“I cannot shake off my grief”: Eliza Shelton Keeler and the Challenges of Frontier Life

“Oh, how can I stand it, pen cannot describe my feelings, the agony of my heart.”1 Eliza Shelton Keeler was almost overcome by emotion. It had only been a few months since her eldest son Shelton's sudden death in March 1887: her kind, “noble,” “brave” boy.2 He was only twenty-five years old, only just “in the full bloom of manhood.”3 Her emotions were still raw and difficult to suppress. Writing in a diary to the son she knew could not answer back, she cried out, “my heart is lonely without you, my heart throbs and pains, I cannot stop it or control my feelings . . . [your death] has come so sudden so unexpected to me, that I can hardly believe that I will never see your sweet face in this life or hear your voice.”4This was not the first time in her forty-seven years of life that Eliza had faced the death of a family member. Before Shelton, she had already buried three of her other children.5 Yet this felt different somehow. The others had died as infants, while with Shelton she possessed a stronger, more developed “tie of affection . . . between mother and child.”6 Eliza tried to “acknowlege the hand of God” in all of this. Yet, as she mournfully wrote, “it does seem so hard.”7The death of Shelton Keeler had been directly caused by the hazards and challenges faced by a poor family trying to eke out an existence on the American frontier.8 This article will seek to better understand nineteenth-century Utah frontier life by closely studying the life of a specific nineteenth-century woman, Eliza Shelton Keeler. In particular, it will focus on how Eliza and her family navigated nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint polygamy, economic hardship, Utah's Black Hawk War, the United Order, and the injury and death of loved ones. Additionally, this article will also look at the sustaining force of community support for frontier women like Eliza.9Eliza Shelton was born on August 7, 1840, in Southampton parish, New Brunswick, Canada, the tenth of twelve children.10 In 1844, when she was four years old, her family met the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her parents and two older siblings were baptized into the church.11 Ten years later, in May 1854, Eliza and several of her siblings left Canada to gather with their fellow Latter-day Saints in Utah territory, going without their parents, since their mother had passed away by that point and their father was too ill to travel.12 Once in Utah, Eliza and her sister Emily lived in Salt Lake City with their older sister Ann, who had married Jesse Crosby, the missionary who taught their family in Canada.13A year or two after her arrival in Utah, Eliza was introduced to “an old acquaintance” of her brother-in-law, Jesse Crosby. His name was James Keeler and he had recently returned from spending six years as a missionary in the Sandwich (or Hawaiian) Islands. James was born in Vermont in 1817, became a Latter-day Saint in his early adulthood, followed the California Gold Rush of 1849, and served in the Mormon Battalion; his first wife died in 1845. After a short courtship, James proposed marriage to Eliza. He was twenty-three years older than her. She was uncertain about how to respond, especially since she had not known James for long. However, he was “very highly” recommended by Jesse and his family, so Eliza decided to accept the proposal.14From the moment of Eliza and James's wedding in March 1856, their family almost always struggled financially. Just a month after their marriage, they moved south from the main Latter-day Saint settlement of Salt Lake City to the small frontier community of Spanish Fork. James bought land there and soon built a one-room “dobie” (or adobe) house on it, which was a common form of housing in 1850s Utah.15In early 1857, one year after marrying Eliza, James married a second wife—Eliza's younger sister, Emily.16 Polygamy was an accepted practice at this time among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Among those who practiced polygamy, it was not unheard of for a man to marry sisters, as James had done. For example, in nineteenth-century Manti, Utah, 12 percent of the town's polygamous men “married their sisters-in-law as plural wives.”17 As far as can be discerned from her diary, Eliza was apparently happy to have her sister's company. However, her husband's choice to marry Emily was still unexpected and sudden: the marriage occurred abruptly before James departed for the Sandwich Islands to serve another mission for the church. It is also not clear whether or not James consulted Eliza on the matter first.18Throughout the Keelers’ early married life, the family never seemed to be able to stay in the same place for long. After three years in Spanish Fork, they moved in July 1859 to the nearby town of Santaquin, where James found work helping to repair a sawmill. After two years in Santaquin, they moved in August 1861 to the new and even smaller settlement of Goshen.19 These frequent moves were due to James's struggle to find any sort of lasting employment that would provide sufficiently for his two wives and their growing number of children.20Due to the increasing size of their family, the Keelers were also becoming more and more cramped living together in the same house. It would not be until 1868, nine years after marrying Emily as a second wife, that James purchased a second home for his family, allowing each wife and her respective children to have their own house.21 The long period of time that passed before obtaining a