HANNAH THACKER SHORTEN AND JAMES BUSSY SHORTEN
According to the death certificate of James Bussy Shorten, he was born 17 March 1840 in England. The town of his birth has not yet been determined. He was the son of Henry Shorten and Elizabeth Bussy Shorten. James had an older brother, John Bussy Shorten, born in 1835. Their grandparents were John L. Shorten and Esther Chestney Shorten, who were born in Fakenham, Norfolk, England. This was the birthplace of Henry, also.
Family tradition says that John and Esther did not approve of the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth. Henry's parents asked him to come home for a visit and while he was there, he became ill and died. Elizabeth was left alone to care for her two sons.
After a time, she booked passage for America , deciding to start a new life there. The three left Liverpool, England, on Sunday 25 May 1856 on the ship, "Horizon". Though not LDS themselves, they traveled with a large group of LDS passengers who were immigrating to the United States, hoping to eventually reach their "Zion" in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
Ship emigration records show 856 Latter Day Saint passengers under the leadership of Edward Martin. The ship docked in Boston harbor on the 8th of July 1856.
Family tradition says that the boys Mother, Elizabeth, married a James Robson while on the voyage. John and James weren't very happy about this and decided to join with the LDS group as it made its way to Iowa City by rail arriving there on 8 July 1856.
The boys joined the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. On the roster, John is listed as 20 years and James as 14. According to his birth date, James should have been listed as 16. Perhaps he had a reason for giving a younger age. The handcart means of travel was a new experiment that year in getting large numbers of LDS who wanted to reach the Salt Lake valley in a faster, less expensive way. Handcarts were used from 1856 to 1860. Three companies successfully reached the valley that year, but both the 4th company led by James C. Willie, and the 5th company, led by Edward Martin, met tragedy.
The Martin Handcart Company started from Iowa City, Iowa, on 28 July 1856, with 576 souls, 146 handcarts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, 50 cows and beef cattle. But because of long delays, breakdowns in the handcarts (many of them were built with green wood), they didn't leave Florence, Nebraska until August 25th. Quoting from the book, "Handcarts to Zion", by LeRoy and Ann Hafen: "The early winter and its exceptional ferocity, the unduly late start from Britain and from frontier outposts of America, the delays in procuring equipment, and the Saints over-zealous faith in a Divine Intervention to save them from the results of a lack of caution and errors in judgement--all these are acceptable reasons for the sad fate of these western wayfarers." (page 41)
John B. Shorten is listed on two rosters, the Martin Handcart Company and also as a passenger in Captain John A. Hunt's ox team which followed closely behind
the Company. James later told his children some of his experiences pulling and pushing hand carts through the cold and snow. He said at one time he and two other men were pushing.
The men on either side of him froze to death. The warmth of their bodies saved him as he was in the middle. The early deep snows and depletion of their food supplies
took a terrible toll. About 135 to 150 members perished and many more were maimed. The Hafen book calls the fate of the two late handcart companies "the worst disaster in the history of western migration." Teams from Salt Lake City were sent out to rescue them when word reached
Brigham Young.
In the Daughter of Utah Pioneers book, "Chronicles of Courage" Vol 3. Page 274, the autobiography of Dan Jones is quoted. He tells about this rescue and how he and other scouts came upon them. Dan was appointed to pick some men to stay at Devil's Gate, Wyoming, to guard the carts, livestock, and belongings of the companies while the suffering people were hurried on to the valley in wagons for care. Seventeen men from the Hunt and Hodgett ox teams were recruited for this duty. John Shorten's name is on this list.
The ordeal these men went through in the remaining five months of that horrible winter is beyond belief and a story for the history of John B. Shorten when it is written. The Saints back in the valley were worshipping in the Tabernacle with President Brigham Young when the Martin Handcart Company drew near to Salt Lake City. It
was Sunday 30 November 1856. When news was brought of the imminent arrival of the 5th company, President Young said to the congregation: "When these persons arrive, I do not want to see them put in houses by themselves. I want to have them distributed among the families that have good and comfortable houses. And I wish all the Sisters now before me, and all who know and can, to nurse and wait upon the newcomers and prudently administer food and medicine.
To speak upon these things is a part of my religion, for it pertains to taking care of the Saints. The afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the Sisters to go home and prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and to wash them and nurse them up. You know that I would give more for a dish of pudding and milk, or a baked potato and salt, were I in the situation of those persons who have just come in, than I would for all your prayers, though you were to stay here all afternoon and pray. Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and pudding and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place on this occasion; give every duty its proper time and place...". One wonders who took in young James that day?
James stayed in Salt Lake City and worked for a time at the Lion House for Brigham Young. The Lion House is just west of the Beehive House on South Temple.The Beehive House was the residence of Brigham Young. The Lion House was completed in 1856 and was the home built for his other wives. Both structures are still standing and in use today. A staff of about 25 people, young and old, were kept busy to help with the gardening, maintenance, etc. Though James was uneducated, Brigham Young praised him for his honesty. He left money about to test him and later told him so.
It is not known just when young James met Hannah Thacker, but were attracted to Rachel Tonks Thacker. They had crossed the ocean in the ship "Wellfleet" also in
1856.
The Thacker family boarded the ship, Wellfleet, in Liverpool, England, on May 31, 1856 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1856. Their money was about gone so they travelled on to New York City where William found work as a locksmith.
They remained in New York City for a few years, and then moved on to Philadelphia where both parents worked in a buckle factory until they had saved enough money to continue West. The family consisted of six children at the time they arrived in Salt Lake City. They had buried three children and their adopted son before leaving England. They had three more children in New York and Philadelphia, one child died in Philadelphia.
Hannah was the oldest living child. She was born 22 March 1847 in Darlaston, Staffordshire, England. She was fourteen when they crossed the plains and a big help to her Mother. She walked most of the way. Her story before her marriage is told in the history of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. James and Hannah were married sometime before 1865, the exact date has not been found yet. James says they lived for a time in a "cave", probably a dugout. ( dirt home dug and built into the side of a hill). This was a common practice among the pioneers and many lived in dugouts and some in wagon boxes until they were able to build a home. The Thacker family had lived in a dugout for a time before William was able to build a two room adobe home on the same lot as the dugout.
In the spring of 1864, The Thacker family moved to Cache Valley in northern Utah to see if they could better their condition. Hannah was 17 and decided to stay in Salt Lake City. Perhaps she was working. Perhaps she was already married or close to it. She lived in her parents adobe house until she was able to sell it and send the first
payment (a yoke of oxen) to her family. Family history says James and Hannah lived for a short time in a log cabin at Bingham Canyon. They left in March of 1866 to try
their luck in Cache Valley. They went to Clarkston where Hannah's parents were living and also her Mother's sister, Susannah Tonks Hill and Susannah's husband, Aaron Hill. The
Shorten's moved in with the Hill family. The Hills had a son, Jobe, who in later life wrote a most interesting journal. He wrote about the Shortens moving in with them in
this way---"As the Shorten family was young, they lived in the same house with us and invited young people to come and spend the evening with us. The result was we had a
few nice entertainments in which I sang my first song in public, entitled "The Poor Sailor Boy". Jobe goes on to say that James Shorten and his Father became very good
friends and made several trips together to the canyons to cut wood and haul it in to sell.
In the month of June came the news that a large band of Shoshone Indians were coming toward Cache Valley. All were told to move to the larger settlements. Jobe says his Father traded his land and lot in Clarkston for a single room log house three miles southeast of the Smithfield ferry. Smithfield was about 12 miles from Clarkston. William Thacker made his home on a gravelly flat up on the creek two or three hundred yards east of the town of Smithfield. James Shorten bought two lots one block
east and one block north of the Hill family. All nine of the Shorten children were born in Smithfield except James Edwin, who was born in Clarkston.
Their children are: William Henry, James Edwin, Albert, Ambrose, Lawrence, Annie Laurie, Isabella, Arthur Fredrick and Ethel Van Ness.
An interesting story as to why James Edwin was born in Clarkston--Hannah was home alone with her baby, William. She was in the seventh month of her pregnancy.
It was early January and her husband was away working. She was afraid to be alone so her brother-in-law came and took them to his home in Clarkston. The wagon ride was very rough and she delivered James prematurely. He was wrapped in cotton and kept warm on the oven door. James Edwin grew up extremely close to his older brother, William. William died at the age of 12 and this caused young James Edwin to grieve deeply. The seventh child, Isabella, also died young at the age of 13 in 1893.
Grasshoppers came in great numbers the summer of 1867 and ate all of their crops. Both Aaron Hill and James had to travel and live several months away from home in search of work. Hannah's parents decided to try their fortune elsewhere. They moved first to Peoa, Summit county, and later to Heber City, in Wasatch county. They finally settled just west of Buysville, now Daniels, just south of Heber City. Buysville was a branch of the Charleston Ward.
Whether any of the children of James and Hannah were baptized into the LDS church is not yet known. There are blessing records for Albert, Ambrose, Annie Laurie and Isabella in the Smithfield Ward records. Annie Laurie lived to be 94 years old and in her last years, her short term memory was failing, but she still loved to sing the
Mormon hymns she had been taught as a child.
Whether this was in her home or in the LDS Sunday School and Primary is not known. The 1870 census for Smithfield, Utah, lists James Bussey Shorten as a saw miller. He and Aaron Hill operated a sawmill on shares.
In 1894, Hannah took a trip to Wasatch County to visit her Father and some of her Thacker relatives living in the area. Her youngest brother, John, was getting married
on the 19th of December. For the occasion, a picture was taken of William Thacker, his son John and four of his daughters, Hannah, Ann Maria, Isabelle and Elizabeth (Lizzie). This picture is now much prized by the family and is the only picture of Hannah the family had until we were gathering information for this book. She was a beautiful, dignified cultured woman. Hannah's Mother had died the year before in 1893 and so she was not in the original picture.
