Yellacat Ranch

Tag: Luce

  • Joseph Bates Noble

    I’m reading Joseph Bates Noble: Polygamy and the Temple Lot Case (2009). Goodreads says:

    “In 1892, a deposition was taken in a Salt Lake City courtroom to gather evidence in a land ownership battle between two offshoot branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) The dispute centered on ownership of land purchased to build a temple, known as the Temple Lot property, in Independence, Missouri. Although a key witness at the deposition, Joseph Bates Noble had little knowledge of land purchases dating back to 1832, yet his testimony was critical for validation of standing for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS) or for the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). In fact, at the age of 82, Noble had been thrust into the limelight of LDS Church history because of his claim to have presided over the first polygamous marriage of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith.

    “Noble officiated at the marriage in 1841 that united his sister-in-law with Smith, an event now cited as the beginning of the practice of polygamy in the church. His testimony would either validate Joseph Smith’s polygamist background for the Temple Lot Church or expose his recollections as falsehoods for the RLDS Church.”

    Fun book, but marred for me by the tiniest of flaws — author David L. Clark doesn’t know who Anna Noble was. He mentions her as “an enigmatic child” when discussing the organization of the pioneer company that included the Noble family (p. 117). He says her Noble was a captain of the 1st Fifty in Jedidiah Grant’s company. His wife Mary Adeline (Beaman) Noble and other relatives, including Anna, travelled with Josiah Miller, captain of the 5th Ten. The company left Winter Quarters on June 12, 1847 and arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on October 2 and 10, 1847.

    In a footnote, the author gives a bit of additional information” (p. 189n4). Anna “appears as a member of the family in the list of those traveling from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City (‘Journal History’, June 11, 1847).” She is said to have been born at Montrose, Iowa. That entry shows her “brother” Edward Noble, the same age, was also born at Montrose. “Her name also appears on Noble’s list of his family in Salt Lake City in 1848 as well as in the 1850 Utah census, where she is eight years old and identified as a member of the Noble family.”

    But then Clark goes off the rails. He identifies Anna with Susanna Ann Noble, daughter of Enoch Barker Noble and Margaret McGrew. He says Enoch and Joseph Noble were “distant cousins”. I’ve provided links here to this other branch of the Noble family on FamilySearch.org, although the information there is not as complete as that given by Clark. For example, Clark says Susanna was born in 1842 in Montrose, Iowa but FamilySearch has her born 1844 in New Brunswick, Canada. Clark seems to be using information for Anna Noble and attributing it to Susanna Noble. There is no indication at FamilySearch that Enoch Noble and his wife were at Montrose, Iowa. Clark says Susanna married James Emerson Hall in 1861 when she was nineteen. He doesn’t know, he says, what took her from Salt Lake City back to Iowa. In FamilySearch, the two women are different (unmerged). “Sue Anna”, the wife of James Hall, gives birth to three of her four children before her supposed 1861 marriage.

    As a descendant of Anna Noble, this is familiar territory for me. So, how did Clark go so far astray? The Mormon Overland Travel database correctly lists Anna as Anna Noble, “the orphan daughter of John and Elizabeth Quamby who was adopted by Joseph Bates Noble.” She married first, Williams Washington Camp in 1857, divorced him in 1858, and married secondly, Wilford Luce, about 1861.

    She received a commemorative pin in 1897 as one of the pioneers of 1847. The Book of the Pioneers shows her as Annie Noble Luce, born in England and living in Big Cottonwood, Utah (1897, Book 1, p. 410). According to her statement, “I was born in England. Am the daughter of John and Elizabeth Quamsby, who died in Nauvoo leaving me an orphan at the age of four years. I was adopted by Joseph B. Noble and emigrated to Utah in his company, Oct. 10th, 1847. (signed) Annie Noble Luce.” Her death certificate and gravestone also show her name as Annie Noble Luce.

    Annie’s statement tells us exactly who she was. And, the surviving evidence supports her statement. John Quarmby was apparently an English convert, seemingly a recent immigrant in 1845 when he died at Nauvoo.

