HILLS, Julia Ellis^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}

1783 - 1853  (69 years)  Submit Photo / Document

 Set As Default Person

• Name	HILLS, Julia Ellis
  Birth	26 Sep 1783	Upton, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States   [7, 8, 9, 10]
  Gender	Female
  WAC	1 Jan 1844	NAUVO   [6, 9, 10, 11]
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Death	30 May 1853	Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States   [7, 9]
  Burial	30 May 1853	Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States   [7, 9]
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I25377	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family ID

  F13902

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	SMITH, Patriarch John ,   b. 16 Jul 1781, Derryfield, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, United States Derryfield, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, United Statesd. 23 May 1854, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 72 years)
  Marriage	11 Sep 1815  [7, 9]
  Family ID	F9884	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Photos

  At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

  
  

• Notes

  BIOGRAPHY: Julia Ellis Hills was born on September 26, 1783, in Upton, Massachusetts. She married Ezekiel Johnson on January 12, 1801, in Grafton, Massachusetts. They had sixteen children during their marriage. She died on May 30, 1853, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at the age of 69. This is a master's thesis about Julia Hills Johnson: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2418&context=etd DELCENA DIDAMIA JOHNSON SHERMAN by Mary Jones Brown Delcena Didamia Johnson was the fourth child of a family of 16 children, born to Ezekiel Johnson and Julia Hills. In 1806 her parents moved from Royalton, Massachusetts to Westford, Chittenden County, Vermont where Delcena was born 19 November 1806. In 1814 they moved to western New York to Pomfret, Chautauqua County where she met and married Lyman Royal Sherman 16 January 1829. He was born 22 May 1804 at Monkton, Addison County, Vermont. Son of Elkanah Sherman and Asenath Hulbert. In the year 1829 in the village paper was published an account of some young man professing to have seen an angel, who had shown and delivered to him golden plates engraved in a strange language and hid up in the earth, from which he had translated a “New Bible.” About 1830 her oldest brother Joel H. Johnson sold his property and moved to Amherst, Ohio and her brother David had gone to visit him there. About this time they began to hear rumors about the “Golden Bible” that had been found by “Joe Smith,” the money digger etc. In the spring of 1831 some Elders going from Kirtland to Missouri stopped at Amherst and converted many people to the church, into which both Joel and David were baptized. Previous to this rumors had come from Ohio for the spread of what was called Campellism, a new sect of which Sidney Rigdon was then the leader. Her mother had written a letter of caution to her sons to beware of this new doctrine, which was soon answered to say that they had joined the Mormons. This news came upon them almost as a horror and disgrace. A Book of Mormon and a letter of explanation followed the first news. Delcena and her husband, Lyman R. Sherman, her mother, other members of the family and some of the neighbors who were devoted to religion would meet secretly to read the Book of Mormon and the accompanying letter. Their reading soon lead to a marveling of the simplicity and purity of what they read and the spirit that accompanied it, bearing witness to its truth. In the fall of 1831 her brothers came home from Ohio to see their folks and bear their testimony and try to teach them when unexpectedly there came to them two Elders; James Brackinbury and Jabez Durfee who taught them the gospel. Julia Hills Johnson and Lyman R. Sherman, Delcena’s mother and husband were the first to be baptized followed shortly by Delcena and the rest of her brothers and sisters that had attained maturity. The father did not allow the minor children to be baptized at that time. Persecution began as soon as they had accepted the gospel and the powers of evil were turned loose against them to do everything possible to turn them away from the truth but their testimonies were not shaken. The persecution became so great that the Prophet received a revelation that the church should move to Ohio. Delcena and her husband moved to Kirtland, Ohio. Her husband Lyman R. Sherman assisted with the laying of the corner stone of the Kirtland Temple in the spring of 1834. They went through many hardships in Kirtland. Her husband made the famous trip as a member of Zion’s Camp from Ohio to Missouri, beginning May 1834. After his return to Kirtland he was ordained to the Quorum of the Seventy 28 February 1835 by Joseph the Prophet and others. He became one of the first seven presidents of Quorum of the Seventy of the Church. He also became a high councilman at Kirtland. He visited the Prophet Joseph Smith and other brothers at Richmond, Missouri where they were in Liberty jail in the winter of 1838-1839. At this time he was called to the apostleship but took cold on this mission and died before receiving his ordination into the Quorum. He died January or February 1839 at Far West, Missouri leaving Delcena a widow with six small children. She received a patriarchal blessing 09 April 1836 under the hands of Joseph Smith Sr. the Prophet’s father. Her husband and other members of the family received blessings at the same time. About the last of March 1839 due to the persecution she left Far West to cross the river with the Saints to find a home elsewhere as they be might. Assisted by her brother Benjamin F. Johnson and her brother-in-law, Almon W. Babbitt. They crossed the river at Quincy, Illinois where the citizens were showing great kindness to the persecuted Saints. Here Delcena decided to remain with her children until it should be known where the next gathering place of the Saints would be. She moved to Nauvoo where she did Baptisms for the Dead for many of her family in the Nauvoo Temple. On 24 January 1846 she was sealed in the Nauvoo Temple to her husband, Lyman Royal Sherman for eternity and was married to Almon W. Babbitt for time. She was in Nauvoo at the time their beloved temple was burned and her son Albey Lyman Sherman said that it was so light that they could see to read a newspaper several blocks away. She suffered many persecutions in Nauvoo. In company with her mother, Julia Hills Johnson and other relatives and friends she left Nauvoo with her family. They arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa on 11 July 1849. Here she went through many hardships and much sorrow. Three of her children died; Mary E. 20, Elvira 19 and Seth 15 all in the year of 1850. Also her beloved mother Julia Hills Johnson passed away on 30 May 1853. In company with her son, Albey Lyman Sherman and her daughter Susan Julia Sherman, who later married James H. Martineau and probably her husband Almon W. Babbitt she in very poor health struggled across the plains to Salt Lake Valley in 1854 with two of her six children. While crossing the plains her son Albey Lyman married Mary Elvira Swan at the North Platt River in Iowa. It had been reported that there had been a birth and a death on the trip and it was suggested that they have a marriage so they were married 10 June 1854. Delcena died 21 October 1854 at the age of 48 in Salt Lake City and is buried there. I have a great love and respect for this wonderful woman who was my great grandmother who loved the gospel so much and was faithful to the end. NOTE: I am enclosing her picture and hope it can be reproduced in the bulletin with her history. Thanks for the request for her history and picture. I have been working on it for some time. If anyone has any information that can be added to this history please send it to me. Also I would like to hear from my relatives on the Sherman line. Sincerely, Mary J. Brown Huntington, Utah

  
  

• Sources

  [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), downloaded 27 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), citing microfilm 458462, downloaded 28 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), citing microfilm 1033997, page 53, reference number 6, downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), downloaded 27 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 458462, downloaded 28 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 1033997, page 53, reference number 6, downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), citing microfilm 1126443 for batch T998346, sheet 00, downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 1126443 for batch T998346, sheet 00, downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 538312, downloaded 4 Dec 2009 (Reliability: 3).