WILLDEN FAMILY--English Preacher and Mormon Pioneer

1852 Kanesville, Iowa

Sheffield, England Baptist Church

Missouri River Steamboat

1850's Sidewheeler

1851 Port of New Orleans, La

1850's Oceanic Sailing Vessel

On a hot August day in 1839, in the little market village of Sheffield, Yorkshire, in England, a Baptist Minister by the name of Charles William WILLDEN made a choice that would forever transform the lives of his English wife and their four small children. The 33 year-0ld ironworker from Anston, a small town down the road in Yorkshire, would on this day be baptized into the recently founded "Church of Christ", as the Mormon church was originally called. Having already made a previous social risk of leaving the Church of England to become a Minister of a Protestant Baptist Church, the decision to join the new "American" religion of the Mormons so soon after England had lost the Revolutionary War, must have also been an interesting time for the WILLDEN family. His wife Eleanor, not so easily convinced of the new theology, would remain a member of the Baptist Church for four more years before her baptism into her husband's faith. Charles and Eleanor WILLDEN are the 2nd great grandparents of Tonya WILLDEN MARTINI, on her father's side.

The WILLDEN family remained in England for the next ten years, until responding to the call of their Church for the "gathering of Zion" in the American western Territory of Utah. On October 25, 1849, Charles and Eleanor WILLDEN said goodbye to their England farm, and began the trek to the port at Liverpool, where they would board the ship to America. After sleeping for five nights on the dock in Liverpool, the WILLDEN family boarded and set sail on the ship "Zetland" on November 10, 1849, one family among 200 Mormon converts traveling together. The oceanic voyage would take six weeks before they arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, with less than a penny to their names, but over 100 pounds of oatmeal to eat and sell. Journals tell us that the ocean-trip was very cold, and the seven WILLDEN children were bathed in the salty sea water in barrels and tubs. The little ship averaged around 6 or 7 knots, and passengers began getting seasick from the very first day, a problem which caused unrest and altercations among the English and Irish immigrants onboard. A glimpse of how long and boring this journey could be is found in the journals, which recorded every time they spotted another "vessel"...and on some days noted only "no vessel in sight". There was at least one marriage, one death, several worship services, hymn singing, and as on all ships in the 1800's....plenty of prayers. There were rains and water in the hold of the ship which had to be pumped twice daily.
Eventually, the "Zetland" reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, and following the joyous prayers of thanks, and journey's end celebrations, ...the ship promptly got stuck on a sand bar for several days, until two tug boats brought it into the Port of New Orleans, at 9 p.m, on Christmas Eve. The WILLDEN family had arrived in America.
The Captain gave his crew a holiday on Christmas Day, and the families were not able transfer their belongings off the ship until the next day. Charles WILLDEN planned to take his family upriver to St. Louis, but found he did not have enough money to pay the fare, so he and his sons cut firewood and performed other odd jobs until they all boarded the steamer "Ben West" on December 29, 1849. Charles described the "Ben West" steamboat as "a miserable boat" with "no room to breathe", and "scarcely fit for passengers"...and it would get worse for the WILLDEN family. Fog and mist caused them to anchor for hours, and when under way, the Mississippi River was dangerous with fallen tree snags and driftwood damaging the side-paddle wheels of the boat. On January 4, 1850, little Maria WILLDEN, the less-than two years old daughter of Charles and Eleanor, died onboard the "Ben West". The boat anchored near Council Bend, Arkansas, and a burial service was held at a spot that today has been re-claimed by the Mississippi River and its many course changes. One week later, January 11, 1850, the saddened WILLDEN family arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, soon to face a long and difficult thousand-mile overland journey to the Utah Territory.
In St. Louis, once again Charles WILLDEN and his sons would have to work to make enough money to finance the next leg of the trip....another steamboat ride, this time on the already historic Missouri River that had carried Lewis and Clark and thousands of others... fur trappers, explorers, Indians, and settlers...toward the ever-expanding American West. The steamboat "Correy" left the dock in St. Louis on April 12, 1850, and after an uneventful journey along the wide Missouri River, even with its cottonwood tree snags threatening the little boat at every bend, the WILLDEN family arrived at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa, on May 4, 1850.
Next Blog Entry......WILLDEN FAMILY---Covered Wagon Days. Questions/comments to graveyardgossip@gmail.com

