by Florence Espy Mercy, Fort Madison, Iowa, 1905,
says that an pregnant Martha Espy Stewart, the new widow of Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, floated down the
Susquehanna River in a flimsy boat to Harrisburg with her young children to safety.
11. Annals of Luzerne County to 1866, by Stewart Pearce, [1866] page 6 stated that Josiah Espy fought against
Governor Penn alongside Captain Lazarus Stewart and others. He was also involved with skirmishes against the
British in 1769.
12. From History of Hanover, by Henry Blackman Plumb, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1885. FHLC 974.832
H2p, p 410.
13. Some family group sheets I have seen during my research indicate Ann and Ambrose married in 1797.
However, the 1800 Census shows Ambrose living alone in Nescopeck. Ann and Ambrose’s first son was born in
1804, so I suspect their marriage was closer to that date. Deed records show that he purchased farming property in
Kingston and 1814.
Endnotes.
8
14. Lewis Telle was known as Lewis (or Louis) during his lifetime. A descendant by his third wife kept a family
record which had his complete birth date and his full name, Josiah Lewis Telle. I have tried to be as non-confusing
as possible, but he is referred to as Lewis, J. Lewis and Josiah Lewis in this book.
15. From a letter written to Martha Telle Cannon from Sarah Ann Telle King, Martha’s older half sister, dated
April 19, 1880. I have wondered why Sarah would know more of Ambrose than Martha would. It’s possible that the
Oakley family, who raised Sarah Ann after the untimely death of her own mother Tabitha, knew of Lewis’ family.
This and other tidbits have led me to believe there was a connection between the many Tellers (was this an earlier
form of Telle?) and Oakley’s in Peekskill, just north of New York City along the Hudson River, before Ambrose
moved to Kingston Township, Pennsylvania, a connection I have searched for in vain. Just down the Hudson River
from Peekskill is a place called Teller Point. One Nauvoo Land record shows Lewis Telle’s name as Loui Tiller.
There were many Teller’s buried in Peekskill cemeteries, but I can find no family relationship. There are three clues
which date from 1880. In that year, Sarah Ann Telle King wrote Martha Telle Cannon and said Ambrose was a
“German professor or scientist.” In that same year, for the first time, census enumerators asked where parents were
born. Son Edwin said his father was born in Switzerland. Son Ambrose said his father was born in Saxony. In a
1900 letter from George Washington Telle to his cousin Martha Telle Cannon, George wrote, “In regard to items for
your Genealogical Table I do not think I can help you much this time, but may be able to help you hereafter. I cannot
give you the place and date of Grandfather’s birth. All I know is that he was born in Saxony, Germany, do not know
where he died.” I have checked written histories of other Telle families that immigrated to New York from
Germany. Interestingly, one Telle family was Jewish. Still, I have not found significant clues about Ambrose Telle’s
heritage that have led me to names and places. Recently (2004) an Austrian librarian in the Salt Lake LDS Family
History Library found a clue linking the Telle’s to William Tell, as both names are from Switzerland. William Telle
is from Altdorft, Uri, Switzerland, and the Telle name appears in Altdorft, Zurich, Switzerland. The librarian
reminded me that Switzerland is a very small country. She made these assumptions before I told her that Martha
Telle Cannon believed Ambrose was a descendant of William Tell.
16. The 1800 Nescopeck census and the 1810 Kingston Township census both recorded his age as between 26-44.
Assuming the enumerator was correct, the youngest he would have been in 1810 was 36, making him 44 at the
youngest eight years later, but possibly as old as 52.
17. William White, while not one of the original forty settlers, was among those who settled the Wyoming Valley
in 1769. Ensign William White was among those who died in the same massacre that killed both Lazarus Stewarts.
Annals of Luzerne County to 1866, by Stewart Pearce; published in Philadelphia by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1866; pp
536-8.
