Celestial Roberts was the daughter of Phillip Roberts and Maria(h) Obray. Phillip and Mariah were married at St. Mary's
parish, Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales on 2
February 1843, where Phillip worked as a stone mason. The couple moved to Angelesy,
Wales, then to Liverpool, where Celestial was born.
By 1868 Phillip and Maria decided to immigrate to Utah
in the USA,
where Mariah's brothers, Samuel and Thomas Obray lived
with their families. Phillip and Mariah
arrived in New York
Harbor on the 23rd July
1868. Three of their children travelled with them, Celestial, Phillip Jr., and
Maria. During the journey to Utah, Celestial met James Vincent Knight, and the two
were married shortly after arriving in Salt
Lake City. They moved to the more southern part of Utah. Phillip and Mariah,
together with their children, Phillip and Maria continued on to Cache County
in Northern Utah to meet up with Mariah's
brothers, Samuel and Thomas.
A Sketch in the Life of Celestial Roberts Knight
Written by Elmira
Pratt
Celestial Robert's Knight was born in Liverpool,
England, in the suburbs of
that city, in a district called Bootle,
on August 28th, 1850. Her mother had 11 children. Only six lived to
be over 8 years of age, and four lived to man and woman hood. She was the
daughter of Philip and Maria Obray Roberts, who
joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints soon after they were
married. So she was born into the Church. They kept open house for the
Missionaries from the time she could remember.
When as a child, they were known to belong to the Mormon Church and at
school they were ridiculed and called "Later Day Devils". Her father
was a stonemason by trade and helped build the Mersey Docks and Harbor Yards of
Liverpool. The family was converted to the church by an elder, Henshaw and local Elder Able Evans, a Welshman. She [Celestial]
was baptized by George F. Gibbs, February 1868 and confirmed by William B.
Preston.
On the 4th June 1868 of the that year,
the family were Father, Mother, Celestial, Philip and Maria, set sail for America on the
ship "John Bright". The 3rd. mate was James Bird, a son of her
father's sister, Mary Ann Stit.
(Bird's father was drowned at sea). The ship was a sailing vessel and
had 600 Saints on board.
They kept well to the north, it being summer and very hot and came to
the coast of
New Found land. They sailed down the coast to New York. Elder James Mahau had charge of the Saints. Elder Mc Master was senior
Elder, and often the ship would be in what was called a "calm" and
elder Mc Master would pray for a favourable wind,
which always came and the ship would go on for several more days. It was common
to hear the sailors say " We will have to get
Brother Mac "to pray." When meetings were called, every member of the
saints were supposed to be there. All the ships crew that could be spared from
duty would came to the meeting, and often before the services were over. the captain was calling "Tack about ship" meaning
the wind was changing.
Celestial was seasick during the voyage. Through the courtesy of the
3rd. mate Bird, there were some special favours given
to her and the family. Some of the girls flirted with the sailors secretly, but
it was against orders.
The ship arrived in New York
harbour on July 23rd, 1868. They all had
to pass through the Custom House. About 11 o'clock Sunday morning the people
were housed in long warehouses, as there weren't cars enough to take them on. A
mob gathered and well dresses people came and treated them like animals. The
Roberts' families were having dinner and a well-dressed woman with some young
girls crowed around the food. Philip, a boy of 16, shoved a pie in her face and
said, "Have a piece of pie" She stepped back and said
" No!" Then the men
pushed them out by force. The mob became so violent that the saints were loaded
in cattle cars and taken to a station where passenger cars were. That night
they left for the West. The engine
burned wood: the men would gather brush and boil a bucket of tea. What a queer
sight! When the train gave a whistle and slowed down, men ran out from every
car to get their hot water for tea. It took 9 days and nights on the train from
New York to Laramie,
Wyoming, where men and teams from Utah met them, sent out
by the Latter Day Saints Church. They arrived there about the 1st August.
John Murdock of Beaver had charge of the company from there to Salt Lake City. James
Vinson Knight was one of the teamsters, having been called from Fillmore.
Celestial was 18 and charming, also lively and loved to dance. The teamsters
could invite anyone they wanted to ride with them, so he generally had
Celestial by his side. The Company arrived in Salt Lake City, August 19th 1868. The Roberts
Family went to Cache
County where the brothers
of the mother lived, Samuel and Thomas Obray.