The Thorne studio in Vernal, Utah later did some photographic magic and using this photo, added the missing family members; their Mother Rachel Tonks, and the sons, William Timothy, Charles Edwin and Frederick Albert. In a letter to Chloe Thacker Slade, Hannah's youngest child, Van Ness Shorten Pierson, wrote that the Shorten family moved to Los Angeles when she was between three and 6 years old. Lawrence, (child #5) says he was in his early twenties when they moved. So sometime after 1896, the family did move. Winifred Shorten Farrell Short, daughter of Lawrence, stated in a letter that, as she recalls being told, Albert was the first Shorten family member to move to Los Angeles. The parents and others came later. Albert later owned the Los Angeles Preserving Company and was also successful in real estate investments.
Lawrence became a merchant. He was the proprietor of the Shorten Produce Company located in the wholesale district of Los Angeles. Both Albert and Lawrence could be said to be pioneers in the business growth of Los Angeles.
James Edwin Shorten's only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, remembered that her mother told her that Hannah moved to Los Angeles with her young children, Arthur and Van Ness when her older daughter, Annie Laurie was attending Teachers College there. Hannah worked in a cannery to support her children. Hannah had beautiful
bright blue eyes and a lovely singing voice and was a happy person by nature.
Hannah told her daughter in law, Emma, not to feel sorry for her "while she missed many good things having a family, she also missed many bad and hard things also".
James Edwin and Emma stayed in Smithfield after they were married in 1899.
They taught school and helped James Bussey after his wife and two youngest children moved to Los Angeles. They considered joining Albert and Lawrence in the wholesale
produce business, but they did not like the lifestyle of Southern California. They later moved to the Boise Valley in Idaho near her parents and remained there for the rest of their lives. They kept in close touch with their extended family and enjoyed many happy visits with all of them. They had one daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit.
James Edwin Shorten is buried in Nampa, Idaho.
A James Shorten is found in the 1900 census of Smithfield, Utah, listed as living alone and as a farmer. His family tell us that he refused to go to California with his
children and later Hannah went there anyway. He was a very stubborn man. He later followed his family to Los Angeles.
Van Ness also said all of the children were college graduates. Some were school teachers. Annie Laurie Shorten Curtiss was the principal of a school in Glendale, California, until her retirement.
James Bussy Shorten died 20 May 1914, and is buried in the Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He was 74 years old. Hannah died 24 November, 1919 and is buried in the same cemetery near him. She was 72 years old.
In 1989, the grave of James' brother, John Bussy Shorten, was found in the Salt Lake City, Utah Cemetery. Other Shorten family members are buried near him. His Mother, Elizabeth Bussy Shorten Robson,s grave is also near by. Just when she reached Utah is not known. Jobe Hill states in his journal that he met her in 1867 in Salt Lake
City.
This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis county, Utah. She passed away 25 May 1986. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of
John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information.
(Oct 1994)
James Edwin and Emma lived in Smithfield until 1908. They were there when Hannah took her small children and moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Her husband James Bussy Shorten, refused to go with her so she went anyway.
Emma did his laundry, etc. and helped him all she could. He had the reputation among his family of being very stubborn. He stayed in his home in Smithfield for several
years but finally joined his family in Los Angeles.
Grandma Hannah always said if she could get her children through January, February and March, she would be able to keep them for another year. Hannah loved to memorize parts in plays and loved to act. Lawrence travelled to California when he was twenty five years old. He was just
five feet five inches tall and looked very young. He always joked about being able to
travel for half fare because he looked so young. He enjoyed coming to Utah and Idaho to visit his cousins, and really enjoyed fishing with them. He had sparkling blue eyes and was about the same size as his Grandfather, William Thacker.
We contacted Winifred Shorten Farrell Short in Huntington Beach, California. She is the daughter of Lawrence Shorten and she has been an invaluable help in gathering pictures and some of Hannah's history. She put us in touch with James Edwin's grand daughter, Van Ness Moffit Mosman in Salem, Oregon and also with Barbara Faries Simpson, grand daughter of Albert Shorten. Barbara is the daughter of Margaret Lois Shorten Faries and she lives in San Marino, California.
Winifred Shorten Farrell Short told us that only three of Hannah's children had descendants:
James Edwin had one daughter, Emma Irene.
Albert had two daughters;
Alice Van Ness
Margaret Lois.
Lawrence and his wife, Josephine, had eight children:
James
Phyllis
Lawrence Jr.
Albert
Winifred
Harriette
Barbara
Anna Catherine.
Hannah's children have stayed close to one another . They are a family of achievers.
Van Ness Moffit Mosman has many choice memories of her Grand father, James Edwin and his wife Emma Flack Shorten. She remembers that both of her grandparents were school teachers for a time before moving to the Boise Valley in
August 1908.
Her Grandfather, James Edwin didn't get Scarlet Fever in his childhood, but he contracted the disease when his daughter, Irene, was young. He was very ill. It settled
in his thumb and it swelled up terribly and had to be lanced several times.
Van Ness's Mother Irene, had Rheumatic Fever as a child and she remembered her Father reading to her by the hour from the American Boy. She adored her Father.
Van Ness M. Mosman recounts the story that when James Edwin was a little boy, his family lived by some Indians. (This was probably while they lived in Smithfield, Utah). He had beautiful red hair and one of the Indian women wanted him very badly because of his red hair. His wife had red hair also, and so did their only daughter, Irene, and their only grand daughter, Van Ness. Van Ness has three grandchildren with red hair, but her children's hair is brown.
Van Ness M. Mosman also remembers going to Hagerman, Idaho, to visit her cousins, the family of John and Elizabeth Thacker Penfold who still have descendants
there. She remembers her Aunt Annie Laurie as a very beautiful lady who lived in the family home at 1616 Donaldson Street in Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign on the
hillside was visible from her home.
Hannah's son, Arthur was engaged to be married and his fiancee died before the wedding could take place. Somehow, the bride-to-be did not have the ring yet and Aunt Van Ness ended up with it. She gave it to my Mother, Irene, when she was there in 1926. My Mother wore it with her wedding ring for years. She had it incorporated
into a ring with other diamonds from the family and I have it now. I really treasure it as a wonderful keepsake." (Van Ness M. Mosman)
James Edwin worked for the Studebaker company selling wagons and buggies for some time in the Boise Valley. His only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, inherited the Shorten home and property in Smithfield, Utah. Irene said there was a brick kiln on the property. She sold the property to a developer in the 1970s.
Irene's only daughter Van Ness, remembers Uncle Ambrose coming to Nampa to visit and how kind he was to her. He entertained Van Ness by building fantastic houses out of Dominoes. He would stand them on end and then add a second and third story to the house. He had a coupe with a rumble seat and he took her for many rides, him up front driving and her riding in the rumble seat. She thought he was very
handsome. He looked and acted like the actor, Gary Cooper. His wife, Aunt Libby, became mentally ill and spent her last years in the mental hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho.
It was so sad for him. His dear wife didn't recognize him and it grieved him a lot. He resembled his brother, Lawrence and they both resembled their Mother.
Albert and Lawrence invited James Edwin to come to Los Angeles and go in with them in the produce business. But he preferred the lifestyle in Idaho so he declined the offer. James Edwin was a very conservative man and very frugal. He saved his money and during the Depression of the 1930s, he loaned money to people who couldn't get a loan from the banks. He was greatly respected by all who knew him. He had a stroke in 1932 and couldn't speak from then until he passed away in 1935. It was terrible for him, he was such a bright man and very hard on his dear wife, Emma. Van Ness remembers that her Aunt Van Ness for whom she was named, had blonde hair and was very attractive. She lived the life of a socialite in Los Angeles. Her husband was involved in the movie business and that was the circle they travelled in.
She married twice, once when she was very young and that didn't work out. Van Ness can't remember his name, but she has the wedding and engagement rings her Aunt Van Ness had from that marriage.
Aunt Van Ness married George Pierson whom she later was separated from. Her letters to Irene mentioned that she was at the "ranch". In 1945 we visited the family in Los Angeles and at that time she was living in a large elegant home. She had beautiful things around her. She badly needed an operation for years for a tumor. But she was a Christian Scientist and so she lived with it and never sought medical treatment.
Aunt Van Ness had a lovely large diamond ring. After she passed away, they held an estate sale and we purchased that ring at the auction at the Los Angeles courthouse.
My parents attended the sale and bought it for me. The judge let it go far below the appraisal price because it was "family" that was bidding. Several jewelry buyers
were bidding but the judge thought family should come first. The ring is a marquis cut and is set with 24 small diamonds around it. The ring is platinum in a kind of old
fashioned setting. Uncle Albert's daughter, Alice, told my mother that Aunt Van Ness always kept it in a locked box so when we received notice of the sale, we knew what was in the box. I always wear the ring and enjoy it and think of her. I don't think her later years were very happy. (Van Ness Moffit Mosman)
Albert and his wife Iola had two daughters, Alice Van Ness and Margaret Lois. He and his wife travelled to Nampa to attend the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of James Edwin and Emma. Their daughter Margaret was with them.
The children of James Bussey and Hannah Thacker Shorten are:
Born Married Died
William Henry 1867 15 Apr 1878
James Edwin 5 Jan 1869 13 Sep 1899 26 Dec 1935
Emma Flack
Albert 1 Aug 1871 1894 18 Feb 1947
Margaret Anna Parks
Ambrose 22 Jun 1874 18 Feb 1940
Fanny Elizabeth Stalker
Lawrence 6 Oct 1876 25 Aug 2 Oct 1901
Josephine Eloy Juarez
Annie Laurie 13 Nov 1878 27 Nov 1972
William C. Curtiss
Isabella 17 Nov 1880 1893
Born Married Died
Arthur Frederick 2 Dec 1884 27 Aug 1922
Ethel Van Ness 13 Nov 1893 3 Apr 1970
George W Pierson
-This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information. (Oct 1994)
--------------
His older brother: John Bussy Shorten
Child not listed below: Isabella Shorten
According to the death certificate of James Bussy Shorten, he was born 17 March 1840 in England. The town of his birth has not yet been determined. He was the son of Henry Shorten and Elizabeth Bussy Shorten. James had an older brother, John Bussy Shorten, born in 1835. Their grandparents were John L. Shorten and Esther Chestney Shorten, who were born in Fakenham, Norfolk, England. This was the birthplace of Henry, also.
