Son of Thomas Rushforth and Elizabeth Wade

Married Rosemond Burton, 5 Nov 1855

Children - Benjamin Rushforth, James Burton Rushforth, Eliza Burton Rushforth, Elizabeth Rushforth, Samuel Burton Rushforth, Rosemond Burton Rushforth, Isabella Rushforth, Margaret Rushforth, Mary Burton Rushforth, Grace Burton Rushforth, Rachel Burton Rushforth, Martha Burton Rushforth

Arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah: 24 October 1855 - Milo Andrews Company

History:
On July 29, 1830 in England was born to a dear good mother in the town of Bramley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, a dear sweet baby boy with black hair and laughing dark blue eyes. This first-born child was in due time blessed with five sisters and two brothers. But he was a mere lad, about 17 years old, when death visited his happy home and claimed both father and mother within a few short months of each other. Samuel had a young family to now care for. This left the little brood both fatherless and motherless; but fortunately their dear old grandmother Wade was left to help Samuel, the black-haired, blue-eyed boy in his newly found task of helping care for his younger brothers and sisters.

Samuel was seventeen when his parents died. He went to work at Newlay which was five miles from Rodley where he lived. This made ten miles he walked to and from work. He worked as a dyer using dyes to color the cloth. The hours at work were long; there were no labor laws. He did this for some years by working in the factories weaving and dyeing goods and combining dyes to produce the various shades and colors suitable for market.

Scarcely had the younger ones of the family become able to care for themselves when death again visited them taking the dear old Grandmother Wade. On March 22, 1849, Grandma Wade was killed. In England steps were made going over the rock walls. These steps were called stiles. Grandma Wade had fallen of one of these stiles and broken her neck. Samuel went out to find her after he came home from work. Death had struck again, leaving the five children to care for themselves…Samuel was not yet nineteen. After this, they began to launch out each one for himself.

Shortly after Grandmother Wade's death came the wonderful story of the gospel of Jesus Christ restored in this the last dispensation of the fullness of time to the boy, Joseph Smith. These teachings were listened to and received with a glad heart by this now grown young man highly cultured and ambitious; not a rough backwoodsman, but a refined gentleman.

Samuel was a lover of the beautiful things of nature and he particularly loved beautiful music. While yet a young lad, he was trained to play the violin and harmonica. He became such a master of the violin that he took the leading part in some of the noted cathedrals there in his native land.
He entertained both in churches and for parties while in England.
With his young and promising life before him, he listened to the message the servant of the Lord brought to him. He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1849. In the meantime, he had met a young lady by the name of Rosemond Burton at the factory where they worked. Rosemond was born on April 1835. Her looks and manners appealed to him. A mutual friendship, which later developed into love and matrimony and a life-time companionship grew between them.

In 1845, Rosemond had embraced the Gospel along with her father and mother and the rest of the family of Burtons, nine in number. It was not long after the baptism of the Burton family that the Angel of death took from them their much beloved and devoted father. This left mother Burton alone with the cares of life, and with a burning desire to gather with the early saints in the land of Zion.

Every effort was put forth by this little family including the young man, Samuel Rushforth. For he seemed to stand alone in the newly found faith in regards to his own brothers and sisters. Some of them would not speak to him because he had embraced the unpopular religion called Mormonism. So, he did all he could to obtain means enough to gather with the saints. Through the perpetual emigration fund Samuel was able to leave England for the United States. He was happy to come on the same ship with the Burton family. His courtship and love for Rosemond Burton grew while crossing the ocean and while crossing the plains.

Finally, the time arrived for these dear people to set sail on the good ship for America. With tears of joy and sorrow they mingled songs of joy and sadness. They bade their native land farewell and they never saw it again. They had gone through a great many hardships, little realizing that many more awaited them in the future. Their greatest desire was to serve the Lord, to search out the truth and to try to live it.

In the Spring of 1855, they with a number of other immigrants left England. They came on the ship Samuel Curling, which set sail from Liverpool on April 22, 1855. This company was the eighty-seventy and had 581 Saints of which 385 were Perpetual Emigration Fund passengers. The company was under the presidency of Israel Barlow, who had acted as pastor of the Burmington and Warwickshire conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. While aboard the Samuel Curling the company increased in number. There were three births since leaving England and no deaths. The company arrived in New York with 584 passengers on May 22, 1855. Most of the passengers left on May 24 by way of Philadelphia, enroute for the Salt Lake Valley. The remainder of the Saints left May 25. All were in good health. After sailing for six or eight weeks, they arrived in Philadelphia. From there they went by rail to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Then on a steamboat down the Ohio River to St. Louis and up the Missouri River to Atkinson, Kansas. At Atkison, the members of the Mormon company gathered at a place called the Mormon grove.

The Company was met by Milo Andrus, the captain of what was termed the "Independence Company". Under this captain, the company took up their toilsome journey across the plains following the trail that recently had been trodden by the earlier pioneers. The country was new and the trail to the valley was not entirely a trackless plain to them, but was dotted with sad memories of what others had gone through who had preceded this company to the Salt Lake Valley.

