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        Pioneer Database

        1847–1868

        Home Companies Switch to Keyword Search
        Birth Date
        15 October 1838
        Death Date
        10 June 1921
        Gender
        Female

        Ellen Mason

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        • Ellen was the daughter of Biddy Mason. She was an enslaved African American girl and traveled with Robert M. Smith according to, "John Brown's company of 10, report." 

          The 1850 Census was actually taken in 1851.  

          1900 Census states that Ellen was born October 1842.

          Delilah Beasley's book, The Negro Trail Blazers of California, cites a family bible that states that states Ellen was born 15 October 1838. Indirect sources including censuses and Ellen's death index infer different years of birth. 

        Willard Richards Company (1848)

        • Age at Departure: 9

        Traveled with

        • Robert Mays Smith (Age: 43)
        • Rebecca Ruth Smith (Age: 38)
        • Biddy Mason (Age: 29)
        • Rande (Age: 26)
        • John Dorn Smith (Age: 13)
        • William D. Smith (Age: 11)
        • Elijah B. Smith (Age: 9)
        • James S. Smith (Age: 5)
        • Ann Mason (Age: 4)
        • Sarah F. Smith (Age: 3)
        • Joseph Smith (Age: Infant)
        • Jane (Age: Infant)
        • Harriet Mason (Age: Infant)
        • Hannah Smith (Age: Unknown)
        • Nelson (Age: Unknown)
        • Lawrence (Age: Unknown)
        • Ann (Age: Unknown)

        Sources

        • 1900 United States Federal Census
        • African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary , Dorothy C. Salem, ed., New York: Garland Publishing, 1993, 351.
        • Beasley, Delilah L. The Negro Trail Blazers of California (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1919), 109-110.
        • Brown, John Zimmerman, comp. Autobiography of Pioneer John Brown, 1820-1896 (Salt Lake City, 1941), 88, 96, 100.
        • California, Death Index, 1905-1939.
        • California State Census, 1852.
        • Carter, Kate B. The Story of the Negro Pioneer. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1965), 33.
        • John Brown's company of 10, report, 1848 June in Camp of Israel schedules and reports 1845-1849.
        • Mississippi company, report, 1848 May in Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849.
        • Mulford, Karen Surina. Trailblazers: Twenty Amazing Western Women (Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Publishing, 2001), 2, 24-31. 
        • Notable Black American Women , Jessie Carney Smith, ed., Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1992.
        • "Slave Inhabitants in Utah County, Deseret," 1850 Utah Census, Utah County.