In January of this year (2007), we were contacted by Carole E. Clarke of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. She wrote us a letter and informed us that she had in her possession a number of letters that were written by some of the children of John Bishop and Catherine Evans. Since we hadn’t done any primary research on the Bishop line, we were excited to obtain copies of these letters and Carole sent us copies of the transcriptions shortly thereafter. They are fascinating to read and give insight into their lives at that time. The letters were transcribed by Evelyn Spencer (nee Burgess) on 13 Feb 2004.
There are a total of 12 letters, all written between 1866 and 1876 to John and Catherine’s eldest child John Bishop who was living in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England at the time. (Note: Carole is a descendant of John and Elizabeth Clay). Four of these letters were written by James Bishop, who had previously immigrated to Utah Territory in the United States in 1853. Seven of them were written by Richard Bishop, who had immigrated to France to work in the flax mills business, while a single letter exists from Mary Jane Bishop, who had also immigrated to Utah Territory.
At the time these letters were written, Mary Jane and James lived near their brother William Evans in Paradise, Cache, Utah. Paradise is a small town situated in the south end of Cache Valley in northern Utah. It was first settled in 1860 at Avon (from Stratford-upon-Avon), and then a few years later (1867-1868) the town site was moved a few miles north in order to accommodate the Indians that frequented the area. It was given its name by Ezra Taft Benson who reportedly said, “This is like Paradise”.
Over the course of the last year, we have met quite a few of our Bishop relatives. In addition to Carole, we’ve met or renewed contacts with Jessie Bishop Lewis, Mary Jean Garrison, Alan Bishop, Delmar Price, Val Holley, and Virginia Talbot, to name just a few. Each has provided additional information on the Bishop line including copies of old photographs and documents. They have greatly added to our knowledge of the Bishop line and we appreciate their willingness to share these things.
In addition to William Evans Bishop, we have other relatives who settled in Paradise. These include Robert Mackmurdie, Samuel McMurdie and Sarah Ann Kay, Harriet Morris, Winslow Farr, Jr., and perhaps others not yet identified. Although we have not posted all the information we have been given on these families, over the course of the coming months we hope to add to the collection on our web site.
