Susan Francis Austin Watts

This will be one of the more unique stories in the  "Conversion Story" and "Going to  Zion" Flashback series.

 

Watts/Neeley/Cornwall line continues, having just previously shared the story of Robert and Elizabeth Heath Watts the past two entries.   Robert and Elizabeth bore a son, John Renelder (our ancestor)  in Council Bluffs, Iowa shortly after they, with the rest of the Mormons, were forced out of Nauvoo, Il. in 1847.   The toddler, John, went west with his family in 1850 and settled in the Ogden area.  In 1870 John is found, back in Missouri marrying Susan Francis Austin.  This is where the story gets interesting... John and Susan are cousins.
   

Susan's mother is Mahala Watts, (circled in yellow on the family tree below).  Susan's uncle is Robert Watts (circled in blue).  Mahala and Robert are the 12th and 13th children, respectively, of the 14 children of John and Lucy Dalton Watts of the old Watts family of Ablemarle, Virginia. Robert is 2 years younger than his sister.  (The Watts descendants blood line is underlined in pink on the tree.)

Susan Francis Austin’s parents,  Renelder Austin** and Mahala Watts were both born in Albemarle, VA. Renelder and Mahala were married in Albemarle, VA in 1830.  By 1839, when Susan was born, the Austins lived in the little village of Cairo, Randolf County, Missouri.  When Susan was 5 her father, Renelder, died  in 1844. Coincidentally, three years later, in 1847, Susan’s cousin John, (and future husband) was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa - just 200 miles n/w of Cairo.*  One wonders if, during the 3 years Robert and Elizabeth Watts camped in Council Bluffs (from 1847 - 1850),  Robert ever paid a visit to his recently widowed sister just a few hundred miles away. It is assumed that Robert and Elizabeth named their son, John Renelder, after his recently deceased uncle, Renelder Austin.  (It is a rare thing to be named after one's father-in-law.)

John Renelder and Susan Francis Austin Watts

The next detail documented is that Susan marries John Renelder Watts (her cousin) in 1870 in Randolf Co., Missouri. John and Susan reside in the village of Cairo with Susan's widowed mother/John's aunt. By 1879 Susan has borne 4 children in Missouri.  Only one survived more than a few days - Ada May, (our ancestor and grandmother to Lenore Neeley Cornwall). Ada May, Susan's 4th child was borne in 1876 in Cairo, MO. In 1879 Susan bares her 5th child in Idaho.  (They had 2 more children in Idaho and one dies in infancy.)  Between 1876 and 1879 John appears to have brought his family west. The Watts, with their 6 year old Ada May, probably rode the train to Ogden as the transcontinental railway was completed 10 years prior in 1869.

Sometime in this period Susan's widowed mother, Mahala came west as well.  It would be reasonable to assume that the elderly Mahala traveled with her daughter and son-in-law/nephew.  Susan and John move on to Idaho while Mahala may have stayed in the Ogden area near her brother, Robert, and sister-in-law, Elizabeth Heath, in South Weber, UT.  Mahala died 2 Nov. 1879 in South Weber.  Robert, died 5 months later, also in South Weber.  (Records document that Mahala was baptized by proxy in 1989 in the Jordan River Temple.)

Having lived among Church members in Idaho and the Watts family in Utah for nearly 20 years, Susan Austin was baptized and confirmed 1 June 1893.  Seven months later, John and Susan were sealed in the 10 year old Logan Temple on 3 January 1894.  John must not have gone along on the Watts family trip to the dedication of the St. George Temple in 1877, when his parents and siblings were sealed (as told in last weeks post), as the records indicate John was sealed to his parents in the Salt Lake Temple in Nov. 1894.

Susan, 8 years older than her husband/cousin, died 8 April 1921 at age 81*** in Rexburg, Idaho and John died, 11 1/2 years later, 9 December 1932 at age 85*** in St. Anthony, (just north of Rexburg) Idaho.

*  Cairo, MO is about 140 miles n/e of Grain Valley/Kansas City, MO on I-70 and is just over 200 miles (as the crow flies) from Council Bluffs, Iowa.

** The Austins are an old Maryland family. The first immigrant was Henry Austin who came from Sheviock, Cornwall England in 1668.  Renelder's parents also moved to Randolf County, Missouri.  Redelder's mother, Sarah, died 5 years before Renelder and his father, Samuel, died 5 years after him. All three are buried in Randolf Co., Missouri.

*** Life expectancy for a male born in the 1850s (who lived past infancy) was 58 - 59 years old.