The following is a set of articles which I previously published in the Clover Family Chronicles.

        I think the research is interesting so I am publishing it all here.  The gist of the matter is that Rebecca Clover was probably born ca. 1809, married 21 December 1826, James Nelson in Monroe County, Illinois.   Rebecca must have died between February 1846 and the date of the 1850 census. They joined the Mormon Church and moved to Nauvoo.  While they were there, Rebecca was baptized for some of her deceased relatives in 1842.  This means that she knew them personally, had personal knowledge of their death, and personally stated their relationship to her.  It is an excellent record because it is her own knowledge which was used here.

FHL microfilm no. 183376 Dated 1840-1841  These individuals were deceased by the date of the baptism. No specific date is given on the page.
Page 19. Mother of Rebecca: Catherine Clover
              Sister or Rebecca: Anna Clover
Page 28 Father of Rebecca: Jacob Clover
            Brother of Rebecca: Jacob Clover
            Uncle of Rebecca: Williams[sic] Clover
            Aunt of Rebecca: Elizabeth Clover
Page 113: Abraham Nelson by Grandson James Nelson
page 157 Elizabeth Taylor dau of Jane Nelson
page 171 Milly Williams, by half brother James Nelson
Page 174 Price Nelson by nephew James Nelson

Volume C, page 11 from item one on FHL 485753, entitled Navoo Proxies.
Uncle of Rebecca: John Harness  
Uncle of Rebecca: John Shehan
Aunt of Rebecca: Sarah Shehan [Note: I think this is her mother's sister, Sarah Harness.]
Cousin of Rebecca: Rebecca Clover [I think this is the daughter of William Clover]
Cousin of Rebecca:  Maria Walton [I think this is the daughter of John and Sarah Shehan.]

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Volume E page 313: 21 September 1839. James Nelson and Rebecca Nelson, his wife (late Rebecca Clover) to James Bradshaw, $26, all their right of the estate of Jacob Clover died siezed, the said estate containing 22 acres more or less and being one/fourth part of the land the said Jacob Clover Junior inherited of his father’s estate and being part of the tract of land on which Jacob Clover Senr died. Both signed with a mark. 

Phyllis Veath tripped over this deed while doing something else and immediately realized that she had struck gold. Previous to this, neither of us was sure which Rebecca died and which married James Nelson. It proves not only that Jacob Clover, Junior, was her brother, and that the Rebecca Clover who married the James Nelson was Jacob Sr.’s daughter. In Jacob’s will in 1821, he does not name his children. But we know, courtesy of this deed, that Rebecca was one of his heirs. The other three were Henry, Elias, John Clover, as named in the critical deed cited in Volume 10, Issue 1. Three cheers for Phyllis and many thanks to her for sending a copy of this deed.
    It should be noted that Jacob’s will divided the real estate equally between his sons.  So Rebecca Nelson inherited 1/4 share of the land from her deceased brother, Jacob Clover, JR.  In fact this is the only way, she could have inherited it since Jacob’s 1821 will left the land specifically to his unnamed sons and no land to his daughters.

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I published the following article in The Clover Family Exchange,Spring 2001, volume 10, page 43.  It is copyrighted 2001 by June C. Byrne

