The Minor Family of Somerset

A Brief History of the George Thomas Cheshire Family. from http:
//ourancestry.com/ches1822.html
George Thomas Cheshire, son of Thomas Cheshire and Priscilla Eva
ns, was borhn in Kensworth, Hertfordshire, England on 15 dec 182
2. When he was eighteen years of age, he married Elizabeth Keys
, daughter of William Keys and Pheobe George of Barton, Bedfords
hire, England. Elizabeth was born 12 May 1820. They were marri
ed 11 June 1841 in Kensworth, Hertfordshire,England. Elizabet
h was 20 years old at the time of their marriage.
George was a tall man with broad shoulders, Grey eyes, and a ste
rn, brusque manner.He talked fast and walked as equally fast
. People meeting him for the firsttime were inclined to thin
g he was angry, but it was just his rapid speech and brusque man
ner which gave this impression. He was in reality a kind and lo
ving man.
Elizabeth, too, was tall and thin, with Brown eyes and a pleasan
t, patient disposition, which hellped her throughout a life of h
ard work andsometimes trouble.
Their marriage was blessed with eight children. Mary Ann,Thoma
s, Susan, Geroge, Eliza, William, Reuben and Elizabeth. They ma
de their home in Bedofrdshire, England where George was a shoema
ker and an expert gardener. As he didn't make enough money at t
hese occupations to support hislarge family Elizabeth operate
d a public house called "The Lion" where they sold drinks and re
freshements in the front of the ground floor of their largere
d brick two-story home. The house was surrounded by large frui
t trees and a small garden. The trees were so close to the hous
e that the children could reach out and pick pears from the upst
airs window.
When she joined the Church, Elizabeth asked the Elders if she sh
ould give up the public house, as she thought it was not quite t
he right business to be in, but they told her itwas her livin
g and to stay with it.
Starting at the age of six, all the girls in the family went t
o school where they learned to braid straw and broughtit home t
o sell. They entered school in the morning, braided eleven yard
s, went home for lunch, came bcak and braided elven more, then w
ent home for tea, returning to braid nine more yards in the even
ing. The entire family hadbut one thought in mind, to work an
d save enough money to bring them to Utah, to the land of Zion w
ith the Saints of God.
The girls worked under constant fear, for if it were discovere
d that they were Mormons, they would be expelled from the schoo
l and the sale of their braid stopped, to say nothing of the slu
rs, jeers, and rotten eggs that they would received from their a
ssociates. Little did their friends know that the L.D.S. meetin
gs and SunDay School were being held in the Cheshire home, for G
eorge and Elizabeth were very religious. George had been conver
ted to t his new Church and baptized on 4 March 1840, the year b
efore they were married. Elizabeth was baptized 24 Nove 1847, a
nd they were very active in the Church. They had no means of tr
aveling as we do toDay, and often they would walk ten miles to c
onference and backagain.
Elizabeth was a very energetic woman, a mother of eight childre
n andproprietress of a business to help support her family, an
d her cooking wasall done in an open fireplace. Yorkshire pudd
ing was a favorite dish, made of a thin batter of milk, eggs an
d flour, which was put in a container and seton the heart, wit
h a roast of beef hung on a wooden string directly over thepudd
ing. The roast would turn around and around on this string, bro
wningthe meat on all sides and the drippings would fall into th
e pudding to flavorit.
When the family had saved enough money, George left for America
, and went to work in New York to save enough to bring his famil
y over. However, theeldest daughter, Mary Ann, who was a favor
ite of her grandmother, was left asmall legacy when her grandmo
ther died, and th