second home makes the Keelers somewhat unusual among nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint polygamous families. Although about half of new polygamous wives initially lived in the same house as the first wife, in most cases they moved into their own home “as soon as possible,” with “only ‘a small fraction of . . . wives continu[ing] to share homes once they started having children.”22 Paula Kelly Harline argues that this is likely because polygamous women “preferred their own homes because they wanted to be like monogamous wives who had their own homes and who could make independent decisions.”23 That the Keelers waited so long to obtain a second house seems to be yet another sign of their economic difficulties.Eliza remembered that things finally started looking up for the family after the move to Goshen in than in the they of where James tried to a He how to the and that to as far as in several started their own and Before the Keelers had to others to their the and for the It seemed that they had finally It was this time that Shelton was on period of far too Eliza remembered that as were to to be This to to the of Utah's Black Hawk War, which from until The was most from when by his fellow in and other has that and his to and to the and the Mormon that had caused in the first In the face of a of their of life, they felt to or has that Black Hawk in Mormon and in and on the of left lasting on As an family living away from the a to the Keelers’ to move into Goshen for and they so in in the main settlement all Keelers were just one of frontier that their homes the out a to Latter-day Saints in the The most difficult in this was that each community to have in The of any settlement that could not that would have to their homes and to a only two months later, the Keelers’ fellow in Utah were “in a of The had been the a and between and The were not in their However, the early of their from most other and the that from has that a they the also caused and for those For example, the of into in with the into form of from to This of the to a of Eliza who that her family up a poor house . . . all in also in for those the from Jesse The of had been one of out that they their own and work land in for their more had all their in their . . . It was to up all for which they had and the women at the men away to their the Keelers had moved to Goshen in of economic and and found it, at for a the that they had was the After they their of the they left was As by the Utah frontier at this time almost of on their to the Keelers returned to in a where a was built that same would never to the the James tried a of He and tried at a and Yet the he was never for the growing family, and Eliza had to and work just to She started by in she to which she to her own family and to have to to soon as they were old the children they started other when she was just years she was a she in with in who the Keelers were always economic common among nineteenth-century Utah It is that for of the second half of the Utah were than the Yet the 1850s and also had than the of with a of their who were most Utah at this time “an with the of and one in which from . . . to was the of In other there was in to the of the Utah a smaller between and poor and a of economic this is the is it even with all their it never seems like the Keelers were able to their even economic in this period that does not that was It is that a of living at this time were able to move up two in their economic an still the other of who not economic on this period and place that those who first into a new settlement and there for the long to be the who were the most is by on Utah the Black Hawk His of the town of that the most members of the community were the who had the town there for the long and a arrival to the community of was on than a arrival to the community of the of in new the Keelers in the Goshen than in the already of Spanish and they had a time in one place for more than a few years and the in an that to to This in a in which the family moved because of economic it even for to This at the Keelers were not as as of their March the family moved once this time to far to the south in the This was an especially for since it was the first time they had left the Utah where Spanish Fork, Santaquin, and Goshen were Eliza remembered that she was not happy to especially since their new house was to their home in it had a as as a She remembered that the her so that it not even like was several occurred that the Keelers’ was the of the United in only two years after the arrival in the The United was a economic by of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. to the arrival of the in Utah's had with the This to from the of the and the It also that Utah's would be more by the of a the United Utah's was also as an to the from and as an to Latter-day Saints living in Utah to more and the of the economic in Utah This was the United Utah's first United was by in the community of in the of their own United after the of the and almost all the first half of were at four different a United could be The of followed the which that members their and the and to all their and to in common the that the members whether to the or of their to this by having members of their and their homes as would as as they into the of the United Order, as as the other was a Latter-day Saint with on of without or other from the . . . Additionally, that the of and a community would a than the more of the Latter-day Saint in the of the the was the son of while on a to he had the to up the first United to his