Family tradition says that John and Esther did not approve of the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth. Henry's parents asked him to come home for a visit and while he was there, he became ill and died. Elizabeth was left alone to care for her two sons.
After a time, she booked passage for America , deciding to start a new life there. The three left Liverpool, England, on Sunday 25 May 1856 on the ship, "Horizon". Though not LDS themselves, they traveled with a large group of LDS passengers who were immigrating to the United States, hoping to eventually reach their "Zion" in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
Ship emigration records show 856 Latter Day Saint passengers under the leadership of Edward Martin. The ship docked in Boston harbor on the 8th of July 1856.
Family tradition says that the boys Mother, Elizabeth, married a James Robson while on the voyage. John and James weren't very happy about this and decided to join with the LDS group as it made its way to Iowa City by rail arriving there on 8 July 1856.
The boys joined the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. On the roster, John is listed as 20 years and James as 14. According to his birth date, James should have been listed as 16. Perhaps he had a reason for giving a younger age. The handcart means of travel was a new experiment that year in getting large numbers of LDS who wanted to reach the Salt Lake valley in a faster, less expensive way. Handcarts were used from 1856 to 1860. Three companies successfully reached the valley that year, but both the 4th company led by James C. Willie, and the 5th company, led by Edward Martin, met tragedy.
The Martin Handcart Company started from Iowa City, Iowa, on 28 July 1856, with 576 souls, 146 handcarts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, 50 cows and beef cattle. But because of long delays, breakdowns in the handcarts (many of them were built with green wood), they didn't leave Florence, Nebraska until August 25th. Quoting from the book, "Handcarts to Zion", by LeRoy and Ann Hafen: "The early winter and its exceptional ferocity, the unduly late start from Britain and from frontier outposts of America, the delays in procuring equipment, and the Saints over-zealous faith in a Divine Intervention to save them from the results of a lack of caution and errors in judgement--all these are acceptable reasons for the sad fate of these western wayfarers." (page 41)
John B. Shorten is listed on two rosters, the Martin Handcart Company and also as a passenger in Captain John A. Hunt's ox team which followed closely behind
the Company. James later told his children some of his experiences pulling and pushing hand carts through the cold and snow. He said at one time he and two other men were pushing.
The men on either side of him froze to death. The warmth of their bodies saved him as he was in the middle. The early deep snows and depletion of their food supplies
took a terrible toll. About 135 to 150 members perished and many more were maimed. The Hafen book calls the fate of the two late handcart companies "the worst disaster in the history of western migration." Teams from Salt Lake City were sent out to rescue them when word reached
Brigham Young.
In the Daughter of Utah Pioneers book, "Chronicles of Courage" Vol 3. Page 274, the autobiography of Dan Jones is quoted. He tells about this rescue and how he and other scouts came upon them. Dan was appointed to pick some men to stay at Devil's Gate, Wyoming, to guard the carts, livestock, and belongings of the companies while the suffering people were hurried on to the valley in wagons for care. Seventeen men from the Hunt and Hodgett ox teams were recruited for this duty. John Shorten's name is on this list.
The ordeal these men went through in the remaining five months of that horrible winter is beyond belief and a story for the history of John B. Shorten when it is written. The Saints back in the valley were worshipping in the Tabernacle with President Brigham Young when the Martin Handcart Company drew near to Salt Lake City. It
was Sunday 30 November 1856. When news was brought of the imminent arrival of the 5th company, President Young said to the congregation: "When these persons arrive, I do not want to see them put in houses by themselves. I want to have them distributed among the families that have good and comfortable houses. And I wish all the Sisters now before me, and all who know and can, to nurse and wait upon the newcomers and prudently administer food and medicine.
To speak upon these things is a part of my religion, for it pertains to taking care of the Saints. The afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the Sisters to go home and prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and to wash them and nurse them up. You know that I would give more for a dish of pudding and milk, or a baked potato and salt, were I in the situation of those persons who have just come in, than I would for all your prayers, though you were to stay here all afternoon and pray. Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and pudding and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place on this occasion; give every duty its proper time and place...". One wonders who took in young James that day?
James stayed in Salt Lake City and worked for a time at the Lion House for Brigham Young. The Lion House is just west of the Beehive House on South Temple.The Beehive House was the residence of Brigham Young. The Lion House was completed in 1856 and was the home built for his other wives. Both structures are still standing and in use today. A staff of about 25 people, young and old, were kept busy to help with the gardening, maintenance, etc. Though James was uneducated, Brigham Young praised him for his honesty. He left money about to test him and later told him so.
It is not known just when young James met Hannah Thacker, but were attracted to Rachel Tonks Thacker. They had crossed the ocean in the ship "Wellfleet" also in
1856.
The Thacker family boarded the ship, Wellfleet, in Liverpool, England, on May 31, 1856 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1856. Their money was about gone so they travelled on to New York City where William found work as a locksmith.
They remained in New York City for a few years, and then moved on to Philadelphia where both parents worked in a buckle factory until they had saved enough money to continue West. The family consisted of six children at the time they arrived in Salt Lake City. They had buried three children and their adopted son before leaving England. They had three more children in New York and Philadelphia, one child died in Philadelphia.
Hannah was the oldest living child. She was born 22 March 1847 in Darlaston, Staffordshire, England. She was fourteen when they crossed the plains and a big help to her Mother. She walked most of the way. Her story before her marriage is told in the history of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. James and Hannah were married sometime before 1865, the exact date has not been found yet. James says they lived for a time in a "cave", probably a dugout. ( dirt home dug and built into the side of a hill). This was a common practice among the pioneers and many lived in dugouts and some in wagon boxes until they were able to build a home. The Thacker family had lived in a dugout for a time before William was able to build a two room adobe home on the same lot as the dugout.
In the spring of 1864, The Thacker family moved to Cache Valley in northern Utah to see if they could better their condition. Hannah was 17 and decided to stay in Salt Lake City. Perhaps she was working. Perhaps she was already married or close to it. She lived in her parents adobe house until she was able to sell it and send the first
payment (a yoke of oxen) to her family. Family history says James and Hannah lived for a short time in a log cabin at Bingham Canyon. They left in March of 1866 to try
their luck in Cache Valley. They went to Clarkston where Hannah's parents were living and also her Mother's sister, Susannah Tonks Hill and Susannah's husband, Aaron Hill. The
Shorten's moved in with the Hill family. The Hills had a son, Jobe, who in later life wrote a most interesting journal. He wrote about the Shortens moving in with them in
this way---"As the Shorten family was young, they lived in the same house with us and invited young people to come and spend the evening with us. The result was we had a
few nice entertainments in which I sang my first song in public, entitled "The Poor Sailor Boy". Jobe goes on to say that James Shorten and his Father became very good
friends and made several trips together to the canyons to cut wood and haul it in to sell.
In the month of June came the news that a large band of Shoshone Indians were coming toward Cache Valley. All were told to move to the larger settlements. Jobe says his Father traded his land and lot in Clarkston for a single room log house three miles southeast of the Smithfield ferry. Smithfield was about 12 miles from Clarkston. William Thacker made his home on a gravelly flat up on the creek two or three hundred yards east of the town of Smithfield. James Shorten bought two lots one block
east and one block north of the Hill family. All nine of the Shorten children were born in Smithfield except James Edwin, who was born in Clarkston.
Their children are: William Henry, James Edwin, Albert, Ambrose, Lawrence, Annie Laurie, Isabella, Arthur Fredrick and Ethel Van Ness.
An interesting story as to why James Edwin was born in Clarkston--Hannah was home alone with her baby, William. She was in the seventh month of her pregnancy.
It was early January and her husband was away working. She was afraid to be alone so her brother-in-law came and took them to his home in Clarkston. The wagon ride was very rough and she delivered James prematurely. He was wrapped in cotton and kept warm on the oven door. James Edwin grew up extremely close to his older brother, William. William died at the age of 12 and this caused young James Edwin to grieve deeply. The seventh child, Isabella, also died young at the age of 13 in 1893.
Grasshoppers came in great numbers the summer of 1867 and ate all of their crops. Both Aaron Hill and James had to travel and live several months away from home in search of work. Hannah's parents decided to try their fortune elsewhere. They moved first to Peoa, Summit county, and later to Heber City, in Wasatch county. They finally settled just west of Buysville, now Daniels, just south of Heber City. Buysville was a branch of the Charleston Ward.
Whether any of the children of James and Hannah were baptized into the LDS church is not yet known. There are blessing records for Albert, Ambrose, Annie Laurie and Isabella in the Smithfield Ward records. Annie Laurie lived to be 94 years old and in her last years, her short term memory was failing, but she still loved to sing the
Mormon hymns she had been taught as a child.
Whether this was in her home or in the LDS Sunday School and Primary is not known. The 1870 census for Smithfield, Utah, lists James Bussey Shorten as a saw miller. He and Aaron Hill operated a sawmill on shares.
In 1894, Hannah took a trip to Wasatch County to visit her Father and some of her Thacker relatives living in the area. Her youngest brother, John, was getting married
on the 19th of December. For the occasion, a picture was taken of William Thacker, his son John and four of his daughters, Hannah, Ann Maria, Isabelle and Elizabeth (Lizzie). This picture is now much prized by the family and is the only picture of Hannah the family had until we were gathering information for this book. She was a beautiful, dignified cultured woman. Hannah's Mother had died the year before in 1893 and so she was not in the original picture.