    I’m not aware of any evidence about Annie’s mother beyond Annie’s own later statement. It seems almost certain Elizabeth Quarmby died sometime before June 1847 when Anna appears in the Noble household. Noble was bishop of Nauvoo 5th Ward from 1842. Mormon bishops had responsibility for the poor in their ward. Probably, Annie’s mother was living in the 5th Ward when she died. The responsibility to care for Annie would have fallen on Joseph Noble. If (perhaps) Annie’s mother died during the exodus from Nauvoo, it might not have been possible in the general confusion to find another family to take in Annie. Mormons began leaving Nauvoo in February 1846. The Noble family left by April. So, we can say Elizabeth Quarmby perhaps, maybe, probably between about February and April 1846.*

    I can’t say how or why author David Clark got it so wrong, or why he thought there is any mystery. I made a concerted effort to find him, but no luck. I wish I could have passed along this information privately and now be linking to his blog post instead of writing my own.

    * Although Annie’s statement says her parents died at Nauvoo, some descendants believe her mother either died at Winter Quarters or on the way to Winter Quarters. Although the timing would be a bit different, the story remains the same. Noble was bishop of Winter Quarters 13th Ward, then when the settlement was reorganized, bishop of the new 20th Ward. This would change the date but not the basic story.

  • Champaign Baptist Church

    My great grandmother Essie (Wilson) Luce was raised in the Baptist church. She married Wilford Luce in 1898 in Champaign, Illinois, then moved west to Wyoming to take up life on his ranch.

    I was curious about the church where they got married. I was fairly certain it would have been a Baptist church, but Essie later became an Episcopalian and her mother Elizabeth (Mallory) Wilson later became a Methodist, so maybe not.

    Tp find out, I checked Essie’s marriage record. I have a copy, but if I didn’t already have one I could have looked for a copy at FamilySearch.org. It’s there, already linked to her profile. The certificate is signed by W. H. Stedman, a minister. A quick Google search tells me he was minister at the 1st Baptist Church in Urbana. With some additional searching, I find the church was organized in 1838 and Rev. Stedman was called in 1875.

    Now I see a problem. The Wilsons lived in Champaign. This church was in Urbana. The two cities are close neighbors but it doesn’t seem likely someone would travel from one to the other to go to church, particularly not a common denomination like Baptist. Okay, maybe if the person and the church were both close to the boundary.

    I seem to have a problem but it’s easily resolved. A bit more searching and I find Rev. Stedman resigned at Urbana in 1882. He served several other churches, then was called to the 1st Baptist Church at Champaign in 1894. So, yes. Exactly right to have officiated at Essie’s wedding in 1898.

    Finally, can I find a picture of the church? Yes, but sadly it was demolished in 1980. If I had asked this question in my early 20s I would have had a chance to travel there, and see it in person.

    According to the The Biographical Record of Champaign County Ill. (1900), the new church was Pastor Stedman’s project (p. 196). It took three years; two years of persuading the congregation and a year in building, at a cost of $22,000. That would mean the church was completed about 1897. It would have been relatively new when Essie was married there in 1898.

    You can see a picture of the church here, from the digital collection of the University of Illinois. The Gothic Revival style is no surprise. The style was a peripheral effect of the Oxford Movement in England and America; an Anglo-Catholic renewal movement that idealized traditional liturgies, architectures, and theologies in a way that often equated embracing tradition with social standing.

    It’s no coincidence that Essie’s mother moved from Baptist to Methodist, and Essie moved from Baptist to Episcopalian. In two words: upward mobility.

  • Harke Luse

    Harke Luse was named on a list of men able to bear arms at Scituate, Massachusetts in 1643 (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England (1857), 191). The list, dated August 1643, specifies “The names of all males that are able to bear arms from 16 years old to 60 years, within the several townships.”

    From this we can deduce Harke Luse was born after about 1583 and before about 1627. Beyond this, nothing is known. Everything else stated in various sources in speculative.

    He might have been the Hercules, servant of Elder William Hatch, who sued his master in 1641 over a question of how long he was bound to serve. His name on the 1643 list appears immediately following William Hatch and his son Walter Hatch. If Hercules was Harke, he probably came to America with William Hatch on the Castle in 1638.