returned to on the United of Latter-day Saints in each of the Although like community members to in the Order, only about of the In only half The United was at even there not all and never at family that initially was Eliza the of James tried to make by It not for so the about a year after the of the in their James all the into the and in In her Eliza not he so long. She that the not the he would like This that James Keeler with the of the United in with the in which it was in a of and his of the Order, had into how the United be out in However, he that it was to on the of the Order, which they would the of living of this place the first year of the Order, before the Keelers it, still to a the had a with of man and that for a man with a of for the of with this only that their was not directly to how they the first not as as This that the not have the to the full The United tried to most of for smaller work and work in out their It is not that this early and of was the that James had with the Order, it is at one in the United Order, the Keelers all their into It seems that any family who could in James and Shelton at the in Eliza in her eldest taught and of her other in This is how the members had a or that they were and for would on the focus on a specific her Eliza was for family helping with her after the of her first even with all the they to the Order, Eliza remembered that not to The Keelers were not the only with this in the was having The United was to community and make the better had For one or which in it for the to up to not their and they had to more from the or they that to the of the was the to things into the since a in a of this Eliza remembered that by the early of United to The was to the United In to up the were to work and in to finally the up to were Eliza remembered that were and out their that they out they in and the finally she was that their family not at of the Eliza was so about their was because her was not to for The had James to serve a mission in the Sandwich and he had left home to his a year in who would the in the United his missionary that his on the of Eliza and which also caused the children to more other of missionaries faced challenges the and early a time period in which married men away from their to serve has that the family members faced challenges and that were more difficult than the by the missionaries in the of challenges were missionary wives to for and their children to out to economic there were other women and children felt the of nineteenth-century missionary wives felt the that would into the house and the family without a father and to This for a in the home that could family seems to have Eliza to James's the of the United he his to out of the Order, Shelton, only about years old, Eliza they She that better and Shelton the to have his returned from the However, in the of the the to He could not any of their to not be Eliza to the which she as a She was able to from However, as she when all was and they only a of their they had land and several a of and in they out one old a of an old I believe two was not it makes that the could not all of the Keelers’ to The had struggled since the same was at and early had the with other like members from the as the the and up a few the even by to the and the that the had in only in It the among the to than they had started the United was not a of the had been to and make the on the United Utah in this United the had built a of from to that Utah's for to However, United had a on at of the who in For like Eliza the of the was yet another for a family that had far too She felt by her fellow community who she had felt she could and on in difficult She that “it was a the they served was for later, in the of Shelton's as Eliza on the of the Order, she how difficult the had been for her son She felt poor how he struggled to make all In the of his the had the of the of helping the family financially. He the for a of with the of the up to it on he could to as Eliza Shelton's would only James Keeler returned from his missionary a year later, in the of after twenty-five years of marriage, Eliza and James Keeler decided to Eliza with her children in and James moved with his other wife, to Eliza not any for the in her she that they had of it and out of Her Ann, only that her parents of time before the for the apparently was not was one of the family members most by For while he had only been the man of the house Shelton was at the of the for helping family by financially. as the Keelers’ economic of the twenty-five years that was he his new Shelton was with a more than a in her Eliza remembered that in James Keeler had left a of for Shelton to However, with she how Shelton to work with a heart to and this in even with the as he year later, the of he found a It a For their Eliza and her younger children that as the work of a living on the frontier was full of and Shelton to a of 7, while up on in a his to the and on of His was fellow as as his to the nearby house of a family who lived in Eliza home that from a of a was for her. He her about the and her to to see years later, as Eliza the the still her with She I I to see my in that out of his he not look like the same man was just years I to be for his Shelton was not in any to be so he at house for a Eliza with her time between for Shelton and for who lived a away and was to from a for her her up to on their a Shelton was to be to and Shelton in a and he was Once in her own Eliza for to look at first and only one for not a However, he had and was at an that family on After Shelton's Eliza how to Eliza