18. These last two sons were both born when Ann was in her 40's. I have been unable to determine when and
where Ann died. Martha Telle Cannon believed she died in Hanover, but no date was mentioned in her records.
Because I believe Lewis Telle shows up on an 1830 NYC census, and because Hamilton lived in New York City,
and Sidney apparently married in New Jersey and had a daughter in New York in the late 1840's, I have wondered if
Ann Espy Telle White took them to New York. I can find no mention of her in records after 1832, when she is
shown in the probate proceedings of Ephraim White’s will in Luzerne County. There is also a curious mention of
Ann Espy by Sarah Ann Telle King in her first letter to Martha Telle Cannon in 1880. She says she remembers “her
well.” Sarah was born in 1829 in New York City. Perhaps Ann moved to New York City and died there.
19. Ann was an intestator to Ephraim’s will in 1832, along with her brother John Espy and Daniel Inman, likely a
relative of John’s wife, so Ann clearly lived past this date. Will Records of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania 1787-
1894, FHL # 0383431.
20. Letter from Tabitha Telle Sykes to her half sister Martha Telle Cannon, dated Peekskill, New York, July 18,
1893, “Well, as I said – all these things coming one after another, made it very easy for me to neglect Uncle
Hamilton, and so for more than a year I have not seen him. I left word for him to come and see me, and I am going
to write to him. I think he will come as soon as he can. He works for the Weshawken Ferry Co., at light
carpentering, and he boards with a seemingly kind hearted woman in a nicely furnished flat. I will try to get the
information you desire when I see him. The other brother’s name was Sydney; he was the youngest of the family
next to Uncle Hamilton. He died a good many years ago. I never saw him, but have heard Aunt Jane say at one time
that at one time he lived in New York. He did not die there. I have heard my mother’s people say that our
Grandmother Telle married the second time and Uncles Hamilton and Sydney were the children of that second
marriage, but Uncle Hamilton would never acknowledge it, as he was always Telle.” Also, the Jim Reynolds papers
say, “Second husband of Anne Espy Telle named White. [Sydney and Hamilton] (dates unknown) went by the name
of Telle instead of their father's name.”
9
21. The records of Jim Reynolds were given to Rosemary Dunn Smith’s mother, who is a descendant of George
W. Telle through his son Charles Hamilton. Rosemary gave these records to me. (Rosemary does not know how
Mr. Reynolds is connected to the Telle family.) His records state that George married Louisa Schull in Wilkes-Barre
in 1830. Records for this period are sparse, but I could not find any Schull’s in Wilkes-Barre in 1830. There are,
however, many Schull families in Philadelphia. Mr. Reynolds’ information is very accurate in many aspects and has
provided numerous family names and places previously unknown to me, but his data with some families is
mysteriously and consistently off by exactly one year. I have, however, chosen to accept his information concerning
this family, including the marriage in Wilkes-Barre. Louisa’s obituary agreed with Mr. Reynolds, that she was from
Woodstown, New Jersey.
22. I could not learn the names of Emaline’s parents to learn if she and her sister-in-law Harriet were closely
related. There were many Cooley families in Salem at this time.
23. Louisa Schull’s obituary stated she came to Salem from Philadelphia in 1843. Ambrose’ first child Thomas
was born in Salem in 1839. Edward and Emaline were married, probably in Salem, in 1842.
24. Stevens, Warder W., Centennial History of Washington County, Indiana... with Biographical Sketches, reprint
1916, pages 435-6.
25. James E. Bolding, Obituaries, Selected Newspapers of Washington County, Indiana, 26 Jul 1882, "Last
Sunday evening, [July 23] after several weeks illness, Ambrose Telle, one of the oldest citizens of our town, breathed
his last. His health had been failing for some time, and a severe attack of flux some ten days since got him down so
low that it was impossible for him to recover. He was a shoemaker by trade, several years since having conducted a
very successful business here, but for the past twenty years had run a hotel, and always had the reputation of keeping
a first class house. His remains were interred by the Masonic fraternity Monday afternoon."
