Each month our Newsletter features one of the essays from the Fourth Grade Pioneer Essay Contest sponsored annually by the Cotton Mission Chapter Sons of Utah Pioneers. This month’s essay is by Hunter Wilson about his ancestor George Deliverance Wilson. 

GEORGE DELIVERANCE WILSON 

By Hunter Wilson, Heritage Elementary 

I chose to write about my great, great, great, grandpa George Deliverance Wilson.  He was born on December 28, 1807 in Vermont.  He later moved to New York with his family.  When he was 27 years old (in 1834) he began to get sick with tuberculosis.  Most people died from this, the Doctor told him he would die within six months to a year.  During this time he and his brother owned a saw mill.  When he got sick he left the saw mill with his brother to seek help for his illness.  He was told that Joseph Smith could cure him, so he left New York and went to find the LDS Prophet Joseph, in Kirtland Ohio.  He traveled by some ferryboat and walked the rest of the way.  He went to Joseph Smith’s house and asked him if he could heal him.  The Prophet Joseph Smith gave him a Book of Mormon instead and told him to read it.  George said he could not eat, drink, or sleep until he finished the Book of Mormon.  George was taught the gospel and baptized by Oliver Cowdery on August 1st, 1834.  After his baptism he showed no signs of his tuberculosis and lived for 50 more years! 

In Nauvoo, he met Mary Johnson.  They were married in the Nauvoo Temple on February 20, 1842.  Then on June 7, 1843 their first son was born, David Johnson Wilson.  Two years later Mary passed away giving birth to another baby boy, George Jacob Wilson, who also later died.  Little David was cared for by his Grandmother when George enlisted in the Mormon BattalionHe marched with the Battalion from Ohio to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  In Santa Fe, he joined the sick detachment and went to Colorado instead of going into California. 

He traveled to the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847.  In 1856 he married Martha Ann.  Their son, Jesse Stephen Wilson is my great, great, grandpa.  Brigham Young asked George to set up saw mills throughout Utah.  He did this until he died on October 18 1887.  His son Jesse Stephen Sr. and his grandson Jesse Stephen Jr. continued building and running saw mills in Hillsdale, Utah where George is buried.  My family still owns the property where George lived.  I am grateful for my ancestors and the legacy they have left me. 

George Deliverance Wilson
Born - December 28, 1807; Shelburne, Chittenden, Vermont
Enlisted - July 16, 1846
Description - 5 feet 11 inches tall, blue eyes
Occupation - Wheelwright
Family - Left a son in the care of a relative.
Significant Facts

• Discharged - Member of the Willis Sick Detachment, which left the Rio Grande River in New Mexico on November 10, 1846. Arrived in Pueblo on December 20, 1846. Arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

• Helped to settle Monroe, Marysvale, Scipio, and Holden in Utah.

Died October 18, 1887; Hillsdale, Garfield, Utah
Quote - On arriving in Pueblo in January 1847 as one of the last stragglers of the Willis Sick Detachment, he wrote, “This was the nearest death by cold and sickness and oppression and the narrowest escape of my life.” While in Pueblo, he wrote on April 6, 1847, “The last few months have been those of the greatest persecution I have ever experienced.”