Jesse and Sally Burt Goldthwaite
Family Group Record from my tree on ancestry.com
Western New York State
For those of us who are Mormon descendants of Jesse and Sally Goldthwaite, the most notable of their twelve children is their daughter Lydia who was personally taught and converted to the restored gospel by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. A special page on this website is devoted to Lydia and her husband, Newel Knight.
A study of the other members of Jesse and Sally's family is an exciting adventure. Like Lydia, some of her siblings moved west during the settlement period of our country. A few remained in western New York state and some are buried in the Villenova Cemetery, pictured at left. The gravestone of Jesse and Sally was an exciting find. Two of Lydia's brothers were soldiers in the Civil War. Reuben Goldthwait enlisted as a Private on 10 September 1862 at the age of 34 in Co. K, 112th Infantry Regiment, New York. He was discharged from Co. K on 30 June 1865. He served as a Wagoner in a series of successful campaigns. Reuben's older brother Jesse, at age 41, was working as a Steam Engineer at Randolph, New York, on 22 August 1863, when he was drafted into service as a Private in Company B of the 100th Infantry Regiment . His unit was moved south to Washington and included in the Army of the Potomac. During the Siege of Richmond, Jesse was captured in action, May 16, 1864, at Drewrys Bluff, Virginia, on the James River, and taken as a "Prisoner of War." He was incarcerated at Andersonville Prison. He was released April 30, 1865 at White House, Florida and moved to an army hospital at Annapolis, Maryland where he was mustered out on June 26, 1865. Two sons of the fourth daughter, Mary, also served in the Civil War. Mary and her husband, Reuben Horth, a lumberman moved their family to Iowa where they both died at an early age. Reuben died in 1855 at age forty and Mary followed a year later at age 38. When, during the Civil War, the Union Army called for recruits, son Edwin Horth enrolled as a drummer boy in Company K, Fifteenth Regiment, Iowa Infantry. An older brother, Egbert enlisted as a private in Company A of the Twenty-Fifth Infantry, Iowa Volunteers on August 15, 1862. Both brothers experienced several episodes of the war but most noteworthy is that both served in General Sherman's "march to the sea" in his campaign across Georgia which helped bring the Civil War to an end. |
Lydia Goldthwaite was converted and baptized in Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, Canada, in 1833. In 1834, she returned to New York. Her parents did not support her decision. She then gathered with the saints at Kirtland in 1835. While working for Hyrum Smith, she met and married Newel Knight, who was boarding at Hyrum’s home. After the death of her husband in 1847 during the Mormon exodus, Lydia and seven children arrived in Utah in 1850. She resided in Salt Lake City, Provo, Payson, and Santa Clara. On April 3, 1884, she died in St. George.
Note: Lydia's genealogical records and correspondence with her family cover the period 1833-1883. Her collection of historical artifacts was placed with the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. It contains handwritten genealogical records and thirty-two miscellaneous items, mostly letters. Also included are photocopies, typescripts, and three microfilm reels of the originals. Original documents are restricted due to their fragile nature. A Microfilm copy is open without restriction. |