Their father was born during 1846 trek
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On a rainy Sunday 150 years ago, five minutes after crossing the Chariton River in Iowa, Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs gave birth to a son in her wagon. She named him Chariton after the location where he was born.
Carried on to the Salt Lake Valley, Henry Chariton Jacobs was raised in President Brigham Young's household. He grew to be a patriarch in the Church and remained a stalwart Latter-day Saint throughout his life.Three of his children, a daughter and two sons - now in their 90s - fondly remember their father. With this one-generation connection to a member of the Camp of Israel, the Nauvoo exodus does not seem so far in the past.
The three, Oa Jacobs Cannon, Heber Grant Jacobs and Joseph Smith Jacobs (who goes by Smith), gathered recently at the apartment of Sister Cannon to share their reminiscenses of their pioneer father with the Church News.
"The Pioneers knew how to brand their kids so they'd stay in the Church," joked Smith, referring to his and Heber's illustrious names.
The three are the last survivors of Chariton's 15 children. His marriage to their mother, Emma Rigby Jacobs, on July 7, 1893, was his second and yielded eight children. His first wife, Susan Stringham Jacobs, with whom he had seven children, died Oct. 26, 1892.
Chariton's mother was the third president of the Relief Society.
Oa, now 94, is the youngest of Chariton's daughters and a scrupulous record keeper. Among her records is a story told by her father when he was about 50 regarding his birth on the Iowa plains on March 22, 1846. His mother already had a 4-year-old son at the time.