MARTINI FAMILY---JESSE DODSON Frontier Preacher

Old Mill, Birch Creek VA

Collins River, Warren Co. TN

headstone of Rev. Jesse Dodson

Pittsylvania Co. VA

Cumberland Gap TN

Holston River TN

1795 Big Springs Baptist Church,TN

Eastanallee Baptist Church, TN

Thanksgiving of 1752 had a special meaning for Reverend Thomas DODSON and his wife Elizabeth ROSE, for on November 22nd they welcomed a new child into their Virginia family, Jesse DODSON. Not much is known about Jesse DODSON as a youth...one of at least 10 children in his family....but plenty is known about his adult life. Unknown to his father, a Virginia Baptist minister, Jesse would follow in his footsteps and change the lives of many settlers in the early days of America.
At the time of the American Revolution, the dominant religious force in the colonies was the Church of England, the mother country for so many of its settlers. To be a minister of any church that had broken ties with England was difficult in many social settings, but by the time Jesse DODSON was 23 years old, he was living on land given to him by his father in what is now Pittsylvania County in Virginia, and starting his life as a Baptist preacher, . Jesse and his wife Ruth were married in 1774, one year before the gunfire at Lexington and Concord would start the colonies on a path of thier own, and in 1777, Jesse's name is on the list of those taking an Oath of Allegiance to the State of Virginia. While there is no evidence of military service for Jesse DODSON during the War, we can feel confident that he served in some capacity, for at the end of the War he received a Land Grant in North Carolina, which would become Tennessee.
We know Jesse was still in Pittsylvania County, Virginia when the Revolutionary War ended in 1781, for he obtained property on Birch Creek, or Burches' Creek in some records. The following year he sold that land on "Jeremiah's Fork of Birches Creek" to relatives, and headed for Tennessee, leaving behind his brother William, also a Baptist minister.
Rev. Jesse DODSON is listed as a member of the County Line Baptist Church, also known as the North on Holston River Baptist Church, in 1785 Hawkins County, Tennessee. Rev. Jesse DODSON joined the Big Springs Primitive Baptist Church in what is now Springdale, Tennessee in 1801, and became the Pastor of the congregation from November 1801 until November of 1805. In 1803, Jesse DODSON was listed in the tax records of what is now Claiborne County, in the northeast part of Tennessee, which includes part of Cumberland Gap National Park. The path from Virginia to Tennessee through Cumberland Gap had been widened by none other than Daniel Boone, and opened to wagon traffic after Rev. Jesse DODSON and his family passed through. The Big Springs Primitive Baptist Church that Jesse led was constructed in the winter of 1795-96 from hand-hewn logs, and is still standing today near Springdale, over two centuries later. It is one of the oldest churches still standing in the State of Tennessee.
Jesse and Ruth DODSON left Claiborne County in 1806 and moved to Warren County, Tennessee, where they are listed on the 1812 Tax List, and the 1820 Census. While in Warren County, they were involved with the Collins Creek Baptist Church and several others in the area.
Reverend Jesse DODSON was described by his peers as "earnest and fervent in exhortation", and "successful in Revivals". He was also said to have had the "Welsh fever" in describing his ancestrial traits and style of preaching, and is mentioned in the 1919 Baptist historical sketches as a Tennessee Pioneer Baptist Preacher.
Around 1820, Rev. Jesse DODSON was called to lead the Big Springs Baptist Church on Mouse Creek, near Niota in McMinn County, Tennessee...only a year after the Hiwassee Purchase Treaty with the Cherokee Indians had opened that land to settlement. Jesse was a founder of the Eastanallee Baptist Church, and his son Elisha donated the land for the structure. Over the years Rev. Jesse DODSON would be involved in the early McMinn County churches of Salem, Hiwassee, Friendship, and New Hopewell. Owning 300 acres of land in the Eastanallee Valley, his wife Ruth had obtained ten slaves from her father's Will, and when Ruth died in 1828 Jesse set the slaves free stating that "a Bill of Sale of Negroes in my pocket would be a bad passport at the Gates of Heaven"....another brave act in a Southern State over 30 years before the Civil War. After more than 60 years of preaching from the pulpit, and inspiring many pioneer churches, Jesse DODSON died on his 91st birthday in 1843. He is buried in the Eastanalle Church Cemetery in McMinn County, Tennessee. The cemetery photo used at the top of this page in the header is the Eastanallee Cemetery, with the two broken headstones on the left side being those of Ruth and Jesse DODSON...and the Eastanallee Church is planning to replace them. Pioneer and Frontier Preacher, another good story in the ancestral book. Jesse is the 5th great grandfather of Anthony Martini, on his mother's side. Comments/Questions to graveyardgossip@gmail.com

