Sunday, August 2, 2015

Alice Hulme (Haslam) (Eckersley)

ALICE HULME (HASLAM)(ECKERSLEY)

(complied by Derek Berge in Pioneer Pedigree )

born:       October 12, 1815 in Lancashire, England

parents:   George Hulme and Ann Barlow

bro/sis:    2nd of 8 children (5 brothers & 2 sisters)

chronology:

 Alice (age 19) married John Haslam (age unknown) in about 1834.  From this

          marriage, 3 children were born:  Sarah (born 1835), William (1837) and Henry  

          (1839).  Alice’s husband John Haslam died in the early 1840s.  Following his

          death, it appears that Alice and her 3 small children live with or near her parents.

 Alice’s father George Hulme was one of the early converts of the Church in the

          Lancashire area of England being baptized on November 15, 1840 in Manchester.

          He and his family were heavily ridiculed and persecuted because George had held

          two very prominent positions in the Primitive Methodist Church, as the

          Superintendent of the church’s Education Department and as a accomplished singer

 In March on 1842, the Whitefield Branch was organized in the Hulme home.  Alice’s

          father, George, was instrumental in the church’s early progress (George served as

          Branch President).

 During the years from May 1842 - September of 1849, George served diligently and

          was involved in several miraculous spiritual manifestations such as speaking in

          tongues, visions and Priesthood blessings.  Many of these experiences involved

          George’s close friend, Joseph Eckersley.

 Joseph (age 36) married George Hulme’s widowed daughter Alice Hulme Haslam

          (age 30) on November 23, 1845.  At the time of their marriage, Alice’s 3 children

          thru her previous marriage to John Haslam were:  Sarah (age 10), William (8)

 Joseph and Alice Hulme Haslam Eckersley had 7 more children to complete

          their family of 10 children (all of whom were born in Lancashire, England):

          Emma (born 1846), Sophia (1848), Mary Ann (1850), Martha (1852), Elizabeth

          (1854), George (1857) and Alice (1860).

 The Eckersley family were accomplished silk weavers by trade having worked in

          textile factories in England.  They most likely brought several weaving looms with

          them to America and were later well known for their weavings in Utah.

 Alice’s two boys thru her first husband William (age 16) and Henry (age 14)

          immigrated to America to earn money for the rest of the family to come later in

          1853 (9 years prior to the remainder of the family).  There were 9 ships which

          traveled from Liverpool to New Orleans in.  It is not known upon which ship they

          traveled. The remaining 10 family members continued working in England to earn

          their passage to America.

 On April 30, 1863, Joseph (age 54), Alice (age 48), Sara Haslam (age 28) and the 7

          Eckersley children:  Emma (age 17), Sophia (15), Mary Ann (13), Martha (11),

          Elizabeth (9), George (6) and Alice (2) left Liverpool on the ship John J. Boyd.

          The John J. Boyd was a large ship carrying 763 persons and was lead by William

X. Cluff.  The ocean journey took 4 weeks (the exact arrival date is unrecorded).

          Upon arrival in New York they were taken to Castle Garden for processing.

 The family of 10 then traveled westward by train from New York to St. Louis.  The

          train was so crowded and small that there was no room even to lie down.

 They then traveled by steamboat up the Missouri River for 3 days wherein they

          reached Winter Quarters, Nebraska in the summer of 1863.

 The Eckersleys waited until the ox-train teamsters from Utah arrived.  The

          Eckersley family quickly joined with the teamsters and began their journey west as

          part of the John R. Murdock (ox-team) Company I.  The company was made up of

          275 members.  The children (ages 17 to the youngest daughter Alice age 3) walked

          most all of the way.

 Upon safely arriving in Salt Lake City on August 26, 1863, they camped in a tent for

          a week while waiting for their older step-brother to meet them with an ox-team.

          The family of 10 and all their belongings reached Wellsville 2 days later.  The

          reunion was a happy one, with the entire blended family of 12 having all reached

          the saints without any loss of life.  There, in Wellsville, Cache County, Utah, they

          would make their home.