26. One page of this letter survives: “Salem, Indiana // June 26, 1893 // Martha T. Cannon // Salt Lake City, Utah.
// Dear Cousin: A letter from you to the postmaster of this place making inquiries in regard to relatives was placed in
my hands last Saturday. I am glad to be able to give you the desired information. Your Uncles, George, Ambrose,
Edwin are dead. My father is George Telle. . . The Telles are widely scattered and in large measure unknown to
each other. I distinctly recall Uncle Lewis to” Sadly, this is where this portion of the letter ends.
27. A letter to Martha Telle Cannon from George Washington Telle, dated 24 May 1900, recalled her visit. “Your
visit was a pleasure to all of us, but in one respect disappointing – it was too short. I agree with Mr. Cannon in
regard to your visit. The only remedy that I can think of is for you to come again and stay longer. I wish that your
wish that wife and I could visit Salt Lake City, might have realization. But the way for such a treat does not at
present seem clear. I am very favorably impressed by what I have heard and read, with your city and State. I think
you have great reason to be proud of their prosperity and development so largely due to the faith, perseverance and
enterprise of the Latter Day Saints. It is because of my early antecedents that I do not share in the prejudice so many
have for your church people. You will recall Willard’s remark at Mobley’s that, ‘a little more and you would have
been a Mormon.’ The papers you have sent me have been interesting.”
28. Lewis had married Tabitha Oakley and had a daughter, Sarah Ann Telle, who was born in 1829 in New York
City.
29. Lewis’ journey to New York was another indication to me that he might have had extended family ties there,
although research in this area has so far been fruitless. At this point, it looks like Ambrose appeared out of thin air. I
have searched uncountable records in many counties in Pennsylvania and New York, looking for any mention of
him, to no avail.
30. Early New York Revolutionary War history is filled with Oakley soldiers, spies and heros.
31. In her first letter to her half sister, Martha Telle Cannon, Sarah Ann Telle King wrote, “Our father learned the
carpenter’s trade and went to New York where he established himself as a ‘builder.’ There he married my mother,
Tabitha Oakley, a daughter of a Westchester County farmer. They were enterprising and thrifty. . . .”
32. Biography of Josiah Lewis Telle written by Howell Q. Cannon, in my possession.
33. This was mentioned in the first letter from Sarah Ann Telle King to Martha Telle Cannon in 1880. It’s
included in the next endnote.
34. I have a copy of a letter written to Sarah Telle by her step-mother Amelia Rogers Telle in November 1846,
stating she was writing for her husband who wished Sarah to return to Nauvoo. I’m not sure how the letter ended up
in Martha’s hands. My first guess is that Sarah Ann saved the letter and sent it to Martha when they corresponded as
adults. Amelia asked Sarah to give Lewis’ regards to Aunt Jane and her husband Collette Roche, my clue to
10
believing that they raised Tabitha. I have been unable to find this family or Tabitha on an 1850 census, however.
The 1850 Census shows Sarah Ann living with her Uncle William Oakley in New York City.
35. The letters Martha Telle Cannon received acknowledge the bitterness Sarah had towards Mormonism. Sarah
would not answer Martha’s correspondence until 1880. It is clear Sarah felt the Mormon Church was ultimately
responsible for her mother’s death in 1840. It’s also clear she was in complete agreement with 19 Century popular th
sentiment, that the twin relics of barbarism were Slavery and Polygamy. Because I am such a devout Mormon, I
have debated including this part of Sarah’s first letter to Martha in this book. It still stings me to read it, but it’s clear
this is truly how she felt. I can’t imagine how Martha Telle Cannon felt when she read this letter, but she kept it.