The Thorne studio in Vernal, Utah later did some photographic magic and using this photo, added the missing family members; their Mother Rachel Tonks, and the sons, William Timothy, Charles Edwin and Frederick Albert. In a letter to Chloe Thacker Slade, Hannah's youngest child, Van Ness Shorten Pierson, wrote that the Shorten family moved to Los Angeles when she was between three and 6 years old. Lawrence, (child #5) says he was in his early twenties when they moved. So sometime after 1896, the family did move. Winifred Shorten Farrell Short, daughter of Lawrence, stated in a letter that, as she recalls being told, Albert was the first Shorten family member to move to Los Angeles. The parents and others came later. Albert later owned the Los Angeles Preserving Company and was also successful in real estate investments.
Lawrence became a merchant. He was the proprietor of the Shorten Produce Company located in the wholesale district of Los Angeles. Both Albert and Lawrence could be said to be pioneers in the business growth of Los Angeles.
James Edwin Shorten's only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, remembered that her mother told her that Hannah moved to Los Angeles with her young children, Arthur and Van Ness when her older daughter, Annie Laurie was attending Teachers College there. Hannah worked in a cannery to support her children. Hannah had beautiful
bright blue eyes and a lovely singing voice and was a happy person by nature.
Hannah told her daughter in law, Emma, not to feel sorry for her "while she missed many good things having a family, she also missed many bad and hard things also".
James Edwin and Emma stayed in Smithfield after they were married in 1899.
They taught school and helped James Bussey after his wife and two youngest children moved to Los Angeles. They considered joining Albert and Lawrence in the wholesale
produce business, but they did not like the lifestyle of Southern California. They later moved to the Boise Valley in Idaho near her parents and remained there for the rest of their lives. They kept in close touch with their extended family and enjoyed many happy visits with all of them. They had one daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit.
James Edwin Shorten is buried in Nampa, Idaho.
A James Shorten is found in the 1900 census of Smithfield, Utah, listed as living alone and as a farmer. His family tell us that he refused to go to California with his
children and later Hannah went there anyway. He was a very stubborn man. He later followed his family to Los Angeles.
Van Ness also said all of the children were college graduates. Some were school teachers. Annie Laurie Shorten Curtiss was the principal of a school in Glendale, California, until her retirement.
James Bussy Shorten died 20 May 1914, and is buried in the Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He was 74 years old. Hannah died 24 November, 1919 and is buried in the same cemetery near him. She was 72 years old.
In 1989, the grave of James' brother, John Bussy Shorten, was found in the Salt Lake City, Utah Cemetery. Other Shorten family members are buried near him. His Mother, Elizabeth Bussy Shorten Robson,s grave is also near by. Just when she reached Utah is not known. Jobe Hill states in his journal that he met her in 1867 in Salt Lake
City.
This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis county, Utah. She passed away 25 May 1986. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of
John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information.
(Oct 1994)
James Edwin and Emma lived in Smithfield until 1908. They were there when Hannah took her small children and moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Her husband James Bussy Shorten, refused to go with her so she went anyway.
Emma did his laundry, etc. and helped him all she could. He had the reputation among his family of being very stubborn. He stayed in his home in Smithfield for several
years but finally joined his family in Los Angeles.
Grandma Hannah always said if she could get her children through January, February and March, she would be able to keep them for another year. Hannah loved to memorize parts in plays and loved to act. Lawrence travelled to California when he was twenty five years old. He was just
five feet five inches tall and looked very young. He always joked about being able to
travel for half fare because he looked so young. He enjoyed coming to Utah and Idaho to visit his cousins, and really enjoyed fishing with them. He had sparkling blue eyes and was about the same size as his Grandfather, William Thacker.
We contacted Winifred Shorten Farrell Short in Huntington Beach, California. She is the daughter of Lawrence Shorten and she has been an invaluable help in gathering pictures and some of Hannah's history. She put us in touch with James Edwin's grand daughter, Van Ness Moffit Mosman in Salem, Oregon and also with Barbara Faries Simpson, grand daughter of Albert Shorten. Barbara is the daughter of Margaret Lois Shorten Faries and she lives in San Marino, California.
Winifred Shorten Farrell Short told us that only three of Hannah's children had descendants:
James Edwin had one daughter, Emma Irene.
Albert had two daughters;
Alice Van Ness
Margaret Lois.
Lawrence and his wife, Josephine, had eight children:
James
Phyllis
Lawrence Jr.
Albert
Winifred
Harriette
Barbara
Anna Catherine.
Hannah's children have stayed close to one another . They are a family of achievers.
Van Ness Moffit Mosman has many choice memories of her Grand father, James Edwin and his wife Emma Flack Shorten. She remembers that both of her grandparents were school teachers for a time before moving to the Boise Valley in
August 1908.
Her Grandfather, James Edwin didn't get Scarlet Fever in his childhood, but he contracted the disease when his daughter, Irene, was young. He was very ill. It settled
in his thumb and it swelled up terribly and had to be lanced several times.
Van Ness's Mother Irene, had Rheumatic Fever as a child and she remembered her Father reading to her by the hour from the American Boy. She adored her Father.
Van Ness M. Mosman recounts the story that when James Edwin was a little boy, his family lived by some Indians. (This was probably while they lived in Smithfield, Utah). He had beautiful red hair and one of the Indian women wanted him very badly because of his red hair. His wife had red hair also, and so did their only daughter, Irene, and their only grand daughter, Van Ness. Van Ness has three grandchildren with red hair, but her children's hair is brown.
Van Ness M. Mosman also remembers going to Hagerman, Idaho, to visit her cousins, the family of John and Elizabeth Thacker Penfold who still have descendants
there. She remembers her Aunt Annie Laurie as a very beautiful lady who lived in the family home at 1616 Donaldson Street in Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign on the
hillside was visible from her home.
Hannah's son, Arthur was engaged to be married and his fiancee died before the wedding could take place. Somehow, the bride-to-be did not have the ring yet and Aunt Van Ness ended up with it. She gave it to my Mother, Irene, when she was there in 1926. My Mother wore it with her wedding ring for years. She had it incorporated
into a ring with other diamonds from the family and I have it now. I really treasure it as a wonderful keepsake." (Van Ness M. Mosman)
James Edwin worked for the Studebaker company selling wagons and buggies for some time in the Boise Valley. His only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, inherited the Shorten home and property in Smithfield, Utah. Irene said there was a brick kiln on the property. She sold the property to a developer in the 1970s.
Irene's only daughter Van Ness, remembers Uncle Ambrose coming to Nampa to visit and how kind he was to her. He entertained Van Ness by building fantastic houses out of Dominoes. He would stand them on end and then add a second and third story to the house. He had a coupe with a rumble seat and he took her for many rides, him up front driving and her riding in the rumble seat. She thought he was very
handsome. He looked and acted like the actor, Gary Cooper. His wife, Aunt Libby, became mentally ill and spent her last years in the mental hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho.
It was so sad for him. His dear wife didn't recognize him and it grieved him a lot. He resembled his brother, Lawrence and they both resembled their Mother.
Albert and Lawrence invited James Edwin to come to Los Angeles and go in with them in the produce business. But he preferred the lifestyle in Idaho so he declined the offer. James Edwin was a very conservative man and very frugal. He saved his money and during the Depression of the 1930s, he loaned money to people who couldn't get a loan from the banks. He was greatly respected by all who knew him. He had a stroke in 1932 and couldn't speak from then until he passed away in 1935. It was terrible for him, he was such a bright man and very hard on his dear wife, Emma. Van Ness remembers that her Aunt Van Ness for whom she was named, had blonde hair and was very attractive. She lived the life of a socialite in Los Angeles. Her husband was involved in the movie business and that was the circle they travelled in.
She married twice, once when she was very young and that didn't work out. Van Ness can't remember his name, but she has the wedding and engagement rings her Aunt Van Ness had from that marriage.
Aunt Van Ness married George Pierson whom she later was separated from. Her letters to Irene mentioned that she was at the "ranch". In 1945 we visited the family in Los Angeles and at that time she was living in a large elegant home. She had beautiful things around her. She badly needed an operation for years for a tumor. But she was a Christian Scientist and so she lived with it and never sought medical treatment.
Aunt Van Ness had a lovely large diamond ring. After she passed away, they held an estate sale and we purchased that ring at the auction at the Los Angeles courthouse.
My parents attended the sale and bought it for me. The judge let it go far below the appraisal price because it was "family" that was bidding. Several jewelry buyers
were bidding but the judge thought family should come first. The ring is a marquis cut and is set with 24 small diamonds around it. The ring is platinum in a kind of old
fashioned setting. Uncle Albert's daughter, Alice, told my mother that Aunt Van Ness always kept it in a locked box so when we received notice of the sale, we knew what was in the box. I always wear the ring and enjoy it and think of her. I don't think her later years were very happy. (Van Ness Moffit Mosman)
Albert and his wife Iola had two daughters, Alice Van Ness and Margaret Lois. He and his wife travelled to Nampa to attend the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of James Edwin and Emma. Their daughter Margaret was with them.
The children of James Bussey and Hannah Thacker Shorten are:
Born Married Died
William Henry 1867 15 Apr 1878
James Edwin 5 Jan 1869 13 Sep 1899 26 Dec 1935
Emma Flack
Albert 1 Aug 1871 1894 18 Feb 1947
Margaret Anna Parks
Ambrose 22 Jun 1874 18 Feb 1940
Fanny Elizabeth Stalker
Lawrence 6 Oct 1876 25 Aug 2 Oct 1901
Josephine Eloy Juarez
Annie Laurie 13 Nov 1878 27 Nov 1972
William C. Curtiss
Isabella 17 Nov 1880 1893
Born Married Died
Arthur Frederick 2 Dec 1884 27 Aug 1922
Ethel Van Ness 13 Nov 1893 3 Apr 1970
George W Pierson
-This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information. (Oct 1994)
--------------
His older brother: John Bussy Shorten
Child not listed below: Isabella Shorten
HANNAH THACKER SHORTEN AND JAMES BUSSY SHORTEN
According to the death certificate of James Bussy Shorten, he was born 17 March 1840 in England. The town of his birth has not yet been determined. He was the son of Henry Shorten and Elizabeth Bussy Shorten. James had an older brother, John Bussy Shorten, born in 1835. Their grandparents were John L. Shorten and Esther Chestney Shorten, who were born in Fakenham, Norfolk, England. This was the birthplace of Henry, also.