    Harke Luse appears in Scituate in 1643, a little more than 20 years before Henry Luce appears there in 1666. These facts suggest Harke might have been father or uncle of Henry Luce, but the relationship is speculative. Justin Durand has suggested Harke might have died in the flu epidemic that swept through New England in 1647, accounting for his absence from later records.

    Charles Banks’ Theory

    Banks speculated the name “Harke” might have been a copyist’s error for “Darke”; that he might have been an otherwise undocumented son of Abraham Luce and Cicely (Darke) Luce, of Horton, Gloucestershire; and that he might have been the father or uncle of immigrant Henry Luce who appeared in Scituate 20 years later.

    The Internet has confidently mangled Banks’ theory in various ways. It’s worth looking at what he actually said.

    “The name of Luce in this country is confined exclusively to the descendants of Henry Luce of Tisbury and with one exception, no other person of the name Luce settled in New England prior of 1750. That exception exists in the person of one “Harke” Luce who was a resident of Scituate in 1643, twenty years before the appearance of our Henry Luce in the same town. This singular baptismal name of “Harke”, which the author now believes to have been a copyist’s error for a similar name, has proven to be a clue to an English family of the name of Luce living in the west of England in 1600 near the border of Wales. The name of “Harke” Luce appears but once in the records of Scituate in a list of those able to bear arms in 1643, and an examination of thousands of English documents fails to disclose it, or one near enough like it to be mistaken for it except Harker or Hawke. In the county of England the family name of Luce has been found, namely: Gloucestershire, which borders on Wales and whose chief city Bristol, the great seaport from which so many emigrants sailed for the future homes in New England. [*”The author during recent visits to England found Luce families in Cornwall, Devon and Kent, all of them having Henry as a Christian name. Scituate, Mass. was largely settled by emigrants from Kent and in the parish of Lyminge that county is recorded in 1616 the marriage of a Henry Luce. It is here note as a reference for future investigators, but the family in Gloucestershire seems to offer the more probable solution.] A family of Luce lived in the parish of Horton, county of Gloucester, as early as 1550 and they are found there and in a number of surrounding parishes for a century and a half afterwards. Of this Horton family one Abraham Luce married 8 Oct. 1604 Cicely Darke, and this name is believe by the author to be the name originally copied in the Scituate records as “Harke”, and Darke Luce of 1643 is offered as the possible progenitor [emphasis added] of Henry Luce of the same town in 1666. If not, he was a probable near relative who influenced the migration of Henry Luce and all the surrounding circumstances make this the nearest probable origin of the Vineyard family in the matter of their English home. It should be stated, however, that Abraham and Cicely (Darke) Luce had no child named Darke and the name of Darke does not occur on the parish records of Horton. The similarity of the names, Harke and Darke, is too great to be ignored when combined with the rare name of Luce, and while other researches so far made have failed to uncover a Henry Luce in the parish of Horton, the adjoining parishes still unsearched may reveal the lost record of his baptism.” (Charles E. Banks, History of Martha’s Vineyard (1925, reprinted 1966), 3:247-48.)

    To summarize: Banks noticed another Luce, a man named Harke Luce, in Scituate, Massachusetts (1643) a generation before Henry Luce appeared there (1666). This is the only mention of Harke and the first mention of Henry. Banks’ speculated Henry might have been a son or nephew of Harke, then further speculated that Harke might have been a previously unknown Darke Luce, hypothetical son of Abraham and Cicely (Darke) Luce, of Horton. Banks believed his theory was strengthened, first by a family tradition that immigrant Henry Luce came from Wales (Gloucestershire is on the Welsh border); and secondly by the coincidence of the names Darke and Harke appearing in connection with the rare surname name Luce.

    The downside to his theory, as Banks readily admits, is there is no proof of any person named Darke Luce. Nevertheless, a Darke Luce could have been born at Horton in the period 1624-1653, for which there are no records. Harke Luce must have been at least 16 in 1643 to be able to bear arms, That would place his birth in or before 1627. Therefore, if there was a Darke Luce and if he was born in Horton, we would put his birth between 1624 and 1627. No other dating will work.

