Rosella Newberry Morris Peck Jenkins 1848-1928
2010
This is one of many keepsake photographs in our collection of direct ancestor Rosella Newberry Morris Peck Jenkins. She was born in Lee County, Iowa in 1848. Her parents, George and Hannah Maria Newberry Morris had been driven from their home in Nauvoo, Illinois by a mob. Rosella was born just across the Mississippi River in Iowa. Her parents made several attempts to join the Saints for the trek west. When Rosella was two weeks old, they began. The family arrived in Utah the same year and settled in a makeshift shelter for the winter. There, Rosella’s mother cared for three small children including her new baby daughter.
In 1867, Rosella married Lucius Peck. The marriage lasted but a short time. In 1870 she married John Jenkins whose family had emigrated from Wales as converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. They became the parents of seven children including direct ancestor Mary Maria who was the sixth child.
Rosella was a teacher in the area of Pleasant Green and Coonville, which is present-day Magna, Salt Lake County, Utah. In her old age, she climbed a ladder to pick cherries and fell. A lump developed on her arm which resulted in the amputation of her right arm. In her last years, she lived with her daughter Ada. She died of cancer in 1928 and was buried in the Pleasant Green Cemetery in present-day Magna. She is buried next to her husband John Jenkins. Her daughter Mary, our direct ancestor, died the following year at the young age of forty-four.