Our Pioneer Heritage
Volume 16 Graves Along the Trail For the Gospel's Sake˜1851 Weber County

Nancy Ann Waggoner Wilson, born July 10, 1810, in Tuscara˜was County, Ohio, was the daughter of David Waggoner and Iseruah Barrett Waggoner. She married Lewis Dunbar Wilson December 23, 1830, and they settled in Richland County, Ohio, where four of their eleven children were born. Nancy Ann first heard the L.D.S. gospel when Elders Oliver Granger and George A. Smith, came to Perry, Richland County, Ohio, to preach. The elders were denied the use of the schoolhouse to hold meetings and were threatened with violence unless they left the locality. The Wilsons, knowing that it was the usual custom for other denominational preachers to have the use of the schoolhouse, told the elders to go ahead and hold their meetings and they, the Wilson brothers, would constitute themselves a committee of seven to see that they received fair treatment.
Although the Wilsons were prosperous farmers in Richland County, after joining the L.D.S. Church they desired to be near the main body of Saints, so they disposed of their property and moved to Caldwell County, Missouri, where Lewis built a cabin for his family and here their fifth child was born. In 1838, they moved again, establishing themselves near Nauvoo, Illinois, where they remained for seven years, adding three more children to their family and losing a four-year-old son in death. Nancy was a faithful uncomplaining wife, and was always ready to follow the leadership of her husband. She stood faithfully by him through all the trials and troubles heaped upon the Saints during the mobbings and persecutions in this area. In February 1846, Lewis and Nancy and their seven children, the youngest but six months old, prepared for another long journey. Nearly destitute of clothing and most of them without shoes, Lewis borrowed a team and wagon and loaded it with their scant provisions of five bushels of parched corn meal, 100 lbs. of flour, and 25 lbs. of pork. He was just able to be out of bed after a long and severe sick spell, and Nancy was in not much better condition, but they were off to California, as they thought.
After a tedious journey of between two and three months they reached Garden Grove, Iowa, where they remained five years. Here they lost another of their children due to the distressing conditions under which they were forced to live. Once again on May 18, 1851, Nancy and Lewis began their journey westward. During this journey there seemed to be no end to the rainstorms. In fact, they were so frequent and severe that the Saints fasted and prayed that they might stop. Nancy was expecting another child and the time was drawing near for its birth. It took 27 days for the journey of 160 miles to a place called Kanesville, Iowa, the family having walked most of the way to lighten the load. After their arrival at Kanesville, Lewis settled his family as best he could, planting some corn and potatoes and starting to build a house for them. On July 19, 1851, while he was away securing lumber for his building project, Nancy's baby was born. He returned to find she had died, leaving a newborn son to be cared for. Nancy was buried on the hill above Kanesville. She had been a devoted wife and mother of eleven children. ˜Verna Clarkson Johnson