    In support of this identification, Henry named his second son Israel, and had two grandsons named Israel. However, these children might derive their names from Israel Peakes, half-brother of Henry’s wife. The case for Henry’s birth at Horton is supported by Banks’ theory that Arthur Bevan, who settled at West Tisbury in 1677, and was Henry’s neighbor there, came from Yate, four miles from Horton. However, this identification rests reciprocally on Henry being from Horton.

    Caroline Lewis Kardell’s Theory

    Caroline Lewis Kardell, sometime Historian General of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, had a different idea. She thought Harke Luce was probably an otherwise unknown Archelaus Lewis (Caroline Lewis Kardell, letter to Mrs. James E. McCourt, reproduced in Martha E. McCourt and Thomas Luce, The American Descendants of Henry Luce (1991), 10A).

    Quoting: “As for the name Harke Luce at Scituate, Harke is almost certainly a nickname for Archelaus. Because of the aspirated “H” as pronounced in some parts of England, Earle became Hearle, Archelaus became Harkelas, Hercules, etc. I believe that “Hare Luce” was Archelaus Luis. John Lewis (Luis) of Dartmouth and Rochester named his eldest son Archelaus. John was a descendant of George Lewis of Scituate and Barnstable. This particular line from George were all sea-farers. I think George of Scituate has a brother Harke (Archelaus) who was a mariner and came over to Scituate as Captain or crewman on one of the early ships. Scituate records gave George Lewis two full shares. All of the other settlers received one full share. Perhaps George received a second share to hold for his brother “Harke” or “Arck”. Because he was a mariner, he may never have returned from a voyage and so, [sic] disappears from the records….

    “My suspicions regarding the name Luce are two-fold. First, it is so uncommon a name that it is almost certainly not the original surname, but a variant. For instance, the name Bigelow is only traced to one immigrant to Watertown, MA. The name does not exist in England or anywhere else in that form, except for the descendants of the Watertown man. It was Baguley, etc, [sic] in England, but ended up as Bigelow here. Secondly, the name Lewis was written (and pronounced) in several ways in the early records. Two men named Lewis, George and his brother John, certainly were at Scituate and probably a third brother Harke or Archelaus was there for a very short period. I believe your Henry was perhaps a nephew or cousin of the early Lewis, Luis, Lews family of Scituate and Barnstable. It is worth investigating, anyway.”

    Summarizing: Kardell’s idea was that Harke Luce was a brother of George and John Lewis, and Henry Luce the immigrant a nephew or cousin. Kardell doesn’t make it explicit, but George Lewis’ double share would not have been for himself and brother John. John Lewis received his own share, a single share.

    In support of Kardell’s theory, Banks himself notes Scituate “was largely settled by emigrants from Kent” (see above; Banks, 3:347n.). Further, the same list that contains the name Harke Luse also contains the name John Lewes. George Lewes’ name also appears on a 1643 list of men able to bear arms, but at Barnstable rather than Scituate.

    By coincidence a ship called Hercules arrived at Sandwich, Massachusetts from Kent in 1634 (“Hercules Passenger List,” Bisbee Family Connection, retrieved Aug. 20, 2025). Further, John Lewis was a passenger on that ship. Harke is a possible nickname for Hercules, but Harke Luse must have been over 16 in 1643, so he was born before the ship arrived in 1634. He could not have been named for the ship.

    Other Examples

    Researcher Cody Luce has recently (2025) drawn my attention to instances of the given name Harke in 17th century England:

    • Harke Sampson b. 1578 at Hinxhill St Mary, Kent
    • Harke Cotman b. 1584 East Hanningfield Essex
    • Harke Dolphin b. 1585 Birmingham, Warwickshire
    • Harke (Lewes)? b. 1596 Brmingham, Warwickshire
    • Harke Reden b. 1610 Birmingham Warwickshire
    • Harke Victer b. 1617 Waltham, Holy Cross, Essex
    • Harke Mills b. 1636 London
    • Harke Kinge b. 1649 Shropshire

    This list suggests we should be cautious about reading Harke Luse as either a transcription error for an unattested Darke Luse (Banks) or as a reference to an otherwise unknown Archelaus Lewis (Kardell). It might have been a short form of the given names Hercules or Archelaus, or it might have been a surname.