MARTINI FAMILY---Roland WARE, Patriot Minuteman

Roland Ware headstone

Lindley's Grist Mill

Montgomery Co. NC

a 1781 NC flag

British Union Jack

Minutema

During the American Revolution, there were three kinds of citizens in the colonies....Patriots who supported the Independence movement...Tories, or Loyalists to the King of England who saw the Patriots as traitors....and those who could care less either way. Roland WARE, the fifth great grandfather of Anthony Martini, on his mother's side, was an American Patriot.
Born in Brunswick County, Virginia in 1760, Roland WARE was a teenager when the action started in 1775, and by that time he had moved across the colonial line to Northampton County, North Carolina. At age 19, Roland enlisted for three months as part of the militia used to augment the Continental Army, and began the first of two tours he would serve fighting the British troops and Tory Loyalists. The North Carolina militia soldiers were local citizens who were called out on an "as needed" basis, and these "Minutemen" were to defend the homeland when the Regular Army wasn't available. Under Major James Crump, Captain Buckner Kimbrell, and Lt. Harris, Roland WARE was a horse soldier, part of the Light Horse Cavalry that could travel quickly to any "hot spot" that developed.
In late July and early August, 1780, Capt. Kimbrell's Company of Cavalry traveled south from North Carolina to join General Griffith Rutherford on the Pee Dee River in South Carolina. From there, Roland WARE rode toward Camden, South Carolina and American Gen. Horatio Gates, where one of the most important battles of the American Revolution was about to take place. Roland's Cavalry company was ordered to stay at Cheraw Hill on the Pee Dee River in northeastern South Carolina to hold captured prisoners and wagons of ammunition, which they did by taking them across the river to a Mill. There they remained for several days, until August 16, 1780, when an express rider came from Camden and told them that General Gates had been soundly defeated and was in retreat, suffering about 2,000 casualties. Capt. Kimbrell ordered Roland and the others to stash some of the ammunition in the river, and hide the rest in an old house. Once done, the Cavalry crossed to the north side of the Pee Dee River, taking the prisoners along, and traveled north up the river to Haley's Ferry, Anson County, North Carolina.
After several days of receiving no orders, Capt. Kimbrell dismissed the militia unit, and Roland WARE and the others disbanded for a few days. Most went home, but not for long. A few days later, the Cavalry Company was reformed under Captain Harris, where until November, 1780, they protected the beef cattle used to feed the Continental Army in North Carolina.
Throughout the winter of 1780, the Tory Loyalists continued to harass, murder, and even torture Patriot homes in North Carolina. In at least one instance, Tory raiders used a burning wagon to set fire to a Patriot home with women and children inside. In the Fall of 1781, Roland WARE found himself back in the Cavalry under Major James Crump, this time assigned to protect the North Carolina Legislature from Loyalist actions. Though minor skirmishes kept Roland busy constantly, there were really no major battles between the Tory raiders and the militia....that is, until September 13, 1781. The day before, Tory soldiers under Colonel David Fanning had made a surprise raid on the State Capital in Hillsborough and captured the Governor of North Carolina and thirteen of his Council. Col. Fanning was enroute with his prisoner, Governor Burke, to Wilmington, where the British Army awaited their new captive.
The Patriot militia, with Major Crump leading Roland WARE's company, planned to cut off the Tory force before they could reach the British Army, and chose their ambush near Thomas Lindley's gristmill on Cane Creek in Alamance County. The Patriot's knew the Tory soldiers would probably use this well-known fording place, and positioned themselves on a hill nearby.
When the 300 militia men opened fire on the 600 Loyalist troops, it was a complete surprise to the Tories. Almost immediately, one of the Tory commanders was killed in their first charge up the hill. But, Fanning regrouped his forces and at the end of the battle, with over 100 casualties on each side, the Patriot militia was forced to withdraw. The Loyalists continued on with all of their prisoners to Wilmington, but Roland WARE had been in another adventure that he could tell for many years.
When Roland returned to Montgomery County at the war's end, he married Temperance WHITE, and they moved to Lincoln County, TN, then Warren County, TN, and finally settled near Athens, McMinn Co., Tennessee. Roland WARE drew his pension and lived until June, 1864, when he died at the age of 103. He is buried in the South Liberty Cemetery south of Athens. A good ending for a good American Patriot. Comments/Questions to graveyardgossip@gmail.com