User:Beliaprhun/George Staples

George Staples

George Staples, immigrant from England, was a key figure in enabling the peaceful settlement of ssouth south central Utah, particularly Millard and Sevier Counties. He was noted for his skill in negotiating with and making friends with neighboring Native American tribes, particularly the Kanosh band of the Pahvant Ute tribe.

Early Life

Staples was born George Stapleton in Redmarley, Worcestershire, England on June 8, 1834 and baptised into the Church of England on July 6 of that year in St. Bartholomew's Parish. He was the eldest son of James Stapleton (1810-1874), a stone mason, and Sarah Limbrick, a maid to Queen Victoria.

The family was of limited means and moved frequently in the London area where father James could be close to his contruction projects and mother Sarah close to her duties to the queen. In 1841, the family was met by missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and accepted baptism into that faith in December of that year.

Unlike their American counterparts, early English Mormons were not subjected to the persecution and opposition of their neighbors. Nevertheless, most of them emmigrated to the United States to join the main boody of the church. It is beleived the Stapleton family shortened the family name to Staples at about this time in honor of their new egaltarian faith since the Stapleton name was linked with British royalty, a link which possibly had enabled the mother to obtain employment with Queen Victoria. However, another version of family lore states that the Stapleton name was not changed until the family arrived in America as a token of loyalty to their adopted country.

In either case, the Staples family worked and saved to earn passage to America and determined that George, as the eldest son, would be the first to leave and prepare a place for the rest of the family to follow.

Adoption by the Sioux

On January 6, 1850, George joined a group of emmigrants aboard the saling vessel Argo, bound for New Orleans, where it arrived on February 25. The common route for immigrants at this time was to board a northbound steamship at New Orleans and discharge at St. Louis. A smaller steamer was boarded at St. Louis and would then continue on along the Missouri River, generally discharging all passengers at Independence, which was then the western terminis of the frontier and jumping off point to the Oregon Trail or California.

However, Mormons were not allowed to stay in Missouri due to the 1838 Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, which had not been rescinded. Accordingly, at a safe distance from Independence, Mormon passengers would transfer to a smaller chartered river barge which would continue up the Missouri River to its terminis at Winter Quarters, the Mormon settlement which was to later become Omaha, Nebraska.

Winter Quarters was designed as a temporary settlement to assist Mormon immigration to the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, then not yet three years old. Those with the financial means to do so would stay at Winter Quarters only long enough to get outfitted for the trip west. Those without would grow crops, build shelter and otherwise assist those moving through until they accumulated the financial means to move on.

It is likely that young George did not remain long since late May or early June was the prime season for beginning the trek west as grass and water would be available to the livestock pulling the wagons. By early August, the wagon train with which George was traveling had reached the plains of eastern Wyoming and passed through the government facility at Ft. Laramie, where westward bound travelers would typically take a few days to rest, repair wagons and replenish supplies for the most difficult part of the journey.

According to family lore, a few days out of Ft. Laramie, young George took ill with mountain fever. The company allowed him to ride in one of the wagons, but it became clear he would not likely recover nor would a rest be possible with the company's schedule and great distance from civilization. Thus, George was entrusted to a fur trapper met on the trail who promised to take him back to Ft. Laramie where the trapper was heading and, should he die, mark the grave on the trail. Some days from the fort, the trapper was met by a friendly band of Sioux with whom he had traded and persuaded to entrust his care to the tribe.

George not only recovered from his illness, but became an adopted member of the tribe and learned their language. The tribe was protective of their newest member, but would not allow him to join war or raiding parties, telling him that he needed to stay behind to protect the women and children. Young George was thus torn between the family duties expected from his parents who were due to sail from England two years later and his adopted Sioux family. Not knowing how to find the trail in a strange land anyway, he determined to stay with his adopted family until his own family arrived from England.

However, according to a journal entry of Luke W. Gallup, secretary for the Justus Morse Company with whom young George traveled, he left the wagon train of his own accord on August 7, 1850 near Ft. Laramie, indicating that it was more likely that he was recruited by the Sioux tribe.

In either case, the rest of the family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley late in the summer of 1852. Father James, having settled his family in for the winter, proceed to follow the leads and rumors of a white boy living with the Sioux back toward Ft. Laramie and they were reunited in October of that year, following a promise that George would continue to be a member of the tribe and spend his life working for peaceful relations between red men and white men

Settlement in Utah

As George worked to adapt once again to the life of an English immigrant on the American frontier, he met and courted Lauraette Rappleye, the daughter of Tunis Rappleye, the Mormon company leader of the second group into the Salt Lake Valley which arrived August 4, 1847. They were married on February 22, 1854 and would go on to become the parents of a dozen children, six daughters and six sons, all of whom lived to adulthood.

External links

Media related to Beliaprhun/George Staples at Wikimedia Commons

• Extract of Luke Gallup Dairy