Trivia – A lot happens in this chapter, but all of it is germane to the core theme of the book (Birth and Death of Mormon Polygamy). As I move away from amazingly well documented events, I am taking some liberties. I don’t know that Jonathan and Elvira took in the Wellings and the Beuses, but I do know that the Church leadership took particular care to place the handcart pioneers, and it seems the large stone house would have been seen as a good refuge for some of those pioneers. The background for the Wellings and Beuses is true.

I also don’t know when during 1857 Josephine died, let alone how she passed. Nor do I know that Sister Floyd was there. But Widow Floyd is the sort of person who would have been there to help (she became the first Relief Society president in Farmington).

Historical accounts paint a picture of some 30,000 people streaming south to Provo. So I presume that Elvira and her daughters were part of that migration. Given Jonathan’s military background, it seems reasonable that he would have been assigned to execute the scorched earth policy, had tensions risen to the point of requiring it.