George Bentley Teeples

George Bentley Teeples was born March 17, 1803 in Dansville, Steuben County, New York. He was the 4th of 11 children born to Jacob Edwin Teeples and Herodias “Rhoda” Bentley. He married Huldah Clarinda Colby in 1828. They had 12 children together. The first three were born in Michigan, before they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. George had a patent for 80 acres of land, which he worked as a farmer. The Teeples heard about the restored gospel while living in Michigan in the early 1830’s. Records indicate that they were baptized in July 1833. They sold their farm and relocated with the Saints to Clay County, Missouri in 1835. They then followed the Saints to Far West, Missouri, where another child was born in 1838. They moved with the Saints to Nauvoo in 1839 and stayed there for several years. They continued to have problems with the mob as their home was burned three times. George and Huldah left Nauvoo in 1846 with their family and traveled west to Mt. Pisgah and then to Council Bluffs, Iowa (known then as Miller’s Hollow). The family then resided in Summer Quarters and Winter Quarters, Nebraska. They left Winter Quarters in May 1848 with the Heber C. Kimball company and headed for Salt Lake City. Arriving in Utah, the family first settled in North Canyon (now Bountiful) in Davis County for a couple of years. They then helped to settle Fort Utah or Provo in 1849, as called by the Prophet Brigham Young. George and Huldah had received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, but were not sealed until 1853, in the office of President Brigham Young. Faithful Saints were called on in 1855 to live the Law of Consecration. Those participating would deed over their land to the Church and the Church would then deed back to them what they “needed”. The George Teeples family participated in this plan in the Provo area in 1855. In 1856 George Bentley Teeples, being a faithful Latter-day Saint, entered the law of plural marriage. He married Johanna Case Warden, a widow with 5 children, on February 20, 1856. Shortly after marrying Johanna, George took his family to Fort Supply, Wyoming in 1857, as called on a mission by the prophet. This was the time of the handcart migrations coming through Wyoming. Fort Supply was about 15 miles south of Fort Bridger. Their job was to improve relations with the Indians and grow crops for the migrating Saints. The coming of Johnston’s Army caused the Saints to abandon Fort Supply and return to Utah. This time they settled in the Ogden, Utah area. Johanna then began to teach school in Eden, up in Ogden Valley. George and Johanna's only son, Jacob Amos, was born in Ogden in 1860. In September 1862 Johanna gave birth to twins, both of whom died young. Sometime after the twins died, the family headed south. They first settled in Parowan, Iron County, and then migrated to Holden, Utah. Apparently, George took three additional plural wives in 1872 – Polly Tibbles, Sena Sutton, and Henrietta Udder. He had no children with any of them. George’s first wife Huldah, died in Holden, on June 10, 1882. George died in Holden on September 18, 1884, at age 81. He lived a full, faithful life.