Family tradition says that John and Esther did not approve of the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth. Henry's parents asked him to come home for a visit and while he was there, he became ill and died. Elizabeth was left alone to care for her two sons.
After a time, she booked passage for America , deciding to start a new life there. The three left Liverpool, England, on Sunday 25 May 1856 on the ship, "Horizon". Though not LDS themselves, they traveled with a large group of LDS passengers who were immigrating to the United States, hoping to eventually reach their "Zion" in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
Ship emigration records show 856 Latter Day Saint passengers under the leadership of Edward Martin. The ship docked in Boston harbor on the 8th of July 1856.
Family tradition says that the boys Mother, Elizabeth, married a James Robson while on the voyage. John and James weren't very happy about this and decided to join with the LDS group as it made its way to Iowa City by rail arriving there on 8 July 1856.
The boys joined the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. On the roster, John is listed as 20 years and James as 14. According to his birth date, James should have been listed as 16. Perhaps he had a reason for giving a younger age. The handcart means of travel was a new experiment that year in getting large numbers of LDS who wanted to reach the Salt Lake valley in a faster, less expensive way. Handcarts were used from 1856 to 1860. Three companies successfully reached the valley that year, but both the 4th company led by James C. Willie, and the 5th company, led by Edward Martin, met tragedy.
The Martin Handcart Company started from Iowa City, Iowa, on 28 July 1856, with 576 souls, 146 handcarts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, 50 cows and beef cattle. But because of long delays, breakdowns in the handcarts (many of them were built with green wood), they didn't leave Florence, Nebraska until August 25th. Quoting from the book, "Handcarts to Zion", by LeRoy and Ann Hafen: "The early winter and its exceptional ferocity, the unduly late start from Britain and from frontier outposts of America, the delays in procuring equipment, and the Saints over-zealous faith in a Divine Intervention to save them from the results of a lack of caution and errors in judgement--all these are acceptable reasons for the sad fate of these western wayfarers." (page 41)
John B. Shorten is listed on two rosters, the Martin Handcart Company and also as a passenger in Captain John A. Hunt's ox team which followed closely behind
the Company. James later told his children some of his experiences pulling and pushing hand carts through the cold and snow. He said at one time he and two other men were pushing.
The men on either side of him froze to death. The warmth of their bodies saved him as he was in the middle. The early deep snows and depletion of their food supplies
took a terrible toll. About 135 to 150 members perished and many more were maimed. The Hafen book calls the fate of the two late handcart companies "the worst disaster in the history of western migration." Teams from Salt Lake City were sent out to rescue them when word reached
Brigham Young.
In the Daughter of Utah Pioneers book, "Chronicles of Courage" Vol 3. Page 274, the autobiography of Dan Jones is quoted. He tells about this rescue and how he and other scouts came upon them. Dan was appointed to pick some men to stay at Devil's Gate, Wyoming, to guard the carts, livestock, and belongings of the companies while the suffering people were hurried on to the valley in wagons for care. Seventeen men from the Hunt and Hodgett ox teams were recruited for this duty. John Shorten's name is on this list.
The ordeal these men went through in the remaining five months of that horrible winter is beyond belief and a story for the history of John B. Shorten when it is written. The Saints back in the valley were worshipping in the Tabernacle with President Brigham Young when the Martin Handcart Company drew near to Salt Lake City. It
was Sunday 30 November 1856. When news was brought of the imminent arrival of the 5th company, President Young said to the congregation: "When these persons arrive, I do not want to see them put in houses by themselves. I want to have them distributed among the families that have good and comfortable houses. And I wish all the Sisters now before me, and all who know and can, to nurse and wait upon the newcomers and prudently administer food and medicine.
To speak upon these things is a part of my religion, for it pertains to taking care of the Saints. The afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the Sisters to go home and prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and to wash them and nurse them up. You know that I would give more for a dish of pudding and milk, or a baked potato and salt, were I in the situation of those persons who have just come in, than I would for all your prayers, though you were to stay here all afternoon and pray. Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and pudding and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place on this occasion; give every duty its proper time and place...". One wonders who took in young James that day?
James stayed in Salt Lake City and worked for a time at the Lion House for Brigham Young. The Lion House is just west of the Beehive House on South Temple.The Beehive House was the residence of Brigham Young. The Lion House was completed in 1856 and was the home built for his other wives. Both structures are still standing and in use today. A staff of about 25 people, young and old, were kept busy to help with the gardening, maintenance, etc. Though James was uneducated, Brigham Young praised him for his honesty. He left money about to test him and later told him so.
It is not known just when young James met Hannah Thacker, but were attracted to Rachel Tonks Thacker. They had crossed the ocean in the ship "Wellfleet" also in
1856.
The Thacker family boarded the ship, Wellfleet, in Liverpool, England, on May 31, 1856 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1856. Their money was about gone so they travelled on to New York City where William found work as a locksmith.
They remained in New York City for a few years, and then moved on to Philadelphia where both parents worked in a buckle factory until they had saved enough money to continue West. The family consisted of six children at the time they arrived in Salt Lake City. They had buried three children and their adopted son before leaving England. They had three more children in New York and Philadelphia, one child died in Philadelphia.
Hannah was the oldest living child. She was born 22 March 1847 in Darlaston, Staffordshire, England. She was fourteen when they crossed the plains and a big help to her Mother. She walked most of the way. Her story before her marriage is told in the history of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. James and Hannah were married sometime before 1865, the exact date has not been found yet. James says they lived for a time in a "cave", probably a dugout. ( dirt home dug and built into the side of a hill). This was a common practice among the pioneers and many lived in dugouts and some in wagon boxes until they were able to build a home. The Thacker family had lived in a dugout for a time before William was able to build a two room adobe home on the same lot as the dugout.
In the spring of 1864, The Thacker family moved to Cache Valley in northern Utah to see if they could better their condition. Hannah was 17 and decided to stay in Salt Lake City. Perhaps she was working. Perhaps she was already married or close to it. She lived in her parents adobe house until she was able to sell it and send the first
payment (a yoke of oxen) to her family. Family history says James and Hannah lived for a short time in a log cabin at Bingham Canyon. They left in March of 1866 to try
their luck in Cache Valley. They went to Clarkston where Hannah's parents were living and also her Mother's sister, Susannah Tonks Hill and Susannah's husband, Aaron Hill. The
Shorten's moved in with the Hill family. The Hills had a son, Jobe, who in later life wrote a most interesting journal. He wrote about the Shortens moving in with them in
this way---"As the Shorten family was young, they lived in the same house with us and invited young people to come and spend the evening with us. The result was we had a
few nice entertainments in which I sang my first song in public, entitled "The Poor Sailor Boy". Jobe goes on to say that James Shorten and his Father became very good
friends and made several trips together to the canyons to cut wood and haul it in to sell.
In the month of June came the news that a large band of Shoshone Indians were coming toward Cache Valley. All were told to move to the larger settlements. Jobe says his Father traded his land and lot in Clarkston for a single room log house three miles southeast of the Smithfield ferry. Smithfield was about 12 miles from Clarkston. William Thacker made his home on a gravelly flat up on the creek two or three hundred yards east of the town of Smithfield. James Shorten bought two lots one block
east and one block north of the Hill family. All nine of the Shorten children were born in Smithfield except James Edwin, who was born in Clarkston.
Their children are: William Henry, James Edwin, Albert, Ambrose, Lawrence, Annie Laurie, Isabella, Arthur Fredrick and Ethel Van Ness.
An interesting story as to why James Edwin was born in Clarkston--Hannah was home alone with her baby, William. She was in the seventh month of her pregnancy.
It was early January and her husband was away working. She was afraid to be alone so her brother-in-law came and took them to his home in Clarkston. The wagon ride was very rough and she delivered James prematurely. He was wrapped in cotton and kept warm on the oven door. James Edwin grew up extremely close to his older brother, William. William died at the age of 12 and this caused young James Edwin to grieve deeply. The seventh child, Isabella, also died young at the age of 13 in 1893.
Grasshoppers came in great numbers the summer of 1867 and ate all of their crops. Both Aaron Hill and James had to travel and live several months away from home in search of work. Hannah's parents decided to try their fortune elsewhere. They moved first to Peoa, Summit county, and later to Heber City, in Wasatch county. They finally settled just west of Buysville, now Daniels, just south of Heber City. Buysville was a branch of the Charleston Ward.
Whether any of the children of James and Hannah were baptized into the LDS church is not yet known. There are blessing records for Albert, Ambrose, Annie Laurie and Isabella in the Smithfield Ward records. Annie Laurie lived to be 94 years old and in her last years, her short term memory was failing, but she still loved to sing the
Mormon hymns she had been taught as a child.
Whether this was in her home or in the LDS Sunday School and Primary is not known. The 1870 census for Smithfield, Utah, lists James Bussey Shorten as a saw miller. He and Aaron Hill operated a sawmill on shares.
In 1894, Hannah took a trip to Wasatch County to visit her Father and some of her Thacker relatives living in the area. Her youngest brother, John, was getting married
on the 19th of December. For the occasion, a picture was taken of William Thacker, his son John and four of his daughters, Hannah, Ann Maria, Isabelle and Elizabeth (Lizzie). This picture is now much prized by the family and is the only picture of Hannah the family had until we were gathering information for this book. She was a beautiful, dignified cultured woman. Hannah's Mother had died the year before in 1893 and so she was not in the original picture.