And frankly, this letter is the best source I have found describing Lewis Telle’s life. After a lengthy diatribe against
polygamy, she wrote, “And now let me tell you what I know about our father and his parents and kindred. He was
born in Pennsylvania. His father, Ambrose, was a German professor or scientist, a man of considerable learning, but
of no practical ability: so near as I can make out, a shiftless eccentric fellow of very little use to his family or any one
else. His wife was, ‘Anne Espy,’ our grandmother, the daughter of a well-to-do Dutch farmer. (I will say here that
the Espy’s are among the best families in the state of Penn.); She was a remarkably handsome and intelligent
woman. (I remember her well.) She had all the energy and force of character her husband Ambrose lacked. She
brought up her six sons by her own unaided exertions giving them all trades and fitting them to make their way in the
world. Our father learned the carpenter’s trade and went to New York where he established himself as a ‘builder.’
There he married my mother, a daughter of a Westchester County farmer. They were enterprising and thrifty, and in
a few years had amassed quite a little competency; but in an evil hour my father fell in with the Mormons and
became a disciple to their faith, which did not at that time include polygamy – he was persuaded by their leaders to
sell out his business and property and buy western lands of them, and immigrate to ‘Nauvoo.’ On his arrival in the
‘Land of Promise,’ he found his title to the property the ‘Saints’ had sold him, utterly worthless; and that it was
already in the possession of another by right of Squatter Sovereignty.
“ ‘Jo Smith’ and his apostles smoothed the matter over, and got him to buy more land of them in the City of Nauvoo;
more than that, they borrowed all his money, or nearly all; Jos Smith himself borrowing a thousand dollars which he
was never able to repay, if indeed he ever meant to, which is doubtful.
“Meantime the family sickened with Malaria in the stone house by the river, where we were living till our house
could be built, and my mother and little brother died; died for want of proper care, which it was impossible to obtain,
as every one around us was sick and destitute. Late in the fall, my father with his three remaining children (I was one
of them and was 11 years old) more dead that alive, returned to New York, where he disposed of his children among
their mother’s relatives.
“And the next Spring he returned to Nauvoo, to sell his property and get back the money he had lent the ‘brethren.’
This he found he could not do, so he married a Mormon sister and settled among them for good and all.
“His second wife, your mother, was a very nice intelligent woman; after her death he married a third wife who my
brother wrote was also very nice and smart. She had two little girls when he died, one of them named Amelia after
your mother. He did not follow the Mormons to Utah and long before they left Nauvoo he had withdrawn from
fellowship with them. He died suddenly on New Year’s Day 1856. He was about forty-eight years old. I do not
know the day of his birth. Our father had three brothers in Indiana. They all had nice families and were doing well
when I heard from them which was several years ago. -------we have an uncle, Hamilton Telle, living here in New
York, a carpenter, married but no children. There was another brother Sydney who lives some where in
Pennsylvania, but I never knew anything about him more than his existence.
“My father never was the same man after he went West. His disappointment in the Mormons soured and changed his
character completely: he became morose and misanthropic and seemed to lose all natural feeling.
“Of course, it is impossible, in the brief and imperfect [sketch] I have made, to convey to you a thousandth part of
the misfortunes which follows upon my father’s conversion to the Mormons. The death of my brother, the loss of
property, the alienation of my father, the separation of brothers and sisters who have grown old strangers to each
other. The sickness, suffering, and misery all attributable to that cause. Can you wonder that I have no respect or
even tolerance for the doctrines propagated by Jos Smith and his successors.”
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36. The children of the Rogers family knew they were descended from the Reverend John Rogers, who was burned
at the stake by Queen Mary in the 16 Century for his position against the Catholic Church. From a family history of th
David White Roger’s oldest child Susannah, it appears they believed this lineage came from their father’s side. After
careful research, I could not find a direct link from David White Rogers to the family of John Rogers, which is well
documented. However, Martha Collins’ family is descended from this man through her great-grandfather John
Stowe, a grandson of Anne Rogers, a great-granddaughter of the Reverend John Rogers.
