Joseph Parr & Elizabeth England
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Robert Palmer  & Hannah Barber
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Robert Palmer & Charlotte Elizabeth Parr
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Ettie Hannah Palmer
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Frank Eugene Smith
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Judy Smith Visser
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Me

Joseph Charles Parr Married Elizabeth England on December 31, 1830 in Howden parish in York, England. They became the parents of twelve children. We know that at least three of their daughters joined the church in England.  The first daughter to leave England was Ester Maria. She was 25 and single. She married soon after arriving in Salt Lake and sent money for the rest of her family to join her. Two years later Joseph, Elizabeth, with their three year old granddaughter and Charlotte Elizabeth, boarded the ship USS Wyoming. 

Robert Palmer also boarded that same ship having joined the church in 1870.   Their ship traveled twelve days upon the seas and arrived at New York on July 3, 1871. The Parr family and Robert Palmer settled in West Jordan.

It has been recorded in a history of Rober Palmer and Charlotte Eliza Parr that they were introduced to each other at the port of Liverpool. William “Scott” Cawkwell was supposed to have done this by saying, “Well, Bobby, here’s the girl I have been telling you about. What do you think of her?” He replied, “She doesn’t  look bad, I guess she’ll do.” The story speaks of a romance blossoming on the ship and continuing upon their arrival in Salt Lake.  They all settled in West Jordan. Robert worked as a miner in Alta and walked home on the weekend.

Robert Palmer and Charlotte Elizabeth Parr married in Salt Lake City on March 11, 1872.  They made their first home in Sandy in the side of a hill (called a dugout). It had a dirt floor and dirt roof.  In 1875 they filed to homestead the property and built a three bedroom home that they moved in with their first two children. A year later Ettie Hannah was born.  (My great grandmother)

The farm had never been plowed. It was open, non-fenced sand dunes and sage brush. The closest neighbors lived ½ mile away. He fenced in the whole farm with posts and barbed wire to stop people from taking short cuts across his property. When he found his fence wire cut, he doubled the posts, put more wire on the fence, and he dug a 4 ft  by 20 ft  trench. This did not make the neighbors very happy but it solved the problem.  He also suffered from not having enough water to his farm. Being the last farm on the ditch if the others weren't careful to keep their ditch well maintained the water would flow out and leave him without.  

He like to say that good fences and solid ditches made good neighbors.