James Vinson Knight and Celestial were married in the Endowment House on
August 22nd. 1868 and went to Cove Fort, Millard County
to live, where James was tending Church Cattle. They lived at the fort for 2
years. From there they moved to Ogden and then
to Hooper, Weber County. After being married for 7 years,
their first child Vinson Philip was born on May 24th, 1875 at Hooper.
They then moved from Hooper top
Circleville, Piute
County in December 1876.
There were only a few huts in the whole valley. It was the home of the outlaws
and Indians. Celestial and family lived in a one-room hut with William and Mary
King, who had two children. A great and very strong friendship developed and
lasted through life. The winter was bitter cold. The oil froze in the lamps, as
the table was being washed off, the water would freeze to ice.
In the Spring, James had a one-room house built
with a roof and dirt floor; they had a big buffalo skin on the ground, which
was a luxury. In this home, on June 22nd, 1877, Maria Daisy, their
second child was born. During this year they joined the United Order and lived
in it for 7 years. James worked in the fields and tended the sheep. Celestial
took her turn overseeing and cooking in the dining hall where all the people
ate.
Two more children were born to her, James Aubrey on June 22nd,
1879 and Elmira Celestial on July 28th, 1881. The Order closed in
1884. Most all families moved away, but Celestial often said that the Order
found them there and left them there. They had never with drew
and they had a house, two cows and two horses, less property, but 3 more
children than when they joined. They always said they had a wonderful
experience.
They took up 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act - one half mile
north of the Order site and in the same year as the Order closed. They had 40
acres of good wheat. Celestial had raised 90 little chicks and everything was
encouraging. It was the 7th September 1884 that a terrible cloudburst and
hailstorm swept over the valley. The reaper had just begun that day to cut the
grain. All was lost. A few bundles were gathered and threshed and yielded
a pan full of shorts and a half sack of flour.
In December of the same year, James went to Hooper and sold their home,
then took the poor chickens to Salt Lake Cty and sold
them. The team wandered off into the hills, being driven by the storm and it
was months before they were found. James' health broke down, and he was never
strong after that. They loved on the farm, having some good and some bad years. Celestial was a careful manager, fast at
knitting and never failed at parching. They raised their 5 children,
Samuel was born September 16th 1887.
In November 1908, the family moved to Hinckley, Utah
and bought the William Aldridge place. Celestial's husband became an invalid
and died on the 11th, April 1912 in the L.D.S. Hospital,
of double rupture. The home was sold to
her youngest son and a home was bought on the corner of the street leading
through Hinckley on the highway to Delta.
Celestial Roberts Knight was alive, well and clear minded at 85 years. She was a great reader and as yet still reads
without glasses. She has always been a strict payer of tithes and fast
offerings. A very prayerful woman and gave her help to those in distress or the
neglected poor. She died on 15th. March
1939, just passed from an active life to immortality aged 89 years.
Knight, Celestial Roberts, [Interview], in "Utah Pioneer
Biographies," 44 vols., 17:132-33.
Trail Excerpt: Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868
10. At what place did you join the company or wagon train with which you came
to Utah?
Answer: Castle
Gardens in New York.
11. When did it leave for Utah?
Answer: July 1868. Took train to Ft. Leavenworth
(it may have been Ft. Laramie) by way of St. Louis,
Chicago, Detroit,
etc. That was before the Chicago Fire. They bought their food on the way. They
had to wait in Leavenworth (Laramie) for a train. The people came in a
mob to see them and stared at them as if they were cattle. They acted as if
they had never seen a person before. The reason was that they were Mormons and
one well dressed woman with some girls acted so impudent that Philip her
brother who was on guard had to put her out of the enclosure. The mob became so
abusive that the men in charge loaded them on cattle cars and started them
westward.
12. Who was the leader of your company or train?
Answer: John [R.] Murdock and a man
named [Byron] Warner.
13. Method of travel (handcart, ox team, mule team, horseback, etc.)
Answer: Mule teams and horse teams. They could see
Indians ahead and in the distance, and Captain Murdock counselled
them to drive out around the railroad camps and do not stop day or night till
they got out of the way of the camps and thus the would avoid the rough element
that is generally found around the Railroad camps as well as the Indians which
might be hanging around them. No---was to walk. "The Scandinavian[s] were
great for walking and that was for them more than for any of the others, as
there to be nobody away from the wagons. Sometimes women would way lay them and
beg them to come to the camp and get warm or get some food. But they never
did." They reached Salt Lake City
August 18, 1968.