37. From a biography of David White Rogers that is well documented but names no author. The following section
was documented as having come from Journal History. “When the Saints were crossing the Mississippi River in
their exodus from the State of Missouri, I was appointed by the authorities of the Church who had crossed over, as
one of a committee of three to reconnoiter the upper river country in the state of Illinois and the then territory of
Iowa, in order to ascertain if there was any chance for the Saints to find shelter from the inclemency of the season.
Brother S. Bent and Brother Israel Barlow were to be my colleagues. Brother Bent was taken sick a few hours after
we started, and returned home. Barlowe and myself went on nine days in our exploration and found in the towns of
upper and lower Commerce about forty empty dwellings, for which we made conditional arrangements. We then
crossed over the great “Father of Waters” into the Territory of Iowa and there we found the barracks of the old Fort
Des Moines, erected during the Black Hawk War, with accommodations for about forty of fifty families. We then
found Dr. Isaac Galland who proved to have possession of the buildings and a right to sell 20,000 acres of land
known as the “Half Breed Reservations,” formerly belonging to the Sac and Fox Nations of Indians; and he also
proposed his terms of sale.
38. While Martha Telle had exact birth dates of her brothers Edwin and Lewis, these dates are seven months apart
and do not always agree with census records, which are also inconsistent.
39. Carolyn Rogers and her husband Aaron Daniels arrived in Utah first, about 1850, settling in Provo. David and
Martha Rogers and their son Henry followed the next year, as did Ross Rogers and his family. Amelia’s oldest
sister, Susanna, had married an Italian revolutionary while the family was in New York City and had moved to
London, where she had a son. Susanna and her son, ‘Sanjo,’ left her husband with the assistance of Mormon Elders
and crossed the Atlantic. She made her way to Winter Quarters to find her family. Quite by accident, her brother
Ross drove through the settlement in a wagon on his way to California. He rescued her from severe poverty and took
her to Iowa to again meet her family. Susanna went to Utah with her family members. Hester and her husband
Aaron Beebe, who had adopted baby Martha Telle, had a very prosperous life in Polk City, Iowa. They did not settle
in Utah for over twenty years.
40. Sarah Ann Telle King, 19 Apr 1880, see appropriate excerpts from the letter above.
41. The autobiography of Amelia’s sister, Caroline Rogers Daniels Smoot, “My second sister Amelia came from
New York City with my parents in 1838 to Nauvoo. She married Lewis Telle, a brother in the church before the
martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch. He went to St Louis to get work, he being a house carpenter and work
being scarce in Nauvoo at that time. Mr. Telle was quite sick in St. Louis and when he was some better, the doctor
advised him to return home, which he did. But as he was very weak, he took a relapse and was sick again. It was a
very hot summer and my sister was not well either.
“Nauvoo at that time was a very lawless place to live in. Almost every night some house was broken into and robbed
of money, if there was any. The people were in constant fear of their lives. Mr. Telle brought home some money
and Amelia told him that she was afraid they might break into the house if they knew that he had brought money
home. He said that they would find him ready for them if they did. When he went to bed he put the loaded gun at the
head of the bed.
“In the night, it being very warm, my sister Amelia got out of bed and went out in the garden and walked around to
get cool. When she opened the door to go back to bed, Mr. Telle awakened from sleep and the noise, thought some
one was breaking into the house. He didn't stop to speak, but grabbed his gun and fired and shot my sister through
the body near the heart. The Doctor did not think she'd live to morning, but she rallied and got better and lived four
months. The ball came out her back near her spine having gone through her and near her heart, so the doctor said
after she began to get around a little. She took a relapse and soon passed away leaving three children. My father and
mother, Mrs. Beebe and husband, and myself and husband [Aaron Daniels] and my baby boy were all living in Iowa
at what was afterwards called Park City, 10 miles from what now is Fort Des Moines, the capitol of Iowa. At that
time, 1847, it was just a small city. At the time my sister was shot and commenced to get better, she would not let
anyone write to us. She said "wait till I get better, Mother will feel so bad about it." So the first we heard about the
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accident was the day she was buried, for after her relapse she went very quickly and we were 200 miles away, and no
means of reaching her, only by a lumber wagon. Amelia, on her death bed, made her husband Mr. Telle promise to
let her mother have her little baby girl named for her mother.
