Miles Romney (1806-1877)

Miles Romney (1806-1877)

English Immigrant, Mormon Pioneer and architect of the St George Tabernacle.

Vital Stats

 * Son of George Romney (1781-1859) and Sarah King (1783-1861)
 * 1806-Jul-13 : Birth at Dalton-In-Furness, Lancashire, England
 * 1830 (est) : Marriage to Elizabeth Gaskill (1809-1884) at Dalton-In-Furness, Lancashire, England
 * 1837 : Meeting with LDS missionary Orson Hyde - start of conversion to Mormonism
 * 1841 : Migration to America to join the Mormon Church at Nauvoo, IL
 * 1850s : Migration from St Louis to Utah.
 * 1877-May-03 : Died at St. George, Washington Co, Utah

Biography
Miles Romney was born in Dalton in Furness, Lancashire, England and married Elizabeth Gaskell there in 1830. They converted to the LDS Church and immigrated to Nauvoo and later to Utah. Romney died in St. George, Utah on May 3, 1877. He was an architect and designed the St. George Tabernacle and Brigham Young Winter Home and Office.

Miles and Elizabeth, on their way to market, saw a group of people assembled on a street corner. They were curious as to what attracted the crowd. They discovered it was a religious gathering and that the preacher was a Mormon missionary from America. They learned later that it was Orson Hyde, an Apostle, to whom they listened. This was in 1837. In September, 1939, Miles Romney, his wife and son George were baptized.

The family left England in 1841 to gather with the Saints in Nauvoo. It took fifty-one days to reach New Orleans. Miles Park Romney was born August 18, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois, a little less than one year before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum. Three years after his birth, the Saints were driven from their beloved city.

Destitute, the family sought employment among strangers in three or four places, finally finding temporary employment in St. Louis, Missouri, where they remained until 1850. Then they were on the move again, this time to join the Saints in Salt Lake City, a distance of nearly two thousand miles. The hardships and trials of this journey no doubt had a profound effect in molding the character of this lad. While a young, barefoot boy, he herded cows at the base of the Wasatch Mountains with other boys. One of them was Joseph F. Smith, who later became President of the Church.