    Church Records: The following excerpt is from Edmond Nelson-Jane Taylor Family History V. 1, compiled by Mansel Hyrum Nelson; edited by George Kimball Nelson and Donna Nymeyer, (Provo, Utah: J. Grant Stevenson, 1970), 87.  A copy of this page was sent to me by Gorden Carlson of Boise, Idaho.  He is a Nelson researcher but took time to answer my query. [James Nelson married Rebecca Clover, 21 December 1826, Monroe County, Illinois.]
“38. James³ Nelson (Thomas², Abraham¹), was born 15 June 1793 in Orange County, N.C. His marriage license was dated 21 Dec. 1826, Monroe County, Illinois.  He married Rebecca Clover, who was born 12 ___ 1809 in Monroe County.  She was the daughter of Jacob and Catherine Clover.
    James and his wife were members of the Mormon Church and helped to build the Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois.  Rebecca was baptized (1841-1843) for the following of her relatives: Catherine & Jacob Clover, her parents; Annie Clover, her sister; Jacob Clover, her brother; Uncle Williams Clover; Aunt Elizabeth Clover; Uncle John Harness; Uncle John Shaham; Aunt Sarah Shaham; and cousins Rebecca Clover and Martha Waltin.  James being the first born of Thomas, had the right and privilege of being baptized for his kindred dead as follows: Grandfather Abraham Nelson, Uncle Price Williams; Aunt Sarah Williams; and half-sister Milly Williams.
    James was a friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was called on a mission to Illinois by him on 15 Apr. 1844.  James was to go forth unto the people and preach peace and good will to them.  Less than three months later his beloved prophet was cruelly murdered.
    We know nothing of his family or children if he had any or what became of Rebecca.”
    I am printing this exactly as it is written including obvious errors such as “Uncle Williams Clover.” You will see that this is a very interesting source but it is not an original one.  It comes from early Mormon records and I have not yet found out if it is possible to get a copy of the actual baptismal records or not. Some of these early church records are available only to actual descendants and church members.  According to Mormon practice, when Rebecca was baptized for her family members, these were only the deceased family members of whom she had personal knowledge. This accounts for the omission of other known family members.  Also, she was clearly alive and in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois in 1841-1843. When she is baptized for her Uncle William(s) Clover, we know that she did actually have an uncle with this name and that he was deceased before the date of the baptism. This is an excellent source because it would have come from Rebecca’s own statements about her family.  I should also mention that, at that time, couples did not go on missions together so James may have gone somewhere on a mission leaving Rebecca at home.  However, the Mormons were driven out of Navoo shortly after this, so they may have started to Utah together and she may have died en route.
    There is some information about this couple in the Ancestral File which has Rebecca’s birth date as 12 March 1809 in Monroe County, Illinois.  I am still trying to track down a source for this date, but suspect that she gave it in the original Mormon record.  This may not be fully legible which would explain the entry in the book.  No death date for her is known.  James is said to have died 1 October 1853 near Uintah Spring (Fountain Green), Sanpete, Utah.  His parents are listed as Thomas Burton Nelson and Martha Williams in the Ancestral File.
    The information from this record tells us that John and Sarah (Harness) Shehan were her uncle and aunt.  Rebecca’s mother, Catherine, therefore had to be Sarah’s sister. Uncle William Clover had to be Jacob’s brother. Rebecca had two previously unknown siblings, Annie, her sister, and Jacob, her brother.  Aunt Elizabeth Clover’s identity is not clear. However, since she is listed with Uncle William Clover, it is possible that this was his wife.  This particular information is very interesting because his wife’s first name is unknown.  Leonard Harness had a daughter named Elizabeth and it has been suspected that William married a child of Leonard Harness because William was made the guardian of the two minor heirs of Leonard Harness.  This information from Rebecca would suggest that William might have married Elizabeth Harness.  However, this is not proof.  There are a lot of Harnish records in Monroe county and I do not think that all of them have been searched.  Rebecca states that her cousin Rebecca Clover is deceased which means that the Rebecca Clover in the Monroe County probate records is the daughter of William Clover.  The cousin, Martha Waltin, was daughter of John Shehan.

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The following article was published in the Clover Family Exchange, Fall 2001, Volume 11 issue 1page 17.  It is copyrighted 2001 by June C. Byrne

     In the last article, I gave information on the relatives of Rebecca Nelson which sounded to me as if it had come from Mormon church records. After checking with Salt Lake City, I have now located at least some of them.  A photocopy is below.  The information is as follows: On Sunday, 25 September 1842, Rebecca Nelson was baptized as a proxy as the niece of John Harness, John Shehan, Sarah Shehan, and the cousin of Rebecca Clover and Maria Walton.  This baptism would have been done in the river at Nauvoo, Illinois.  It proves that she believed the relationships as stated were true and that the persons named were deceased.  The copy is from Volume C, page 11 from item one on FHL 485753, entitled Navoo Proxies.
   

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This article was orginally published in The Clover Family Chronicles, Fall 2004, Issue 6, pages 176-7. It is copyfighted 2004 by June C. Byrne