“The next spring in April of 1848, 1 engaged my passage with a couple of neighbors by the name of Houser and
Hulett who were going to Keokuk for goods. I started with my baby on what seemed a very big undertaking for me at
the time, camping out by the roadside or in a farmhouse, sometimes rough roads, rain, or, shine, sometimes quite
sick. My daughter Maria was born in a few months after I returned home with my two babies four months different in
ages.
“My sister Hester, Mrs. Beebe, had lost her baby at 17 months old. When I brought the motherless one home, she
asked mother to let her take the baby and raise the motherless baby in the place left vacant by her own little Martha,
both named for Grandma Rogers. Martha Telle born May 28, 1846, Martha Beebe born July 30, 1846. Mother let
her keep her, she is living today, 1910.
“She was married to George Q. Cannon and is the mother of nine children, six boys and three girls all living and well
to do. I am with Martha Telle now and I am 84 and can not write as well as I could when I was younger. . . .
“I am now over 85 years old and I find I can't write at all. My hands have lost their cunning. I have not written
anything in this book for a long time. But on seeing this book this morning, I thought I would write a few lines. Salt
Lake City is now a city of 92,772 inhabitants according to the last census. This is June 14, 1912.
“I wish to tell her [Martha] the testimony my sister Amelia left to her belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her
husband asked her on her death bed what religion sustained her throughout her trials. She looked up into his face
with a smile and said that religion that was taught by Jesus Christ. She was a religious woman and left a good
testimony behind her, even though she died very young.”
42. Family lore has it that Martha rode the train West. The train did not travel all the way to Utah until 1869, and
Martha was married by 1868. Her son, Collins Telle Cannon, [my grandfather] who probably originated this legend,
had a habit of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story. My Aunt Ida Mae Cannon Smith and I chatted
about this in February, 2003. She said her father told her that Martha came West one time when she was about eight
years old, but the Beebe family did not like the conditions in Utah so they returned to Iowa. After Martha became a
teacher, Grandfather Cannon told Ida Mae, she rode the train West. Ida Mae agrees that the train might not have
come all the way to Salt Lake City in 1868, but that Martha might have been able to take the train most of the way.
She remembers her father telling her she took an “overland carriage.” This could have meant that she rode a
stagecoach the remainder of the way.
43. My Aunt Ida Mae Cannon Smith told me her grandmother Martha came west with every intention of marrying
into polygamy, and she succeeded, becoming the fourth of five wives of Apostle George Q. Cannon.
44. The letter, dated 29 February 1868 reads, “ Dear Brother and Sister: You are probably sufficiently acquainted
with the habits of our people to not be surprised at what I am about to write. I have made the acquaintance of your
adopted daughter and niece, Miss Martha Telle, since her arrival here, and have become much attached to her. I
have made a proposal of marriage to her, which she has been pleased to accept. It would give us great pleasure to
have your approbation of our marriage, and it is with the hope of obtaining that approval that I now write.
“It may not be out of place to say that my father was a brother of Sister Leonora Taylor’s, the wife of Elder John
Taylor, and I was partly brought up by them. I have often heard Aunt Taylor speak of you, and became familiar with
you by name, and also remember you when we lived at Nauvoo, though being but a boy at the time, I have no idea
that you knew anything about me.
“I shall do all in my power to make Martha happy, to treat her with respect and kindness, in short, to be to her all that
a husband, in the broadest sense of the term, should be.
“If upon receipt of this, you will be so kind as to send me an unpaid Telegram, addressed Geo. Q. Cannon, Editor
Deseret News, Salt Lake City, I shall feel much obliged. If you approve, one word – “Yes” – will be all that is
necessary, and we will understand it.
