CHARLOTTE SPENCELY WOODHEAD
From Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude
CHILDREN:
Grace Elizabeth, 14 Jul 1830
George Thomas, 3 Jul 1831
Richard, 10 Sep 1833
Sarah Ann (Berrett), 1 Aug 1835
Charlotte Elizabeth (Lofthouse), 19 Oct 1837
Richard Spencely, 27 Feb 1840
Charlotte was born in England, 1803. Even as a child she was a skilled needleworker, completing a large cross-stitch "Adam and Eve" sampler before she was twelve years old. She and her husband, William, were the parents of six children, but three did not survive childhood and were buried in England.
They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and later sent their two eldest children ahead to Utah. Charlotte, her husband and young Charlotte came to America on the ship "Juventa," landing in Philadelphia, then by train and boat until they reached Mormon Grove, where they joined a wagon train coming to Utah. The wagon train was a Perpetual Emigration Co.
The family moved in with her daughter, Sara Ann, and her husband in North Ogden. The winter of 1856 was hard and food was scarce. The settlers ate segos which were cooked and creamed. The next summer they lived on greens. Charlotte and her daughter knit stockings for their neighbors taking butter and cheese for pay.
In 1867, she and her husband moved to Paradise, Utah. When her daughter-in-law died, she raised her granddaughter.
Even as a younger woman in England, Charlotte suffered with rheumatism. Her toes were twisted and painful. The cloth shoes she wore in England were not available here, so she wore mocassins. She knitted both stockings and beautiful lace, but as she got older her rheumatism affected her hands, causing them to twist and she was forced to give up her handwork.
She was a small woman with an abundance of long almost white hair, and bright gray eyes. She was bedfast for her last two years, but was cared for by her children until her death in 1803