Maria Burr

Maria (Mariah) Burr was born 5 Jan 1806 in Haddam, Middlesex, CT, the eldest of the five children of Samuel & Concurrence Johnson Burr. Her parents died three days apart in 1816, when Mariah was only 10 years old. She married John W. Clark, the son of Pelatiah & Amy Wilcox Clark, on 24 July 1826 in Haddam, CT. They were the parents of five children: Harriet, Alpheus, Davis, Flora & Enoch Alpheus Clark. Mariah & John, along with several of her maternal uncles, joined the Mormon Church in 1836. They joined the other converts in Kirtland, Ohio and then to Far West, Missouri. When the Mormons were driven out of the latter location, her husband was working in Quincy, IL when he became ill with "bilious fever". John died 9 Aug 1839 at age 31. Two weeks later their daughter Harriet died (Aug 21st), and on Aug 27th their son Alpheus died. In the spring of 1840 Mariah's uncle moved she and the children to Nauvoo IL. Here she met widower, William West Lane, who had 10 children. Mariah & William were married in 1842 in Nauvoo, IL. They were they parents of five daughter: Lavinia, Sarah J., twins Cordelia & Ciscelia and Emma. They fled Nauvoo when the Mormons were driven out, and moved on to Pottowattamie county Iowa. William was made a Bishop of the Church and was put in charge of the Church farm in Kanesville, Iowa. He was to lead a wagon train across the plains to Salt Lake, Utah. The William West Lane Company crossed the Missouri River on 24 June 1852 to begin the trek westward. Within days, cholera broke out, both William and his wife fell victim to the disease. Mariah Burr Lane died on the 5th of July 1852, about 30 miles west of the Loup Fork of the Hood River (probably Howard county Nebraska). William died three days later, July 8th, 1852 close to present day Wood River, Hall county, Nebraska.