The Thorne studio in Vernal, Utah later did some photographic magic and using this photo, added the missing family members; their Mother Rachel Tonks, and the sons, William Timothy, Charles Edwin and Frederick Albert. In a letter to Chloe Thacker Slade, Hannah's youngest child, Van Ness Shorten Pierson, wrote that the Shorten family moved to Los Angeles when she was between three and 6 years old. Lawrence, (child #5) says he was in his early twenties when they moved. So sometime after 1896, the family did move. Winifred Shorten Farrell Short, daughter of Lawrence, stated in a letter that, as she recalls being told, Albert was the first Shorten family member to move to Los Angeles. The parents and others came later. Albert later owned the Los Angeles Preserving Company and was also successful in real estate investments.
Lawrence became a merchant. He was the proprietor of the Shorten Produce Company located in the wholesale district of Los Angeles. Both Albert and Lawrence could be said to be pioneers in the business growth of Los Angeles.
James Edwin Shorten's only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, remembered that her mother told her that Hannah moved to Los Angeles with her young children, Arthur and Van Ness when her older daughter, Annie Laurie was attending Teachers College there. Hannah worked in a cannery to support her children. Hannah had beautiful
bright blue eyes and a lovely singing voice and was a happy person by nature.
Hannah told her daughter in law, Emma, not to feel sorry for her "while she missed many good things having a family, she also missed many bad and hard things also".
James Edwin and Emma stayed in Smithfield after they were married in 1899.
They taught school and helped James Bussey after his wife and two youngest children moved to Los Angeles. They considered joining Albert and Lawrence in the wholesale
produce business, but they did not like the lifestyle of Southern California. They later moved to the Boise Valley in Idaho near her parents and remained there for the rest of their lives. They kept in close touch with their extended family and enjoyed many happy visits with all of them. They had one daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit.
James Edwin Shorten is buried in Nampa, Idaho.
A James Shorten is found in the 1900 census of Smithfield, Utah, listed as living alone and as a farmer. His family tell us that he refused to go to California with his
children and later Hannah went there anyway. He was a very stubborn man. He later followed his family to Los Angeles.
Van Ness also said all of the children were college graduates. Some were school teachers. Annie Laurie Shorten Curtiss was the principal of a school in Glendale, California, until her retirement.
James Bussy Shorten died 20 May 1914, and is buried in the Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He was 74 years old. Hannah died 24 November, 1919 and is buried in the same cemetery near him. She was 72 years old.
In 1989, the grave of James' brother, John Bussy Shorten, was found in the Salt Lake City, Utah Cemetery. Other Shorten family members are buried near him. His Mother, Elizabeth Bussy Shorten Robson,s grave is also near by. Just when she reached Utah is not known. Jobe Hill states in his journal that he met her in 1867 in Salt Lake
City.
This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis county, Utah. She passed away 25 May 1986. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of
John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information.
(Oct 1994)
James Edwin and Emma lived in Smithfield until 1908. They were there when Hannah took her small children and moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Her husband James Bussy Shorten, refused to go with her so she went anyway.
Emma did his laundry, etc. and helped him all she could. He had the reputation among his family of being very stubborn. He stayed in his home in Smithfield for several
years but finally joined his family in Los Angeles.
Grandma Hannah always said if she could get her children through January, February and March, she would be able to keep them for another year. Hannah loved to memorize parts in plays and loved to act. Lawrence travelled to California when he was twenty five years old. He was just
five feet five inches tall and looked very young. He always joked about being able to
travel for half fare because he looked so young. He enjoyed coming to Utah and Idaho to visit his cousins, and really enjoyed fishing with them. He had sparkling blue eyes and was about the same size as his Grandfather, William Thacker.
We contacted Winifred Shorten Farrell Short in Huntington Beach, California. She is the daughter of Lawrence Shorten and she has been an invaluable help in gathering pictures and some of Hannah's history. She put us in touch with James Edwin's grand daughter, Van Ness Moffit Mosman in Salem, Oregon and also with Barbara Faries Simpson, grand daughter of Albert Shorten. Barbara is the daughter of Margaret Lois Shorten Faries and she lives in San Marino, California.
Winifred Shorten Farrell Short told us that only three of Hannah's children had descendants:
James Edwin had one daughter, Emma Irene.
Albert had two daughters;
Alice Van Ness
Margaret Lois.
Lawrence and his wife, Josephine, had eight children:
James
Phyllis
Lawrence Jr.
Albert
Winifred
Harriette
Barbara
Anna Catherine.
Hannah's children have stayed close to one another . They are a family of achievers.
Van Ness Moffit Mosman has many choice memories of her Grand father, James Edwin and his wife Emma Flack Shorten. She remembers that both of her grandparents were school teachers for a time before moving to the Boise Valley in
August 1908.
Her Grandfather, James Edwin didn't get Scarlet Fever in his childhood, but he contracted the disease when his daughter, Irene, was young. He was very ill. It settled
in his thumb and it swelled up terribly and had to be lanced several times.
Van Ness's Mother Irene, had Rheumatic Fever as a child and she remembered her Father reading to her by the hour from the American Boy. She adored her Father.
Van Ness M. Mosman recounts the story that when James Edwin was a little boy, his family lived by some Indians. (This was probably while they lived in Smithfield, Utah). He had beautiful red hair and one of the Indian women wanted him very badly because of his red hair. His wife had red hair also, and so did their only daughter, Irene, and their only grand daughter, Van Ness. Van Ness has three grandchildren with red hair, but her children's hair is brown.
Van Ness M. Mosman also remembers going to Hagerman, Idaho, to visit her cousins, the family of John and Elizabeth Thacker Penfold who still have descendants
there. She remembers her Aunt Annie Laurie as a very beautiful lady who lived in the family home at 1616 Donaldson Street in Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign on the
hillside was visible from her home.
Hannah's son, Arthur was engaged to be married and his fiancee died before the wedding could take place. Somehow, the bride-to-be did not have the ring yet and Aunt Van Ness ended up with it. She gave it to my Mother, Irene, when she was there in 1926. My Mother wore it with her wedding ring for years. She had it incorporated
into a ring with other diamonds from the family and I have it now. I really treasure it as a wonderful keepsake." (Van Ness M. Mosman)
James Edwin worked for the Studebaker company selling wagons and buggies for some time in the Boise Valley. His only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, inherited the Shorten home and property in Smithfield, Utah. Irene said there was a brick kiln on the property. She sold the property to a developer in the 1970s.
Irene's only daughter Van Ness, remembers Uncle Ambrose coming to Nampa to visit and how kind he was to her. He entertained Van Ness by building fantastic houses out of Dominoes. He would stand them on end and then add a second and third story to the house. He had a coupe with a rumble seat and he took her for many rides, him up front driving and her riding in the rumble seat. She thought he was very
handsome. He looked and acted like the actor, Gary Cooper. His wife, Aunt Libby, became mentally ill and spent her last years in the mental hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho.
It was so sad for him. His dear wife didn't recognize him and it grieved him a lot. He resembled his brother, Lawrence and they both resembled their Mother.
Albert and Lawrence invited James Edwin to come to Los Angeles and go in with them in the produce business. But he preferred the lifestyle in Idaho so he declined the offer. James Edwin was a very conservative man and very frugal. He saved his money and during the Depression of the 1930s, he loaned money to people who couldn't get a loan from the banks. He was greatly respected by all who knew him. He had a stroke in 1932 and couldn't speak from then until he passed away in 1935. It was terrible for him, he was such a bright man and very hard on his dear wife, Emma. Van Ness remembers that her Aunt Van Ness for whom she was named, had blonde hair and was very attractive. She lived the life of a socialite in Los Angeles. Her husband was involved in the movie business and that was the circle they travelled in.
She married twice, once when she was very young and that didn't work out. Van Ness can't remember his name, but she has the wedding and engagement rings her Aunt Van Ness had from that marriage.
Aunt Van Ness married George Pierson whom she later was separated from. Her letters to Irene mentioned that she was at the "ranch". In 1945 we visited the family in Los Angeles and at that time she was living in a large elegant home. She had beautiful things around her. She badly needed an operation for years for a tumor. But she was a Christian Scientist and so she lived with it and never sought medical treatment.
Aunt Van Ness had a lovely large diamond ring. After she passed away, they held an estate sale and we purchased that ring at the auction at the Los Angeles courthouse.
My parents attended the sale and bought it for me. The judge let it go far below the appraisal price because it was "family" that was bidding. Several jewelry buyers
were bidding but the judge thought family should come first. The ring is a marquis cut and is set with 24 small diamonds around it. The ring is platinum in a kind of old
fashioned setting. Uncle Albert's daughter, Alice, told my mother that Aunt Van Ness always kept it in a locked box so when we received notice of the sale, we knew what was in the box. I always wear the ring and enjoy it and think of her. I don't think her later years were very happy. (Van Ness Moffit Mosman)
Albert and his wife Iola had two daughters, Alice Van Ness and Margaret Lois. He and his wife travelled to Nampa to attend the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of James Edwin and Emma. Their daughter Margaret was with them.
The children of James Bussey and Hannah Thacker Shorten are:
Born Married Died
William Henry 1867 15 Apr 1878
James Edwin 5 Jan 1869 13 Sep 1899 26 Dec 1935
Emma Flack
Albert 1 Aug 1871 1894 18 Feb 1947
Margaret Anna Parks
Ambrose 22 Jun 1874 18 Feb 1940
Fanny Elizabeth Stalker
Lawrence 6 Oct 1876 25 Aug 2 Oct 1901
Josephine Eloy Juarez
Annie Laurie 13 Nov 1878 27 Nov 1972
William C. Curtiss
Isabella 17 Nov 1880 1893
Born Married Died
Arthur Frederick 2 Dec 1884 27 Aug 1922
Ethel Van Ness 13 Nov 1893 3 Apr 1970
George W Pierson
-This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information. (Oct 1994)
--------------
His older brother: John Bussy Shorten
Child not listed below: Isabella Shorten
According to the death certificate of James Bussy Shorten, he was born 17 March 1840 in England. The town of his birth has not yet been determined. He was the son of Henry Shorten and Elizabeth Bussy Shorten. James had an older brother, John Bussy Shorten, born in 1835. Their grandparents were John L. Shorten and Esther Chestney Shorten, who were born in Fakenham, Norfolk, England. This was the birthplace of Henry, also.