    In this list, there is a Harke born 1596 in Birmingham. The record does not give his surname, but there is an extensive Lewes family at St. Martin’s there. It’s possible this is Harke Luse of Scituate.

    Treatment Online

    Harke Luse has been shabbily treated in online sources, although some of us have been working to clean up his profiles. Banks’ theories have been treated in different ways by Internet genealogists. Immigrant Henry Luce is usually presented as a son of Israel Luce, as if that were proven fact, and this has brought Harke into play in various ways.

    Harke’s birthdate is frequently given as about 1628, which seems calculated to modify Banks’ theory by making Harke a grandson rather than son of Abraham and Cicely (Darke) Luce (married 1604), and an older brother rather than father of Henry Luce the immigrant. This strategy allows Henry to be son of the imaginary Israel Luce, as in a family tradition cited by Banks (Banks, 3:246). We also see him frequently linked with Horton in Gloucester, which reflects Banks’ speculation. Caveat emptor.

    • FamilySearch has a relatively clean profile for Harke Luce, but his surname is spelled “Luce” rather than “Luse.” Alernative names: Darke Luce and Archelaus Lewis. He said to have been born about 1628 and died 1718, despite the absence of supporting evidence. He is correctly noted as residing 1643 in Scituate. No parents or children. One of the two cited sources is WikiTree. The other is a “Legacy NFS Source.” (Updated Aug. 15, 2025.)
    • Geni has Harke Luse, spelling his name correctly. His death is accurately placed “after 1643”. There is a curator note that Harke’s parents are unknown. The link to parents Israel Luce and Israel’s speculative wife Remember Munson has recently been removed. The cited sources are Banks and this page. (Updated Aug. 15, 2015.)
    • Wikitree has a relatively clean profile for Harke Luce, but his surname is spelled “Luce” rather than “Luse.” This site assigns Harke a birthdate about 1628 in Horton and a death date of 1718, despite the absence of supporting evidence. Cited sources include Charles Banks and this page. (Updated Aug. 15, 2025.)
    • WeRelate has a jumbled profile for Harke Luce. His surname is spelled “Luce” rather than “Luse.” This site says Harke was born 1628 at St James, Horton, Gloucester, England. No death date, not even “after 1643.” He is said to have been son of the imaginary “Israel Luce” and “Remember Munson,” and brother of the much younger Henry Luce (born 1640). No sources cited. (Updated Aug. 15, 2025.)

    Conclusion

    The Internet has widely adopted the theories of Charles Banks, modified apparently by whim, but has ignored the theory of Caroline Kardell. Probably, Banks’ theories were published and have been therefore more accessible. However, on the face of it, there is no obvious reason to choose one theory over the other.

    It should be noted the Luce yDNA Project at Family Tree DNA takes the official position that the ancestry of immigrant Henry Luce is unknown. Leslie Pine, a noted English genealogist, said in a letter to the author he believes Henry Luce probably came from the same family as the Luces of Pucklechurch. One day DNA might shed further light. The male-line descendants will ultimately match a Luce or Lewis family in England, and we’ll have our bearings.

    Revised Aug. 20, 2025.

  • Wyoming Brands

    There’s a book on the cattle brands of Green River, Wyoming. Branded: History of Green River Valley and Hoback Basin Brands (2016), compiled and published by Green River Valley Cattlewomen.

    Branded, by the Green River Valley Cattlewomen.
    Bill Luce

    My great grandfather Bill Luce (1864-194) lived there. I bought the book, thinking his brands might be mentioned. No such luck.

    I asked Jonita Sommers. She said, “nobody asked and payed to have them put in.” I guess my psychic skills failed me, here.

    Luce brands

    Great grandpa’s brands were the LU Quarter Circle, which was his first brand; the Circle Dot; and the Flying Heart. Jonita says, “The Flying Heart is now used by Don Kendall, old CEO of Pepsi who bought the place in the 80s.  Now has old Alexander place on Newfork.  The other two I don’t think are in use.”

