David Bowman Stoddart 1803 - 1851

David Bowman Stoddart (1803 - 1851)

David Bowman Stoddart was born abt 1803 most likely in Inveresk, Midlothian. He was one of eight known children of James Stoddard and Martha Miller. We are unable to find a baptismal record for him, but the estimated date of birth is based up burial records and census. 

David and all of his male siblings were coal miner, most likely having started working in the mines at a very early age as a carter or putter before graduating up to a miner around the age of 14. It is likely he started working in the mines around Cockpen, but by late 1828 he was working in one of the mines in Gladmuir - most likely Penston or Macmerry, and it was here he met and formed a relationship with Christian Smith. Christian was the daughter of Robert Smith and Christian Brown. The couple had at least one daughter 

• Janet Stoddart Born 1829 Died 1918 Married William Hardie

Recent DNA test indicates that Christians eldest daughter - Christian Falconer - may also be the child of David Stoddart, despite being consistently recorded as the daughter of Archibald Falconer.

In February 1830 we know that David was living at Blindwells where he was most likely working as Quakers Pit. On 11 February 1830 Christian petitioned the Sheriff Court under the Paternity Court Process to ensure that David paid support for his daughter, the court records show that she was awarded £4 per annum (to be paid quarterly - ie £1 per quarter).

Despite the finding, it appears that David paid support for the first four quarters, and then stopped as there was a second petition to the Sheriff Courts on July 1 1834 petition. In this petition it is clear that David owes "fifteen quarters ailment commencing on the twenty ninth day of September Eighteen hundred and thirty and ending on the twenty ninth june last the quarter then due" this was a total of £15. In addition to this £15 he was ordered to also pay £2 7s and 8p for expenses - made up of

• 11s being "the expenses of making up states of accounts of and of correspondance" 
• £1 10s and 8p of "expenses of process"
• 6s farther as "the expense of extracting this dreed and recording the same"

We do not know if he was forthcoming at this point, or whether he maintain payments in the future, however there are no further petitions, so one can assume that there was a settlement

It is quite likely that the reason he stopped paying ailment had something to do with the fact that he had decided to marry. On July 29 1831 David married Violet Hood at Inveresk with Musselburgh. Violet was the daughter of James Hood and ?. David and Violet had at least six children

• David Stoddart Born 1832
• John Francis Stoddart Born 1834 Died 1913
• James B Stoddart Born 1836 Died 1842
• Janet Stiel Stoddart Born 1839
• Alexander Stoddart Born 1841 Died 1920
• James Stoddart Born 1846 Died 1846

In the 1841 census we see him living at Craighall South Row in Inveresk. his age is recorded as 30, however we know there are significant rounding errors in the 1841 census. 

Davids son James dies at age 6 on 17 July 1842 and is buried in Inveresk It appears that after their marriage until at least 1846 David and Violet continued to live in Inveresk - all of their children were baptised there. 

In October 1842, there is another child born - also names James who it appears died not long after birth and was buried at Newbattle on 7 Oct 1842

In the 1839's, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went to Scotland. Davids brother John Miller Stoddard converted to the Mormon religion some time around 1844, and based on family verbal history convinced a number of his family to do so as well - including David. The second step of conversion was "gathering to Zion" which was the call to go to America and join the main body of the Saints in building out the permenant base for the church. In Spring 1847 Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley and declared it to be the new place of the gathering of the saints. So with a 

So the Stoddard family would have begun saving to that they could cross the ocean, cross the plains, and pioneer a new land in the Great American Desert. The cost was about $5 per person, and some was subsidised by the Perpetual Emigration Fund - especially for those with needed skills. John and his family were the first to emigrate in September 1848.

Sometime in early 1849 David (43) and Violet decided to take their four children - David (17), John (15), Jane (10) and Alexander (8) - to make the 'journey to Zion'. Johns son Alexander along with his wife and two children accompanied them. 

According to family oral history about July 1849 the group departed from Scotland and made their way to Liverpool where they Boarded the 'Berlin' on 5 September 1849. They arrived in New Orleans on 23 October 1849. The ship held 253 Mormons under the presidency of James G Brown. It was apparently a long and difficult voyage, with a cholera outbreak that resulted in 43 deaths - 28 of who were from the Mormon party - as well as rough weather and a three week becalming. Apparently the group were not well treated by the ships captain.  The deaths onboard included Ellen and Martha Stoddart - Alexanders wife and infant daughter.

Upon arrival in New Orleans they were sent up the Mississippi River to St Louis by the church agent Thomas McKenzie, where John was still residing - no doubt awaiting Alexanders arrival.

After arriving in St Louis David took a job as a miner - most likely in the coal mines on Dry Hill where his brother and nephews were working. Violet died not long after the family arrived in the United States, but the exact date is  unknown, however we can be sure it was before 25 October 1850 - the date of the US Federal Census - which sees David living next door to his brother John at "South Half St Louis Township" with his four children.

We are unable to confirmed David's activities, we do know that only one of his children journeyed west, and there is a there is record of a David Bowman Stoddart being buried in 1851 at Cedar City that is currently attributed to him. In terms of his children

• it appears that his son David travelled west as a Teamster for William Yates or Charles Llewelling initially with James McGaw company and then later with Crandall Dunn Company of 50 people when it split off from the main group. The initial company included 239 people with 54 wagons and it was organised at the outfitting post at Kanesville Iowa. The departed on 17 Jun 1852 and split from the main group on ? and arrived in Salt Lake City on 8 September 1852 - 9 days ahead of the McGaw Compnay. It does not appear that he stayed in Utah. If this is the relevant David, then he married Eliza J van Amringe and they had about x childnre - Augustus !ynne He is found in 1860 at Iowa Hill, Township 7 Placer, California
• his son John Francis  appears to have joined the US Army in 1854 - most likely for the Kansas ? - then marrying Eliza Thrutchley in 1857 in St Louis and ultimately settling in Caseyville Illinois . He joined the military again in 1864 and fought for the Union during the civil war. He was baptised in the Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints on 1 Augu 1880 at Caseyville Illinois. Betweek 1900 and 1910 he moved to Sandoval Marion County Illinois where he died in 1913
• his daughter Jean Stiel married George A Smith in 1854 in Madison Illinois. They had about 10 children and Jean died in Caseyville Illinois some time in the 1870s
• his son Alexander served in the Union army from 1861 to 1865. He married Mary Long in St Louis Missouri in 1866. They had 10 children. He lived in Sandoval Marion, Illinois until 1890s when he moved back to St Louis Missouri, where his wife died in 1911 and he passed away in 1920

Based on this, we believe that he travelled with his brother as part of the Easton Company in 1851, dying not long after their arrival in Cedar City, some time between 11 Nov and 31 December 1851. It does seem strange that he is not explicity mentioned on the company lists on the LDS website, or in the trail journals or by his nephew David in his recount of the the trip, nor is there a marker available in Cedar City - unlike his brother John. Johns biography contains a short summary of the The Journey to Salt Lake Valley based on trail journeys and extracts from a personal history recounted by David Kerr Stoddard - Johns Son

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