Family tradition says that John and Esther did not approve of the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth. Henry's parents asked him to come home for a visit and while he was there, he became ill and died. Elizabeth was left alone to care for her two sons.
After a time, she booked passage for America , deciding to start a new life there. The three left Liverpool, England, on Sunday 25 May 1856 on the ship, "Horizon". Though not LDS themselves, they traveled with a large group of LDS passengers who were immigrating to the United States, hoping to eventually reach their "Zion" in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
Ship emigration records show 856 Latter Day Saint passengers under the leadership of Edward Martin. The ship docked in Boston harbor on the 8th of July 1856.
Family tradition says that the boys Mother, Elizabeth, married a James Robson while on the voyage. John and James weren't very happy about this and decided to join with the LDS group as it made its way to Iowa City by rail arriving there on 8 July 1856.
The boys joined the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. On the roster, John is listed as 20 years and James as 14. According to his birth date, James should have been listed as 16. Perhaps he had a reason for giving a younger age. The handcart means of travel was a new experiment that year in getting large numbers of LDS who wanted to reach the Salt Lake valley in a faster, less expensive way. Handcarts were used from 1856 to 1860. Three companies successfully reached the valley that year, but both the 4th company led by James C. Willie, and the 5th company, led by Edward Martin, met tragedy.
The Martin Handcart Company started from Iowa City, Iowa, on 28 July 1856, with 576 souls, 146 handcarts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, 50 cows and beef cattle. But because of long delays, breakdowns in the handcarts (many of them were built with green wood), they didn't leave Florence, Nebraska until August 25th. Quoting from the book, "Handcarts to Zion", by LeRoy and Ann Hafen: "The early winter and its exceptional ferocity, the unduly late start from Britain and from frontier outposts of America, the delays in procuring equipment, and the Saints over-zealous faith in a Divine Intervention to save them from the results of a lack of caution and errors in judgement--all these are acceptable reasons for the sad fate of these western wayfarers." (page 41)
John B. Shorten is listed on two rosters, the Martin Handcart Company and also as a passenger in Captain John A. Hunt's ox team which followed closely behind
the Company. James later told his children some of his experiences pulling and pushing hand carts through the cold and snow. He said at one time he and two other men were pushing.
The men on either side of him froze to death. The warmth of their bodies saved him as he was in the middle. The early deep snows and depletion of their food supplies
took a terrible toll. About 135 to 150 members perished and many more were maimed. The Hafen book calls the fate of the two late handcart companies "the worst disaster in the history of western migration." Teams from Salt Lake City were sent out to rescue them when word reached
Brigham Young.
In the Daughter of Utah Pioneers book, "Chronicles of Courage" Vol 3. Page 274, the autobiography of Dan Jones is quoted. He tells about this rescue and how he and other scouts came upon them. Dan was appointed to pick some men to stay at Devil's Gate, Wyoming, to guard the carts, livestock, and belongings of the companies while the suffering people were hurried on to the valley in wagons for care. Seventeen men from the Hunt and Hodgett ox teams were recruited for this duty. John Shorten's name is on this list.
The ordeal these men went through in the remaining five months of that horrible winter is beyond belief and a story for the history of John B. Shorten when it is written. The Saints back in the valley were worshipping in the Tabernacle with President Brigham Young when the Martin Handcart Company drew near to Salt Lake City. It
was Sunday 30 November 1856. When news was brought of the imminent arrival of the 5th company, President Young said to the congregation: "When these persons arrive, I do not want to see them put in houses by themselves. I want to have them distributed among the families that have good and comfortable houses. And I wish all the Sisters now before me, and all who know and can, to nurse and wait upon the newcomers and prudently administer food and medicine.
To speak upon these things is a part of my religion, for it pertains to taking care of the Saints. The afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the Sisters to go home and prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and to wash them and nurse them up. You know that I would give more for a dish of pudding and milk, or a baked potato and salt, were I in the situation of those persons who have just come in, than I would for all your prayers, though you were to stay here all afternoon and pray. Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and pudding and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place on this occasion; give every duty its proper time and place...". One wonders who took in young James that day?
James stayed in Salt Lake City and worked for a time at the Lion House for Brigham Young. The Lion House is just west of the Beehive House on South Temple.The Beehive House was the residence of Brigham Young. The Lion House was completed in 1856 and was the home built for his other wives. Both structures are still standing and in use today. A staff of about 25 people, young and old, were kept busy to help with the gardening, maintenance, etc. Though James was uneducated, Brigham Young praised him for his honesty. He left money about to test him and later told him so.
It is not known just when young James met Hannah Thacker, but were attracted to Rachel Tonks Thacker. They had crossed the ocean in the ship "Wellfleet" also in
1856.
The Thacker family boarded the ship, Wellfleet, in Liverpool, England, on May 31, 1856 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1856. Their money was about gone so they travelled on to New York City where William found work as a locksmith.
They remained in New York City for a few years, and then moved on to Philadelphia where both parents worked in a buckle factory until they had saved enough money to continue West. The family consisted of six children at the time they arrived in Salt Lake City. They had buried three children and their adopted son before leaving England. They had three more children in New York and Philadelphia, one child died in Philadelphia.
Hannah was the oldest living child. She was born 22 March 1847 in Darlaston, Staffordshire, England. She was fourteen when they crossed the plains and a big help to her Mother. She walked most of the way. Her story before her marriage is told in the history of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. James and Hannah were married sometime before 1865, the exact date has not been found yet. James says they lived for a time in a "cave", probably a dugout. ( dirt home dug and built into the side of a hill). This was a common practice among the pioneers and many lived in dugouts and some in wagon boxes until they were able to build a home. The Thacker family had lived in a dugout for a time before William was able to build a two room adobe home on the same lot as the dugout.
In the spring of 1864, The Thacker family moved to Cache Valley in northern Utah to see if they could better their condition. Hannah was 17 and decided to stay in Salt Lake City. Perhaps she was working. Perhaps she was already married or close to it. She lived in her parents adobe house until she was able to sell it and send the first
payment (a yoke of oxen) to her family. Family history says James and Hannah lived for a short time in a log cabin at Bingham Canyon. They left in March of 1866 to try
their luck in Cache Valley. They went to Clarkston where Hannah's parents were living and also her Mother's sister, Susannah Tonks Hill and Susannah's husband, Aaron Hill. The
Shorten's moved in with the Hill family. The Hills had a son, Jobe, who in later life wrote a most interesting journal. He wrote about the Shortens moving in with them in
this way---"As the Shorten family was young, they lived in the same house with us and invited young people to come and spend the evening with us. The result was we had a
few nice entertainments in which I sang my first song in public, entitled "The Poor Sailor Boy". Jobe goes on to say that James Shorten and his Father became very good
friends and made several trips together to the canyons to cut wood and haul it in to sell.
In the month of June came the news that a large band of Shoshone Indians were coming toward Cache Valley. All were told to move to the larger settlements. Jobe says his Father traded his land and lot in Clarkston for a single room log house three miles southeast of the Smithfield ferry. Smithfield was about 12 miles from Clarkston. William Thacker made his home on a gravelly flat up on the creek two or three hundred yards east of the town of Smithfield. James Shorten bought two lots one block
east and one block north of the Hill family. All nine of the Shorten children were born in Smithfield except James Edwin, who was born in Clarkston.
Their children are: William Henry, James Edwin, Albert, Ambrose, Lawrence, Annie Laurie, Isabella, Arthur Fredrick and Ethel Van Ness.
An interesting story as to why James Edwin was born in Clarkston--Hannah was home alone with her baby, William. She was in the seventh month of her pregnancy.
It was early January and her husband was away working. She was afraid to be alone so her brother-in-law came and took them to his home in Clarkston. The wagon ride was very rough and she delivered James prematurely. He was wrapped in cotton and kept warm on the oven door. James Edwin grew up extremely close to his older brother, William. William died at the age of 12 and this caused young James Edwin to grieve deeply. The seventh child, Isabella, also died young at the age of 13 in 1893.
Grasshoppers came in great numbers the summer of 1867 and ate all of their crops. Both Aaron Hill and James had to travel and live several months away from home in search of work. Hannah's parents decided to try their fortune elsewhere. They moved first to Peoa, Summit county, and later to Heber City, in Wasatch county. They finally settled just west of Buysville, now Daniels, just south of Heber City. Buysville was a branch of the Charleston Ward.
Whether any of the children of James and Hannah were baptized into the LDS church is not yet known. There are blessing records for Albert, Ambrose, Annie Laurie and Isabella in the Smithfield Ward records. Annie Laurie lived to be 94 years old and in her last years, her short term memory was failing, but she still loved to sing the
Mormon hymns she had been taught as a child.
Whether this was in her home or in the LDS Sunday School and Primary is not known. The 1870 census for Smithfield, Utah, lists James Bussey Shorten as a saw miller. He and Aaron Hill operated a sawmill on shares.
In 1894, Hannah took a trip to Wasatch County to visit her Father and some of her Thacker relatives living in the area. Her youngest brother, John, was getting married
on the 19th of December. For the occasion, a picture was taken of William Thacker, his son John and four of his daughters, Hannah, Ann Maria, Isabelle and Elizabeth (Lizzie). This picture is now much prized by the family and is the only picture of Hannah the family had until we were gathering information for this book. She was a beautiful, dignified cultured woman. Hannah's Mother had died the year before in 1893 and so she was not in the original picture.
The Thorne studio in Vernal, Utah later did some photographic magic and using this photo, added the missing family members; their Mother Rachel Tonks, and the sons, William Timothy, Charles Edwin and Frederick Albert. In a letter to Chloe Thacker Slade, Hannah's youngest child, Van Ness Shorten Pierson, wrote that the Shorten family moved to Los Angeles when she was between three and 6 years old. Lawrence, (child #5) says he was in his early twenties when they moved. So sometime after 1896, the family did move. Winifred Shorten Farrell Short, daughter of Lawrence, stated in a letter that, as she recalls being told, Albert was the first Shorten family member to move to Los Angeles. The parents and others came later. Albert later owned the Los Angeles Preserving Company and was also successful in real estate investments.
