Developing Pride in Our Gene Pool!

This distinguished couple are Miles and Elizabeth Gaskell Romney.
The two of them are my great, great, great grandparents!
Both were born in England. Miles in 1806, in Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire. Elizabeth was born in 1808, in the same shire.
Miles was a carpenter by trade.
They married on November 16th 1830.
When Miles and Elizabeth were going to market one day, they stopped to hear what Orson Pratt had to say about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
They were converted and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1837.
Miles was ordained an elder of the Church and served as a local preacher in the Preston conference. But soon he wished to cast his lot in with the Saints living in Utah. So he and Elizabeth and their 5 children, Sarah, Joseph, Ellen, GEORGE, and Elizabeth, sailed from Liverpool, England on February 27th, 1841. The ship donned the name of Sheffield and they were passengers aboard her for 7 weeks! They dropped anchor in the harbor of New Orleans, and from there the family proceeded up the Mississippi River on another boat to Nauvoo, Illinois. While Miles and his family resided in Nauvoo, he became foreman of all the woodwork of the beautiful Nauvoo Temple,from the beginning of work until it was completed.


In 1846, when the exodus began to vacate Nauvoo, Miles had to take his family to Burlington, Iowa because he lacked the funds to head west with the saints. They passed the winter months in Iowa looking for work to sustain them. The family contracted small pox while living there, and only Miles and Elizabeth and oldest son GEORGE escaped the ravages of the disease. The following spring they could finally move to St. Louis, Missouri, to begin preparations for the long trip across the plains. They started the long, arduous, wearisome journey in March 1850, with an ox team. On the 18th of October they reached their destination. That winter the family camped in their wagon boxes on Temple Block, and while living in these circumstances a baby daughter was born.
Miles became foreman of the Public Works Shop from 1851 to 1856

In 1856, Miles was sent on a mission back to England, where he remained for two years.
They left Salt Lake City April 22, 1856 and encountered a storm May 4, which lasted 3 days. They had to feed their animals bread and cover them with their bedding. They traveled several days in snow and their animals being weak, their progress was slow. Miles had sore feet and was very much fatigued from walking. On July 5, 1856, they embarked for England on the vessel called New World, departing from New York and landing in Liverpool on August 7, 1856. On January 1, 1857, he was appointed to preside over the Manchester, Liverpool and Preston Conferences.


In 1862 Miles and his family were sent to St George, Utah, and he found himself helping with the design and construction of the St George Temple, with emphasis on the wood work. Miles designed and built the spiral staircases in the Tabernacle. When Brigham Young came to see the staircase, he told Miles that it would have to go. Miles was adamant about it staying so he called 200 men and they lifted the balcony up, the pillars were cut off and the balcony was replaced. Brigham Young came again and said that he finally met a man that was as stubborn as he was. Miles was superintendent of all construction on the temple and also superintendent of public works. He labored zealously in the erection of the temple and tabernacle. Miles also built the back part of the President’s home in St. George.

On October 12, 1874, brother George Romney (his son), received a telegram informing him that his father, while working on the temple,had fallen from a ladder, which broke one of his arms and one of his legs. He received another dispatch stating that the injuries were very serious. They felt that Brother Romney, who at the time was 63 yr old, was possibly too old to recover, and being a heavy bodied man, the shock to his system in addition to the breaking of his bones, must have been very great.

Many friends hoped to hear of his favorable progress and recovery. The last dispatch stated that he seemed to be better on Saturday night than the previous night.
He did finally recover from this accident and resumed his activities on the temple and tabernacle.
Miles died May 3, 1877
In the Deseret News, May 9, 1877, there was a notice of his death after a short illness. The illness was caused by a fall from a window while working on the temple. The closing paragraph of the obituary read as follows:

“He was a kind father and a steadfast friend, liberal in his views and charitable in all, without fanaticism but firm in his faith. He died as he has lived in faith and fellowship. He leaves a wife, herself ill, seven children, fifty-seven grandchildren, five great grandchildren and a numerous circle of friends who mourn his departure. He was one of the noblest works of God, an honest man."

Elizabeth died 7 years later while still living in Dixie.

Miles and Elizabeth had 10 children in all; two of whom died very young.- The oldest son being George Romney, my great, great, grandfather.

I hope I have whet your appetite for more! Wait until you learn what George accomplished!!