Almeda Wilson was born 19 [12]April 1838 at [Tinney Grove, Caldwell] Gladwell Mission, Ohio. She was the daughter and fifth child of Lewis Dunbar Wilson and Nancy Ann (Wagner) Waggoner Wilson. Her father and mother had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Richland County, Ohio in the spring of 1837 when Oliver Granger and George A. Smith arrived bearing the gospel message.  So Almeda remembered the trials and persecutions incident to those early days in the Church as she grew up.

The Prophet Joseph Smith was a neighbor and close friend of the family. Sometime he visited at their home and Almeda remembers sitting upon his knee. The Prophet was very fond and kind to children. She also remembered well the day that word came that the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum had been martyred and how everyone mourned the loss of their beloved leaders.

After joining the Church her parents left their farm and comfortable home and joined with the Saints. Her father, Lewis Dunbar Wilson, became one of the body guards of the Prophet. So they were driven from place to place with the rest of the Mormons and had to endure many hardships.

The family started west with a company of Saints on the 18th of February 1846 in very distressed circumstances. Her father wrote in his diary that his family had scarcely enough clothes to cover their bodies, no shoes on their feet, and that their food supply consisted of five bushels of parched cornmeal, 100 pounds of flour, and about 25 pounds of pork.

After a slow and tiresome journey they reached Garden Grove, Iowa with the first company of Saints. They located there and at once began plowing and planting a crop.  They raised sufficient produce to make provisions for the coming winter. The following 22nd of February 1847 a daughter was born to Nancy Ann and Lewis. They named her Nancy Melissa Wilson. Then on July 1, 1849, their fine son George Milton Wilson was born. Almeda was impressed with the home at Garden Grove, for she said the rest they got and the privilege of a place where the children could play and enjoy themselves. She remembered that her father and brother would hunt wild game to provide meat for the table. It was a beautiful place and she enjoyed being there. Her parents had now belonged to the Church for eleven years. Almeda was baptized in 1846.

A great sorrow came to the family while living in Garden Grove that affected the remaining years of her life. On 19 July 1851 her mother said she was not feeling well and told Almeda to take the younger children to the neighbor lady to ask her to come to her mother's assistance. Almeda did as she was told. She remained at the neighbors to care for the children.

Almeda never saw her mother alive again, for when she was allowed to take the children back to her house she found her mothers had given birth to a baby boy, Samuel Wilson, and had passed away due to her suffering and lack of medical care. The poor mother could no longer stand the hardships and persecutions, her health failed, and child birth took its toll. The father had left home that morning to get a load of lumber and returned that night to a house full of ten motherless children.

Lewis wrote in his diary that his wife died full of faith and with a strong testimony of the Gospel. Her death was a terrible loss to the family but the brave, devastated father did not give up but gathered his family around him and began again his trip to the west. He arrived near Ogden, Weber County, Utah, in what is now called Wilson Lane. With him were four brothers and their families. One brother, John Martin Brown, went on to Califormia, and one died on the way west.

Almeda's father, Lewis Dunbar Wilson, died in the spring, on the 11th of March 1855. This left the chldren alone. Their family was very poor and had to go through many privations. The country was new and every family had a difficult time to care for their own. The older children got work the best they could but the younger ones lived first with one family and then another neighbor would take them in.

Almeda married when she was very young to Moses Daley on August 15, 1855 in Salt Lake City, Utah, they moved south to Springville (called Springfield). Her husband left her with three small children and in very distressed circumstances [Moses Daley died December 9, 1865 in San Bernardino, CA.]. She had [three] sons, James [Lewis] Daley [b. 19 Dec 1856 Springville, Utah], George [David] Daley [b.20 Jan 1859 Springville, Utah] , and [Frank Benjamin Daley, b.8 Jan 1861 in Springville, Utah, Utah.].

Her brother, David Wilson, learning of her condition went with a team and a wagon from Ogden to move Almeda and her children back to Ogden. Almeda lived for some time on the edge of the Weber River on the road south of where American Packing House and Provision House now stands.

Almeda's older sisters, Lovina Wilson and Louisa Wilson were wives two and three of John Martin Brown I. They all lived on a farm in West Weber and during these years she had much sorrow. One of her sons of Moses Daley, [Frank Benjamin Daley], went to California. He met his death there [1887] and his mother never saw him again after he left Ogden. January 4 [18], 1888, a grown son, Andrew Jackson Brown, started to the northern part of the state on horseback. He was overtaken by a bad blizzard. It was so cold he lost his way and was frozen to death. His body was not found until the next spring after the snow melted. On July 2, 1890 while in Ogden attending a celebration her little girl Eliza Brown was knocked down by a run-away team and died that day.

John Martin Brown I married Almeda Wilson Daley as his fourth wife on 23 Oct 1864 at Ogden.

1 Alvin Brown -twin Born: 29 May 1866at Wilson Lane, Weber, Utah Married Beulah May Matteson on 7 Aug 1895 at Presto, Bingham County, Idaho; twelve children. Died: 21 June 1945 at Salmon, Lemhi, Idaho

2 Calvin Brown -twin, Born: 29 May 1866 at Wilson Lane, Weber, Utah Married Emma Fredricka Haggstrom, seven children. Died: 24 October 1939 at Ogden, Weber, Utah

3 Andrew Jackson Brown b. 8 Aug 1867 at Ogden or Wilson Lane Born: 8 August 1867 at Ogden, Weber, Utah or Wilson Lane, Weber, Utah Died: 4 January 1888 at 11 years of age. Froze to death enroute to Idaho on horseback he was overtaken by a blizzard. He was not found until the following spring.

4 William Louis Brown Born: 1 Sep 1869 at West Weber, Utah Married (1) Nellie Ward on 3 Nov 1888 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, eight children. (2) Rachel Brown, his first cousin (widow of Albert Brown) Died: 4 Nov 1939

5 Eveline Brown Jones Sibbett Born: 6 March 1865 or 6 August 1872 at West Weber, Weber, Utah Married: (1) Joseph Hyrum Jones (2) Samuel Alexander Sibbett on 27 September 1896 at Gray's Lake, Bingham, Idaho. Died: September 1908 at Gray's Lake, Bingham, Idaho

6 Caroline Brown Born: 27 Feb 1874 at West Weber, Weber, Utah Married Enoch Madsen on 7 August 1895 at Blackfoot, Oneida, Idaho, eight children. Died: 27 October 1929 at Ogden, Weber, Utah.

7 Eliza Brown Born: 28 November 1876 at Ogden, Weber, Utah Died: 2 July 1890 14 years old killed by a runaway wagon

8 Harvey Brown - twin Born: 12 May 1879 at West Weber, Weber, Utah Died: 30 November 1919

9 Harva Brown -twin Born: 12 May 1879 at West Weber, Weber, Utah Died: 12 May 1879 at West Weber. Weber. Utah

Sources:

PAF - Archer files = Captain James Brown + Martha Stephens > John Martin Brown I + Almeda Wilson < Nancy Waggoner + Lewis Dunbar Wilson.

Most of the above story was written by Almeda's granddaughter, Annie Daley Hunter Jensen.

Additional research and information from Brigham County, Idaho 1985, contributed to this website by Erold Clark Wiscombe.

[Bracketed], bold, additions, correctins, photos added by Lucy Brown Archer