not how she was to for his were or and it was he on this Eliza his to the with for Shelton, Eliza also from those she on She the of the to to and one of those who was of the In the he on Shelton, Eliza to that For two long she at his until one or two in the the on his in to after three of Shelton of his the sign of she had so for women had come to Eliza and Shelton in their house. they Eliza to Shelton with her that this would As soon as they to and she a to her I to It was He was to She He your the for Shelton several specific he wanted to to His it was not until two months that could Eliza to the to for that injury and were the of the for her He never in was not at all since that years after the on a of were to to Shelton could and make and his younger to with Eliza Shelton that he had and still was not as as he had been before the Yet Shelton that he only to be three and would be with a of from so be the two out with the each a in to make more were on their to out, so Shelton had to the one to first his own a and for the same to the of Shelton and the other left Shelton and a and in a were in a and Shelton with a could that Shelton was in and to to the nearby town of Shelton not up to the their and their with to the house of the Latter-day Saint of the Shelton into the for and The Black family all they could to for in several of the men who had on the had returned and Eliza that Shelton and were still on the for Eliza to the to for her The moment she to her at her the had just a that Shelton was at and was that Eliza a one can my to and who could Eliza to to be at Shelton's Eliza remembered that she had at a of She I can only to he yet by the of it was too Before she could even the to to her she another her that Shelton was the moment that he at had already in his March two after in Shelton passed several months after Shelton's as as Her in Shelton's death in her own that her never Although she knew her mother had passed that seemed to her so she hardly she was This so Eliza that it even seemed to at her in the of her diary, Eliza cried to in the agony of my my not more than I can I the Eliza, Shelton's seemed to be the of the and of nineteenth-century frontier This had Eliza and her family with almost and this existence had away her Shelton, who died as a of injury and while for the of his She cannot my was by Shelton's However, this the how common was it for frontier to their children this to a of nineteenth-century Utah Latter-day it was not for to their first year of of and of died before their first Eliza three of her children as However, this was still better than the in of and of were at this The of Utah have from among Latter-day Saints at the which to have been especially common among and which a to her were also yet they were also in Utah than in other of the In Utah, out of men died between the of and In out of and men were to between those same for the number of in were and the of of was in a in which there was of Latter-day Saints in the followed their the of which and In apparently community members from for it to make a on their likely not to since is than that of and it is at a However, the of to the of likely in a in life Yet, common than in the of death was still common that one in four men would before in For this like Shelton's were not unusual in nineteenth-century frontier the death of Shelton not an to and struggle for the his yet another since the family had to or of the to for James was living with Eliza and her children at time by this he was also in his and in poor with to out Shelton's and to up even more to provide for the in a of from to to He also found work he was away from home for living from to and from Salt Lake City to also started at like and were and even not the work Shelton had and struggled with the work of when who was or in He had been out a of with while from a and Before out the second his mother that he not like her son was from the Eliza to they only had the for a few The he was out the he Once on the without to any of his He was from a and his and also were He never his After long passed away on at the of this Eliza to her as an for her my this was more than could . . . I I so and and Shelton of death on the of two other the In from that sister and James's second passed away at the of after years of poor in the of the ill with and died in early his wife . . . with her on her almost of Eliza and James's from the in Utah, the out for the that to how difficult and frontier life could It was a struggle to support her family, with of and death always Yet there was another of this that support Eliza in That of was It seem that community could be a of frontier life for Eliza Keeler. After had not Eliza felt that her community had her the of the United that community had also her at in her For when she was living in that one-room “dobie” house in Spanish as a her had after her while her was away from in to see and all they That and others like it lasting of between Eliza and her in Spanish later, in the of Shelton's community members like and out of their to provide to the It was yet another who Eliza of Shelton's and to her to to be with after Shelton's others in to support in a time of and a had come to the Keeler home to that Eliza was too to community family and were an of for Eliza. this she was able to even in when she have it to like the death of her with her family, Eliza Shelton Keeler of the most of life in nineteenth-century Utah, and her a face on the Black Hawk War, the United Order, polygamy, and the of and economic

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