A Brief History of Emma Wilde Carruth
Emma Wilde was born 19 Jan 1849 in Portswood, Hampshire, England and was a daughter of Henry Brown Wilde and Sarah Hewlett. Later that year, her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Saints at that time were encouraged to gather to designated areas in America where they could be of support too each other and build up Zion. Emma’s parents soon made preparations to leave their native land and travel to America. They left about a year and a half after joining the church, sailing from England 6 Jan 1851. Emma was two years old at this time.
After nine weeks at sea, the Wilde family arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana. They remained there for a year or so to obtain the resources they needed continue their journey to the Utah Territory in the west. They then took a steamboat up the Mississippi River, then the Missouri River, to Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. Unfortunately, Emma’s grandmother Jane Brown Wilde who was traveling with them contracted malarial fever. She died and was buried in Jackson County Missouri.
At Council Bluffs, they purchased supplies, a covered wagon, an team of oxen, and a cow and started off across the plains. Part way there Emma’s brother Henry died after falling from a tree he’d climbed. He was buried along the Platte River in Nebraska 20 Aug 1852.
The family continued on their long journey across the plains and arrived at their destination in the Salt Lake Valley of the Utah Territory in September of that same year. After moving several times in the next few years, they finally settled in the new settlement of Coalville, Summit, Utah Territory in about 1860. Emma would have been about 11 years old at the time.
About 10 years later, Emma Wilde married William Carruth, son of William Carruth and Margaret Ellwood 9 May 1870 in the Salt Lake Endowment House. William was born 29 Apr 1850 in South Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. His parents had been converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ back in Scotland and had come to America in 1848.
Emma and William Carruth made Coalville their permanent home and all of their 11 children (5 boys and 6 girls) were born there: Margaret Emma (1871-1958), William Henry (1872-1951), Joseph Theron (1874-1958), Sarah Annie (1876-1933), Nellie Jane (1878-1970), Mary Edeth (1881-1955), John Ellwood (1883-1974), Maude Marion (1884-1965), Ray Thomas (1886-1949), Effie Ellen (1889-1927), and Frank Wilde (1893-1961). All of their children lived to adulthood which was uncommon back then.
They had been married for 52 years, when William died 15 Oct 1922 in Coalville at the age of 72. Emma lived another 21 years as a widow and died 28 Aug 1943 in Coalville at the age of 94.
This story was written by Mary A., great great great granddaughter of Emma Wilde Carruth's uncle William Wilde. The above photos are courtesy of the John Wilde Research Foundation.
Sources:
“A Brief History of Henry Brown Wilde of Coalville Utah” by O. Gerald Wilde
"History of Henry Brown Wilde" by Doran K. Wilde
"Margaret Barr Carruth" by herself. Margaret Barr Carruth Cahoon was a sister of William Carruth's father William.
"A family tree can wither
if nobody tends it's roots"
- author unknown
Do you have photos or stories of related ancestors you would like to share?
If so, please contact me and I would be happy to post them on the site and will source them accordingly.
Links not functioning?
Please contact us if you discover that any of the links on this site are not functioning properly. Please also remember that links in red will take you to other websites are supposed to open in a new window but that function is down, so in order to not be led away from this site you will need to right click on the red links and choose "open in a new window". Links in blue are to pages within this site. Thanks.