Biography of Jonathan Oldham Duke

There are quite of few pioneers on Dad's side of the family that we know suprisingly little about, so I was happy to find some things on Jonathan Oldham Duke. I found a site that has images and text of his diary and also a brief biography about him. I'm included the link and the biography in the post. His diary also looks interesting.

Duke, Jonathan Oldham

1807–1868

Jonathan Oldham Duke was born on 31 August 1807 in Bristol, England. He immigrated to the United States in 1829, accompanied by his wife of one year, Mary (Stone) Duke. While living in New York, Mary’s father introduced Jonathan and Mary to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which the couple joined in 1839.

Accompanied by their four children, Jonathan and Mary left the New York area in 1840 to gather with the Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois. The family faced many challenges over the next ten years while living at Nauvoo. In 1850 the family immigrated to Utah in the James Pace Company and settled in Provo. Jonathan was called as Provo’s first Latter-day Saint bishop in 1852, a calling he held until his death sixteen years later.

Mary and Jonathan had six children. When Jonathan married two plural wives, Sarah and Martha Thompson, in 1855 and 1856, the family grew to eventually include twenty-one children. Jonathan worked as a stonemason and farmer. He served as a city councilman and justice of the peace in Provo. Throughout his life, Jonathan was a faithful Latter-day Saint. After Jonathan died on 31 October 1868 in Provo, his granddaughter wrote that, “he had helped the less fortunate so much that when he passed away there was little left of this world’s goods for his family.”

Bibliography

Carter, Kate B. Treasures of Pioneer History. Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1956.

Esshom, Frank. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah. Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1966.

Biography Link

Diary Links

Genealogy Goals

There are always plenty of things to do for our genealogy. Here are some general goals and things that can be done.

• Work on completing a 6 generation chart
• Find as much information about a given ancestor outside of birth and death dates
• Digitize written histories and pictures
• Prepare names for the temple
  

To complete these general goals, specifics are needed. Currently the only name that we don't have back to the sixth generation is the wife of Asa Baker. Although there is a lot of verification that needs to take place and missing information that can be found within those six generations. This will probably take lots of time looking through microfilm, and sending for copies of records. We already have a lot of histories and patriarchal blessing that need to be written on a computer so we can store them. There are probably many more documents in the possession of relatives and in the Church archives.

I am excited to piece together all of the clues and evidences of our heritage into a cohesive story that will give us something to live up to, and provide the best gift that can to our ancestors.

Family History Coordination

This site is dedicated to coordinating the efforts of family history research among the family and extended family. And by so doing I hope we can further our knowledge of our ancestors and the heritage that has been left to us. Posting will consist of new information, current lines that are being worked on, and spotlights of ancestors using the information that we have available.