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“With respect, I remain Your Brother, (S) Geo. Q. Cannon”
45. Notes from Howell Q. Cannon concerning Edwin and Lewis Telle, dated July 22, 1992, “Uncle Espey Telle
Cannon said that Edwin and Lewis were adopted by Emma Smith, wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, after the death
of their mother and stayed on in Nauvoo. That they lived with Emma Smith until their father married again is
probably true. That period would have been from November 1847 to sometime in 1848.”
46. The 1850 US Census shows Lewis living in Carthage, Illinois with Rachel and their young daughter, Amelia.
Lewis and Edwin are also living in this household. Rachel’s daughter Frances’ grandson Truman Bae married a
young Mormon woman named Lela Allen. She converted him to Mormonism, and together they worked on his
genealogy. According to Lela, Truman had no knowledge that Lewis Telle had been a Mormon until I contacted
them. Truman’s sister Violet had preserved a family record which included Lewis’ full name of Josiah Lewis Telle,
and his accurate birth date, which was much earlier than family members descended through Martha Telle Cannon
had suspected, but which exactly matched early Pennsylvania Census records and a Patriarchal Blessing Record
Lewis had received.
47. Land records show that Lewis and Rachel bought and sold several properties in and around Nauvoo during the
years after the Mormons left the city. Because of these purchases, it is doubtful Lewis ever intended to emigrate
west once Amelia died. There is no indication that Rachel Chapman joined the Mormon Church. There are no
records showing that Lewis and Amelia had ordinance work performed in the original Nauvoo Temple. However,
Susanna Mehitable Rogers Pickett Keate, Amelia’s oldest sister, performed the ordinance work for Amelia in
addition to the vicarious marriage to “Louis Telle” in July, 1877 in the St. George Temple. Ordinances besides
baptism for those deceased were not performed in the original Nauvoo Temple. Amelia’s ordinance work was
among the first performed in the St. George Temple, which was dedicated on April 6th, 1877, sixteen years before
the completion of the Salt Lake Temple in 1893.
48. Howell Q. Cannon reported that his Uncle Espy Cannon told him the circumstances surrounding Lewis’ death.
The Nauvoo card file says he died of apoplexy, which was a stroke.
49. Census records are pretty consistent in listing Clarissa’s birth place as New Jersey. This includes the census
records of her children, who told often told enumerators that both parents were from NJ.
50. The 1860 census lists Sidney’s occupation as a shoemaker and boatman.
51. Land Records [FHL # 0965885] contain the discharge papers of Sidney H. Telle. From these papers I learned
that Sidney was a Private of First Commanding Thomas Devenport Company (II) regiment of the Pennsylvania
Infantry Volunteers. He enrolled the 12th of August, 1862 to serve three years. He was discharged the 6th of Jan
1864 by reason of a surgeon's certificate of disability.
52. Luzerne County Register of Wills: Will of Clarissa Telle, Will Book K, pg 394, Luzerne Co. Probate date
Aug 13, 1888, death 7 Aug 1888. “tome stone for myself and husband Sidney H. Telley // son George Grant Telley
house and lot situation in Huntington Township, organ and washing machine // to Charles Telley sewing machine //
to Clarissa Willdoner gold ring // Jane Monroe feather bead (sic) // Sharot (sic) Willdoner little wolen bedspread //
Jessey Telley dark bed spreat (sic). I wish my personal property to be equally divided betwen all my children. I wish
my son Grant Telley to pay each one of his children and his brothers and sisters the sum of 5 dollars. And also my
grandson Sydney Menroe $5.”
53. I was surprised while studying the 1880 Census to find that Clarissa had married Abraham Huff, a merchant.
It appears he provided a home for her and her youngest son George.
54. Martha Telle Cannon’s half sister, Tabitha Telle Sykes included this in a letter in 1893.