This journey was made similar to the journeys of the pioneers of 1847 and 1850. The slow, but ever dependable ox-teams drew the old fashioned covered wagons which served as a shelter from the elements and carried their few earthy belongings. The immigrants had to walk and be subject to the rules of the Captain Milo Andres who was often cross and inconsiderate.

During this journey, many incidents happened to strengthen the faith of Samuel Burton. These incidents did much toward helping in a spiritual way to keep up the courage and spirit of the company. Their songs and other music helped too.

Samuel reached the valley on October 24, 1855. On arriving in Salt Lake Samuel and the Burton family went to Kaysville to the Thomas Burton home. He was a brother to Rosemond. Samuel and Rosemond Burton were married less than a month after their arrival in the Land of Zion on November 4, 1855. Samuel homesteaded a section or two of land, a right given the people by the government. The land in this forsaken looking mountainous valley was scarcely inviting to the Indians who at that time still roamed the country at will. Here grew sagebrush, oak brush, and sunflowers so tall one was completely lost to sight on his own homestead or farm. Samuel located in the southwestern part of Kaysville on what was called the bottoms or lower lands. They built their home in Kaysville between two creeks; Homes Creek on the north and Haights creek on the south. Peter Barton was their neighbor on the south. Later two railroads were built which put Samuel and Rosemond's home between them. The Union Pacific was on the east of them and the Denver and Rio Grand cut through a little of their land on the west. Their first home was a pioneer cabin with a dirt roof and a dirt floor. The winter of 1855-56 was a hard winter.

In the fall of 1858, just three years after their arrival in the valley, Samuel with a goodly number of other brethren were called to go to Echo Canyon to meet the Johnston Army. This army was sent to exterminate the Mormons. The brethren held them back until the Spring of 1859, when the army dispersed leaving what provisions they had, and selling to the Mormons what bedding they could spare. Here we see just another evidence of the wonderful work of the Lord in delivering His people.

For a while it was thought best to have the saints move south for protection. So some of the pioneers were ordered to go south, while others were left to guard the possessions. Like others, Samuel and Rosemond rode on the running gear of their wagon. They had with them their young baby named James. When this journey was finally judged fruitless, the company was ordered to return north, The saints were glad to return and resume their labors on their own farms.

Samuel and Rosemond Rushforth built a two story log house, the fashion in those days. All of the people appreciated owning a shelter of this kind. A little later they added three more rooms built out of lumber. Samuel worked on the farm clearing land in preparation for crops. Rosemond gleaned the fields for grain. She also hunted sego roots, wild spinach, and nettles for food. They learned much from the Indians about the poisonous weeds and roots. Bran in the roughest form was their bread.

When the crops came up, things looked more promising. One day Rosemond had been out hoeing in the garden. It looked so nice. She came back to the house, and sat down on the doorstep to rest. As she sat there, the sun went dark as though under a cloud. She heard a swishing noise, and in five minutes a devasting throng of grasshoppers had made the garden a thing of the past. Imagine her disappointment. The seed was gone, and the children's' food to which they were looking forward with such anticipation was gone.

This siege was followed by a drought - an added calamity. At one time they were with out water. Samuel had to haul water from a long distance. When Samuel got home, he gave the chickens a drink. The chickens drank…then rolled over and died.

At another time they had a nice stack of grain. Samuel was very proud of it. It was to be their winter's supply of food. Samuel and Rose left the children at home while they went to conference. The calves kept getting at this grain stack, so the children got on top of the stack and threw at the calves some lighted papers to burn the calves and scare them away. Of course the stack was burned and it seemed a great calamity. At its best, it was hard to live this pioneer life.

Sam and Rose, as they were called, enjoyed going to parties. Dancing seemed to be the main amusement in those days. Sam often furnished the music as he played the mouth organ and the violin. They sang songs such as "Who Would Marry a Silly Girl with a Hole in Her Stocking" and "Yankee Doodle" and etc.

Samuel was taken ill with the mountain fever. He could get no doctor - just a little quinine and calimo were all the medicines he had outside of the faith and prayers of the saints, and the skilful nursing of a loving wife who prayed and doctored with herbs of the field. Samuel recovered.

The saints always trusted in a wiser power than man's for victory over difficulty. Through all these trials and tribulations they kept up their courage. After Samuel's health returned, he worked again on the farm and in the adobe holes. Here he made the adobes for several of the homes in the ward, and helped make the ones in the old Meeting House.

For many years, Samuel led the Kaysville choir supported by his wife and others. He also played famously the same violin that he had played in the Cathedrals of England. These were days never to be forgotten. He clung to the old violin as long as he lived. Our home, as well as many others, was made happy by the singing of Samuel and also by his sweet violin music.

Samuel died on August 20, 1905 in Kaysville, 15 years after his beloved wife Rosemond. Samuel's testimony to his children was: "The principles of the Gospel are just as true today as they ever were. The only trouble is man fails to live them right." This is but one of the many testimonies that survived the difficulties of a life of hardship and strife of pioneer days.