  • Miss Wolcott’s School Denver

    My maternal grandmother, Vivian Luce attended Miss Wolcott’s School for Girls, a finishing school in Denver. She studied things like piano, French, water colors, needlework, elocution, etiquette, and other things appropriate to Edwardian ladies. I estimate she was there about 1914 to 1916.

    Wikipedia defines finishing schools: “A finishing school is a school for young women that focuses on teaching social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, with classes primarily on deportment and etiquette, with academic subjects secondary.” (Wikipedia: Finishing school; citations, link, and emphasis removed)

    Surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty easy to track down Grandma’s school. In fact, the building is still standing (at 14th and Marion). For several years my sister Laura and I lived just a block away (at 13th and Marion). It was very cool, living in the same area of the city as our grandmother, and routinely walking past the school she attended.

    Miss Wolcott’s School

    Ranchers in Wyoming, if they were successful, often sent their daughters away to finishing schools. The idea was to prepare them to be the social and cultural leaders of the next generation.

    Vivian (Luce) Swanstrom

    The earliest ranchers on the Upper Green River in Wyoming were largely Mormons and ex-Mormons from Utah. The upwardly mobile among them sometimes chose to affiliate with genteel, mainstream churches. Grandma’s parents were founding members of the local Episcopal church in Big Piney in 1914, so they sent her to an Episcopalian school in Denver. Her dad’s ex-wife became Roman Catholic, so members of that family sent their daughters to a convent in in Salt Lake City. Grandma’s older half-sister was crippled from an accident in infancy and spent her life in hospitals and institutions. If not for the accident , doubtless she would have been sent to the Catholic school preferred by her mother’s family.

    I didn’t know until today that First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower also attended the Wolcott School. An article by Linda Wommack says:

    "At her parent’s insistence, [Mamie] completed her education at Miss Wolcott’s, a prestigious, private finish[ing] school for the daughters of prominent Denver families. During all of her schooling years, Mamie attended dances classes and piano lessons. As a young teenager, Mamie and her friends often took the trolley to Colfax Avenue or Curtis Street, popular teenage hangouts. They would shop, attend various shows or movies, snack on sodas and ice cream at Baur’s shop."

    Finishing school was followed by an introduction into “society”, usually in the form of a debutante ball or coming out party. Grandma was a debutante, but I never thought to ask and don’t think I ever heard any details. I have a vague idea there was a coming out party in Denver for members of her school class but I don’t really know.

    Reasearch Continues

    Grandma’s mother, Essie (Wilson) Luce, also attended a finishing school, back in Illinois. I haven’t been successful finding that school. The little I know comes from notes I made years ago: “[Grandma Essie] attended a private school in Decatur, Illinois, where her teacher was Mary Helen Sommer Rinehart (1863-1920). The two became close friends. In later years they exchanged photos and letters. [Essie] also attended a private school in Kaskaskia.”

    Personal Note

    Purely a coincidence, when I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church at All Saints in Salt Lake City, one of my sponsors was Dr. Mark Wolcott. Same family.

    More Information

    • “Baur’s Building.” KEW Realty Corporation <kewrealty.com>. Retrieved May 17, 2020. Located at 1514 Curtis Street, this “historic building was once a candy confectionery, Baur’s Candy Shop, founded in 1872 by Otto Baur who claimed to scoop the very first ice cream soda. Baur’s Restaurant continued to serve Denver as a popular chain into the 1970’s. Remnants of history can still be seen in the tile flooring and barrel vaulted ceiling on the first floor and exposed brick walls and lofty timber ceilings on the second and third floors.”
    • “Miss Wolcott’s School Denver.” Denver Public Library. <digital.denverlibrary.org>. Photograph. Retrieved May 17, 2020. “Young women parade in a circle, possibly for a May Day festival, at the Miss Wolcott School at 1400 Marion Street in Denver, Colorado. The girls carry baskets of flowers.” DPL’s photo collection includes many other pictures of the Wolcott School.
    • Justin Swanström. “Wilson.” Swan Knight <yellacatranch.com>, Jan. 1, 2000. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
    • Linda Wommack. “Mamie Doud Eisenhower: The First Lady’s Denver Years.” Buckfifty <buckfifty.org>, Feb. 9, 2009. Retrieved May 17, 2020.