Lawrence became a merchant. He was the proprietor of the Shorten Produce Company located in the wholesale district of Los Angeles. Both Albert and Lawrence could be said to be pioneers in the business growth of Los Angeles.
James Edwin Shorten's only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, remembered that her mother told her that Hannah moved to Los Angeles with her young children, Arthur and Van Ness when her older daughter, Annie Laurie was attending Teachers College there. Hannah worked in a cannery to support her children. Hannah had beautiful
bright blue eyes and a lovely singing voice and was a happy person by nature.
Hannah told her daughter in law, Emma, not to feel sorry for her "while she missed many good things having a family, she also missed many bad and hard things also".
James Edwin and Emma stayed in Smithfield after they were married in 1899.
They taught school and helped James Bussey after his wife and two youngest children moved to Los Angeles. They considered joining Albert and Lawrence in the wholesale
produce business, but they did not like the lifestyle of Southern California. They later moved to the Boise Valley in Idaho near her parents and remained there for the rest of their lives. They kept in close touch with their extended family and enjoyed many happy visits with all of them. They had one daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit.
James Edwin Shorten is buried in Nampa, Idaho.
A James Shorten is found in the 1900 census of Smithfield, Utah, listed as living alone and as a farmer. His family tell us that he refused to go to California with his
children and later Hannah went there anyway. He was a very stubborn man. He later followed his family to Los Angeles.
Van Ness also said all of the children were college graduates. Some were school teachers. Annie Laurie Shorten Curtiss was the principal of a school in Glendale, California, until her retirement.
James Bussy Shorten died 20 May 1914, and is buried in the Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He was 74 years old. Hannah died 24 November, 1919 and is buried in the same cemetery near him. She was 72 years old.
In 1989, the grave of James' brother, John Bussy Shorten, was found in the Salt Lake City, Utah Cemetery. Other Shorten family members are buried near him. His Mother, Elizabeth Bussy Shorten Robson,s grave is also near by. Just when she reached Utah is not known. Jobe Hill states in his journal that he met her in 1867 in Salt Lake
City.
This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis county, Utah. She passed away 25 May 1986. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of
John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information.
(Oct 1994)
James Edwin and Emma lived in Smithfield until 1908. They were there when Hannah took her small children and moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Her husband James Bussy Shorten, refused to go with her so she went anyway.
Emma did his laundry, etc. and helped him all she could. He had the reputation among his family of being very stubborn. He stayed in his home in Smithfield for several
years but finally joined his family in Los Angeles.
Grandma Hannah always said if she could get her children through January, February and March, she would be able to keep them for another year. Hannah loved to memorize parts in plays and loved to act. Lawrence travelled to California when he was twenty five years old. He was just
five feet five inches tall and looked very young. He always joked about being able to
travel for half fare because he looked so young. He enjoyed coming to Utah and Idaho to visit his cousins, and really enjoyed fishing with them. He had sparkling blue eyes and was about the same size as his Grandfather, William Thacker.
We contacted Winifred Shorten Farrell Short in Huntington Beach, California. She is the daughter of Lawrence Shorten and she has been an invaluable help in gathering pictures and some of Hannah's history. She put us in touch with James Edwin's grand daughter, Van Ness Moffit Mosman in Salem, Oregon and also with Barbara Faries Simpson, grand daughter of Albert Shorten. Barbara is the daughter of Margaret Lois Shorten Faries and she lives in San Marino, California.
Winifred Shorten Farrell Short told us that only three of Hannah's children had descendants:
James Edwin had one daughter, Emma Irene.
Albert had two daughters;
Alice Van Ness
Margaret Lois.
Lawrence and his wife, Josephine, had eight children:
James
Phyllis
Lawrence Jr.
Albert
Winifred
Harriette
Barbara
Anna Catherine.
Hannah's children have stayed close to one another . They are a family of achievers.
Van Ness Moffit Mosman has many choice memories of her Grand father, James Edwin and his wife Emma Flack Shorten. She remembers that both of her grandparents were school teachers for a time before moving to the Boise Valley in
August 1908.
Her Grandfather, James Edwin didn't get Scarlet Fever in his childhood, but he contracted the disease when his daughter, Irene, was young. He was very ill. It settled
in his thumb and it swelled up terribly and had to be lanced several times.
Van Ness's Mother Irene, had Rheumatic Fever as a child and she remembered her Father reading to her by the hour from the American Boy. She adored her Father.
Van Ness M. Mosman recounts the story that when James Edwin was a little boy, his family lived by some Indians. (This was probably while they lived in Smithfield, Utah). He had beautiful red hair and one of the Indian women wanted him very badly because of his red hair. His wife had red hair also, and so did their only daughter, Irene, and their only grand daughter, Van Ness. Van Ness has three grandchildren with red hair, but her children's hair is brown.
Van Ness M. Mosman also remembers going to Hagerman, Idaho, to visit her cousins, the family of John and Elizabeth Thacker Penfold who still have descendants
there. She remembers her Aunt Annie Laurie as a very beautiful lady who lived in the family home at 1616 Donaldson Street in Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign on the
hillside was visible from her home.
Hannah's son, Arthur was engaged to be married and his fiancee died before the wedding could take place. Somehow, the bride-to-be did not have the ring yet and Aunt Van Ness ended up with it. She gave it to my Mother, Irene, when she was there in 1926. My Mother wore it with her wedding ring for years. She had it incorporated
into a ring with other diamonds from the family and I have it now. I really treasure it as a wonderful keepsake." (Van Ness M. Mosman)
James Edwin worked for the Studebaker company selling wagons and buggies for some time in the Boise Valley. His only daughter, Emma Irene Shorten Moffit, inherited the Shorten home and property in Smithfield, Utah. Irene said there was a brick kiln on the property. She sold the property to a developer in the 1970s.
Irene's only daughter Van Ness, remembers Uncle Ambrose coming to Nampa to visit and how kind he was to her. He entertained Van Ness by building fantastic houses out of Dominoes. He would stand them on end and then add a second and third story to the house. He had a coupe with a rumble seat and he took her for many rides, him up front driving and her riding in the rumble seat. She thought he was very
handsome. He looked and acted like the actor, Gary Cooper. His wife, Aunt Libby, became mentally ill and spent her last years in the mental hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho.
It was so sad for him. His dear wife didn't recognize him and it grieved him a lot. He resembled his brother, Lawrence and they both resembled their Mother.
Albert and Lawrence invited James Edwin to come to Los Angeles and go in with them in the produce business. But he preferred the lifestyle in Idaho so he declined the offer. James Edwin was a very conservative man and very frugal. He saved his money and during the Depression of the 1930s, he loaned money to people who couldn't get a loan from the banks. He was greatly respected by all who knew him. He had a stroke in 1932 and couldn't speak from then until he passed away in 1935. It was terrible for him, he was such a bright man and very hard on his dear wife, Emma. Van Ness remembers that her Aunt Van Ness for whom she was named, had blonde hair and was very attractive. She lived the life of a socialite in Los Angeles. Her husband was involved in the movie business and that was the circle they travelled in.
She married twice, once when she was very young and that didn't work out. Van Ness can't remember his name, but she has the wedding and engagement rings her Aunt Van Ness had from that marriage.
Aunt Van Ness married George Pierson whom she later was separated from. Her letters to Irene mentioned that she was at the "ranch". In 1945 we visited the family in Los Angeles and at that time she was living in a large elegant home. She had beautiful things around her. She badly needed an operation for years for a tumor. But she was a Christian Scientist and so she lived with it and never sought medical treatment.
Aunt Van Ness had a lovely large diamond ring. After she passed away, they held an estate sale and we purchased that ring at the auction at the Los Angeles courthouse.
My parents attended the sale and bought it for me. The judge let it go far below the appraisal price because it was "family" that was bidding. Several jewelry buyers
were bidding but the judge thought family should come first. The ring is a marquis cut and is set with 24 small diamonds around it. The ring is platinum in a kind of old
fashioned setting. Uncle Albert's daughter, Alice, told my mother that Aunt Van Ness always kept it in a locked box so when we received notice of the sale, we knew what was in the box. I always wear the ring and enjoy it and think of her. I don't think her later years were very happy. (Van Ness Moffit Mosman)
Albert and his wife Iola had two daughters, Alice Van Ness and Margaret Lois. He and his wife travelled to Nampa to attend the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of James Edwin and Emma. Their daughter Margaret was with them.
The children of James Bussey and Hannah Thacker Shorten are:
Born Married Died
William Henry 1867 15 Apr 1878
James Edwin 5 Jan 1869 13 Sep 1899 26 Dec 1935
Emma Flack
Albert 1 Aug 1871 1894 18 Feb 1947
Margaret Anna Parks
Ambrose 22 Jun 1874 18 Feb 1940
Fanny Elizabeth Stalker
Lawrence 6 Oct 1876 25 Aug 2 Oct 1901
Josephine Eloy Juarez
Annie Laurie 13 Nov 1878 27 Nov 1972
William C. Curtiss
Isabella 17 Nov 1880 1893
Born Married Died
Arthur Frederick 2 Dec 1884 27 Aug 1922
Ethel Van Ness 13 Nov 1893 3 Apr 1970
George W Pierson
-This history was compiled from notes and records found in the files of Chloe Thacker Slade of Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. She had been corresponding with Winifred Shorten Farrell, a daughter of Lawrence Shorten and grand daughter of James and Hannah. She also had been corresponding with Van Ness Shorten Pierson, Hannah's youngest child. Chloe was the daughter of John and Eliza Winterton Thacker. John is the youngest son of William and Rachel Tonks Thacker. Chloe's daughter in law, Rosalyn Woodward Slade, added to the information. (Oct 1994)
--------------
His older brother: John Bussy Shorten
Child not listed below: Isabella Shorten
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