Elizabeth Ann Davies

Born 4 March 1816 in England to Joseph Davies and Ann Nichols
Married George David Chappel
Married Wiley Payne Allred 2 July 1851
Elizabeth Ann-Mary Eliza-Mary Eliza-Eudean-Earl
Died 21 April 1887
Buried in Fountain Green

1850 Census
1860 Census
1880 Census

Elizabeth Ann is a rather elusive woman.  I have a variety of birthdates for her and the above date is what is on her tombstone.  According to family tradition she was born in Liverpool and worked as a governess.  She was well-educated and an excellent seamstress. There is a marriage between a Joseph Davies and Ann Nicholls in Liverpool on 1 February 1813.  There were several Ann and Joseph Davies having children in Liverpool at this time so it's difficult to tell if any of them were Elizabeth's siblings.  I haven't seen a guess of a death date for either of her parents.

Elizabeth Ann married George Chapple on 24 September 1843 in Liverpool.  George's father was listed as William Chapple and both his father and hers lived on Bridport Street in Liverpool and both were farmers. Elizabeth and George had at least one child and maybe two.

I assume she joined the church after she married George. There is a mention of a George Chapple in the Liverpool Conference being ordained an elder in 1847 (Millennial Star, April 1847) and John Parry's dairy (search for George Chappel) mentions him in Liverpool who had been a Campbellite preacher.  I have no way to know if this is Elizabeth's George.

Elizabeth and George emigrated to the US on the Erin's Queen in September of 1848.  Family stories say that George died at sea, but records show that he arrived in Louisiana.  They sailed to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi to St. Louis.  They probably went on to Pottawattamie County in Iowa at that time.  The family stories that have George dying at sea also have Elizabeth and George sailing in 1851.  I think it's more likely that George died in Iowa in December of 1849 as recorded in the 1850 census.  An Elizabeth Chapple can be found in the same place in that census. She is living with Elizabeth Mifflin and her two children.  Elizabeth Mifflin died later in 1850, along with one of her sons (the other son went to Utah in 1851).  Here is the census image for Elizabeth and the mortality index image for George.  He is listed as a coachbuilder.

Elizabeth traveled to Utah (she is listed as Elizabeth Ann Davies, not Elizabeth Chapple in her company's list) with the Easton Kelsey Company in 1851.  Wiley Payne Allred and many other Allreds, including his parents, were in the company.  Isaac Allred was captain of the second Fifty.  Wiley Payne's wife, Sarah Zabriskie, had been ill when it was time to leave and died on 22 May 1851 before the company got going.  Wiley Payne continued on the journey with his several small children.  Family tradition says that Brigham Young told Elizabeth and Wiley Payne to get married, which they did on 2 July 1851.  It's said that Brigham performed the marriage and it was for time only since Elizabeth had been married to George.

Elizabeth lived in Provo for a short time where her last daughter, Mary Eliza, was born on 31 July 1852.  She moved south with Wiley Payne, but after that I don't really know the details of the places she lived. Mary Eliza's biography says she mostly lived in Ephraim and Fountain Green as a child. Wiley lived in Spring City, Manti, Fountain Green, and then again in Spring City.  Elizabeth and Wiley Payne were in Spring City on the 1860 census with two of Sarah's children and Mary Eliza (see the bottom of page 97 of Spring Town in Sanpete County if the link doesn't open up to the correct page). 

Wiley Payne married Johanna Olsen in 1863 as a plural wife and Caroline Andrea Frederickson in 1871, but she died a few years later without children.  I don't know if Elizabeth was still living with Wiley Payne by then, or with Mary Eliza who had left home when she was 15 and married in 1870, or somewhere else.  I haven't been able to find Elizabeth on the 1870 census. There is disappointingly little information about her life at this time.

In the 1880 census Elizabeth can be found living with her daughter and four grandchildren.  She is listed as widowed although Wiley Payne was still alive and her name is written Eliza A. Chappel.  She was sealed to George Chapple in the Endowment House before she died, although I have conflicting dates for that too.

Elizabeth lived with Mary Eliza for many years until she died and had a strong influence on her grandchildren. They write that she lived with them always until she died.  She apparently ran the household with a firm hand and her grandchildren thought she was much too strict.  Wiley Payne also was said to be very strict with his children which might be why no one seems to have written much about them as parents.  Here's how Cleon Olsen, Elizabeth's great-granddaughter, put it: "The rigors of pioneer life must have been very hard for this refined lady. Her life had not been an easy one, so if she was sometimes impatient and over strict with the children [Mary Eliza Allred's children], it is understandable. But children do not look far beyond the act in their eyes. Grandma was just plain strict. In the vernacular of their time they had to toe the mark."

As mentioned before, Elizabeth was an excellent seamstress.  Her granddaughter, Mary Eliza Anderson, wrote, "She embroidered, did art work, and did all the fine work on all the baby clothes, for Mother’s [Mary Eliza Allred] children. When we were named, we all were wrapped in a lovely shawl of hers. All my children used it for the same purpose. One time grandmother made me a doll and dressed it beautifully for my Christmas present."