Ebenezer Beesley (1840 - 1906)

Born 14 Dec 1840 in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Hancock) Beesley — married 26 Mar 1859 in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England

Descendants

Died 21 Mar 1906 at age 65 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA

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Ebenezer Beesley was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

Ebenezer was born in 1840. He passed away in 1906.

In 1859, Beesley emigrated to Utah Territory in the George Rowley Handcart Company with his family, including first wife Sarah Hancock Beesley.They first lived in Tooele, Utah, but later they moved to Salt Lake City. In the 19th Ward in Salt Lake City, Beesley served as both choir director and music director for Sunday School. He studied under George Careless. In 1863, Beesley joined the Salt Lake Theatre Orchestra, where he played the violin. In 1869 he married Anne Frewin Buckeridge in a polygamist marriage and had 6 children with her. He became the father of 16 children in total between the years 1860 and 1883.

Beesley was a contributor to the Juvenile Instructor magazine. He also was one of the men appointed by John Taylor to oversee the publication of the 1860 (and later the 1883) Latter-day Saints' Psalmody, which was the first LDS Church hymnbook to include music.

In 1880, Beesley became the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In September of that year, Beesley led the choir's first excursion outside of Salt Lake City on a trip to American Fork, Utah where they performed with the local choir for a large group of citizens. Beesley served as the choir director until 1889. ^[1]

"Latter Day Saints' Immigration," Deseret News, 24 August 1859, 197.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia
2. ↑ Latter Day Saints' Immigration

• 1851 England Census
• 1880 United States Federal Census
• England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
• England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
• England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973
• Find A Grave: Memorial #27200438
• Utah, Sons of Utah Pioneers, Companies Index, 1846-1868
• "Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9B-HKWW : 10 February 2018), Ebenezer Beesley, Sep 1859; from "Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel: 1847-1868," database, > The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/ : 2004-).
• Esshom, Frank Ellwood Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah (Utah Pioneers Book Publishing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913)