Nicholas and Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck

Nicholas Groesbeck
b. 5 Sep 1819, Buskirk, Rensselaer, New York.
p. Harmon Bogardus Groesbeck, Mary Bovee
m. 25 Mar 1841, Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck,
(2) Elizabeth McGregor (div), 24 Apr 1859
d. 29 Jun 1884, Salt Lake City, Utah
b. 1 Jul 1884, Salt Lake City Cemetery

Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck
b.16 Aug 1820, Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania
p. John Amberson Thompson, Ruth Peterson
d. 28 Dec 1883, Salt Lake City, Utah
b. 30 Dec 1883, Salt Lake City Cemetery

Picture of the Groesbecks and their daughters. Helen Melvina Groesbeck Morgan married John Hamilton Morgan 24 Oct 1868. They entered into polygamy in 1884 when John married (2) Annie Mildred Smith. She lived in Manassa, Colorado. (3) He married Mary Ann Linton in 1888. Josephine Groesbeck Smith, married John Henry Smith, becoming his 2nd wife, 4 Apr 1877. She lived in Manassa, Colorado.

Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck was one of ten children reared in the back woods of Pennsylvania. She had little opportunity for schooling herself. Perhaps that accounted for her intense effort to see that her own children had every opportunity to gain an education and experience the cultural arts.

Her mother died when she was a young woman. From then on she was required to earn her own livelihood. Many people living in that section of the country had a hard time finding work. She immigrated to Illinois and relocated to Springfield where she met Nicholas Groesbeck. They married on March 25, 1841 and lived in Springfield about fifteen years.

In Springfield Elizabeth first heard the (L.D.S.) Gospel preached. Later she became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. On April 6, 1841 she was baptized by W. Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois.


The Groesbeck family home in Salt Lake City is still standing.

Search for Groesbeck, or page 4, in the Capitol Hills Community Bulletin March 2009 article . It is an interesting history of the Groesbecks and their home.
[I took this picture this Spring from the nw corner of the landscaped Conference Center rooftop. You can see the Groesbeck home in the middle of the trees by matching the windows. The 17th Ward Chapel is across West Temple and a vacant lot on the left. What you can't see is John Henry and Josephine Groesbeck Smith's two story brick home on the corner of West Temple, in front of the Groesbeck home. The trees are too thick. A granddaughter wrote that their home was known as the Groesbeck Homestead.]

(To be continued.)

History of Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck submitted to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers History Department by Barbara Rex Wade 28 Jan 1999. Early Groesbeck home from Helen Rex Frazier collection. I took the new Groesbeck home picture this Spring.