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Pioneer Database

1847–1868

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Date Unknown

Date Unknown

Birth Date
6 October 1817
Death Date
26 September 1864
Gender
Male
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John Moburn Kay

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Search for this pioneer on Early Mormon Missionaries Find this person in FamilySearch Find this person in Mormon Migration
  • Initially the Kay family traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with the Brigham Young Company in 1848.  The Kay family included John Moburn, his wife Ellen Cockcroft and his children Sarah, Maria, Elizabeth, and Ellen.  Maria died en route. 

    In Jacob Peart’s diary, he mentions that Susan Roberts Miller and Martha Royle were John Kay’s “women.”  It is possible that they were his wives.

    In 1858, at the end of a mission, John traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with the Orson Pratt/Ezra T. Benson Company.

    Then, at the end of another mission, he traveled home with the Warren S. Snow Company in 1864.  He died en route.  The Hyde and Snow companies traveled closely together and his wife, Ellen, is listed as a member of the Hyde company.  His death en route is confirmed in the obituary of his daughter, Annie Kay Hardy.

    More research is needed to confirm his date of death.

Brigham Young Company (1848)

  • Age at Departure: 30
  • Head of Household
  • Died en Route

Traveled with

  • Ellen Kay (Age: 34)
  • Martha Royle (Age: 25)
  • Sarah Kay (Age: 10)
  • Maria Kay (Age: 8)
  • Elizabeth Kay (Age: 6)
  • Ellen Kay (Age: Infant)

Orson Pratt/Ezra T. Benson Company (1857)

  • Age at Departure: 40

Warren S. Snow Company (1864)

  • Age at Departure: 46
  • Returning Missionary
  • Head of Household
  • Died en Route

Traveled with

  • Ellen Maria Partington Kay (Age: 29)

Sources

  • A Mormon chronicle: the Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876 edited and annotated by Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks (1955), 1:30-79.
  • Alexander Neibaur journal, 1841 February-1862 April, 26-38.
  • "Arrivals," Deseret News [Weekly], 20 Jan. 1858, 365.
  • Aveson, Mary Ann Rawlings, Reminiscences, in Gladys Rawlings Lemmon, Comp. A History of the Richard Rawlings Family: Ancestors—Descendants,[1986], 98-101.
  • Bennion, Desla Slade, Biography of Amelia Eliza Slade Bennion,13-16.
  • "Correspondence," Deseret Evening News, 19 October 1868, 2.
  • "Death of Elder John M. Kay," Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star , 19 Nov. 1864, 750.
  • First 100, report, 1848 June.
  • G. Q. C., "Obituary," Deseret News [Weekly], 30 Nov. 1864, 68.
  • George Halliday diary and reminiscences, 1845-1898, 143.
  • Historian's Office, Journal 1844-1997, 19 Jan. 1858.
  • Hosea Stout reminiscences and journals, 1845-1869, Volume 3, 376-79, and, Volume 4, 1-41.
  • Jacob Peart diary, 1847-1872, 33.
  • Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Supplement after 31 December 1848, 6.
  • McNiven, Lydia Littlefield, Autobiography 1927 July 20, [7-10].
  • Missionary Department Missionary Registers, 1860-1959, Volume 1.
  • Nielsen, Peder Christian, Journal, 1859 Mar.-1878 July.
  • "Noted Pioneer Woman Expires," Ogden Standard Examiner , 4 May 1926, 3.
  • "Obituary," Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star , 21 Jan. 1865, 43-44.
  • Oliver Boardman Huntington, Diary, Volume 9.
  • "Our Immigration," Deseret News [Weekly], 19 Oct. 1864, 21.
  • Symons, Charles William, [Autobiography], in Juvenile Instructor , Sept. 1931, 519.
  • Symons, Charles William, [Autobiography], in Carley Budd Meredith and Dean Symons Anderson, comp., The Family of Charles William Symons and Arzella Whitaker Symons [1986], 6, 8.
  • Symons, Charles William, "Life of Charles William Symons," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine , Apr. 1939, 92-3.
  • Webb, Mary Ann Ward, "The History of Mary Ann Ward Webb and Her Diary of the Journey to Utah (1864)," in Robert R. King and Kay Atkinson King, Mary Ann Ward Webb: Her Life and Ancestry [1996], 98-103.
  • White, Edward H., Patriarch Edward H. White's Talk to His Family, [2-3].
  • William Thompson journal excerpts in Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1896-2001 July, 24 September 1848, 17-54.