    James Nelson and Rebecca Clover were married 21 December 1826 in Monroe County, Illinois. Rebecca was the daughter of Jacob Clover and Catherine Harness. For further information about this pair, see The Clover Family Exchange 10: 2: 43, 11: 1: 17 and 31, and The Clover Family Chronicles, Issue 1, page 7. I have been trying to locate more information on them.  I always do some tracing on siblings because I always think that there might be a clue in their records. I have also wanted to find a date of birth for her.  I am still trying to figure out approximate marriage and birth dates for her parents.
    Because James and Rebecca joined the Mormon Church in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, prior to 1842, their names appear in a number of Mormon reference works.  Lacking expertise in this area of research, I went to an expert on early Mormon research to see if I could find out anything else.  I was told that Rebecca’s birth date of March 12 is probably in the Temple Files (TIB). These are not available to non church members. Consequently, we cannot be sure of this.  However, there was an endowment done on 6 February 1846, which is a ceremony of the church.  In the Nauvoo temple in 1846, endowments were only done for the living. Endowments for the dead were not done until a later date. It would have been at this time that she gave them her birth date.  Consequently, although I cannot see the records, I am satisfied that this is where her birth date came from and since she would have given it herself, it is as accurate as we are going to get.  Also, we know that she was still alive on the date of the endowment. 
    What we do not know is the actual year of her birth.  There are a number of dates floating around in the Ancestral File and the IGI.  The year does not appear to be in TIB therefore all of these dates are just guesses.   There are two female children in the 1820 census of Jacob Clover.  One was aged 16-26 and one was aged under 10. Rebecca could have been either. Her sister, Anne, died without issue.  If the census was close to correct, Rebecca was born between 1794 and 1804, or about 1811. Remembering that she married in 1826, she could have been either female child. But this is all supposition and I don’t think that anyone really knows.  Since I cannot be absolutely sure of anything from these very early censuses, we need another source.  I am still looking.  
    The first wave of emigrants left Nauvoo in February 1846 with Brigham Young and other church leaders.  Her endowment was done just before that.  By 1847, nearly all of the Mormons had left Nauvoo because of the Mormon Wars.   Prior to this, James Nelson and Rebecca were involved in an abortive attempt to move several families westward.  They took a flatboat up the river to Iowa City, where they sold their boat, and took wagon and teams. They went up the river about ten miles and wintered there. In March of 1845, they yoked the oxen and began to move along the river. They had no road and were often required to walk in water up to their ankles.  There were 130 people in the wagon train and they ran short of provisions.  They crossed the Prairie to Sioux River, which they crossed with ropes. After much suffering, they ended up going back because of strife among the members of the wagon train.  Clearly, the Nelsons made it back to Nauvoo, because of Rebecca’s endowment in February 1846.
    Rebecca must have died between February 1846 and the date of the 1850 census. James Nelson was living in Iowa and there was no sign of Rebecca.  I requested a lookup of Nauvoo and of Pottawattomie County, Iowa cemetery records on line and neither researcher found a tombstone for her so she may have died on the way to Iowa. 
    ∙    1850 Pottawattomie, Iowa district 21, NARA M432 roll 188, page 108, line 23, 704/704: James Nelson male 57 NC laborer, Mary Lane 16 female Illinois.
    According to what is probably again a Temple Endowment Record (TIB), James Nelson was born 15 January 1793, North Carolina. The endowment was done in the same time frame as Rebecca’s.  On Saturday, 1 October 1853, James Nelson, along with others, was killed by Indians at Uintah Springs, Sanpete Valley.  I am not quite sure where this was, but Sanpete Valley is in Sanpete County which is due south of Salt Lake City. 
    There is a book on early church members which includes material on Rebecca and her family which I have already published. The only new information in the book is that some baptisms took place in the morning and some in the evening.  This book has some birth dates in it for Jacob and Catherine that I think are just guess work from Ancestral File.  The dates were not in the records of the Baptisms of the Dead because I have seen those and published a photocopy. There are no children listed in any of the records for James and Rebecca.  My LDS expert is of the opinion that there were no children.  He said that if there had been, there would have been some record within the church.
    This makes me very unhappy because I was in great hopes that somewhere in those enormous church files, I would find some tidbits of data on Rebecca’s family.  Apparently, we are out of luck.

(1) Rebecca Clover Nelson Entry, Early Church Information Card Index no. 1144, FHL 1750668.
(2) Jacob Clover household 1820 U.S. Census Monroe County, Illinois, page 66: 120101-10110
(3) Expedition of the Emmett Company as recorded by William Decater Karichner, manuscript, FHL 485340, item 67.
(4) James Nelson entry, Early Church Information Card Index no. 542, FHL 1750701.
(5) Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, A Record of Important Events Relating to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1914), 49. 
(6) Susan Easton Black and Harvey Biscoff Black, Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead 1840-1845, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, Volume K-O, page 2625. 

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