Individual 19: Haeberli, Sophia Barbara

Individual Record 19

Name} Haeberli, Sophia Barbara*

Family History} Olson

Title}

Race} White

Sex} Female

Birth: Date} Fam 25 Apr 1826

Place} Illighausen, Thurgau, Switzerland

Marr.: Date} Fam 17 Jul 1841

Place} Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland (Link)

Death: Date} Fam 3 Jun 1862

Place} Santa Clara, Washington, Utah

Burial: Date} Aft 3 Jun 1862

Place} Santa Clara City Cemetery, Santa Clara, Washington, Utah

Grave Marker} Yes

Source 1}	8 = Family notes
Source 2}	49 = IGI
Source 3}	255 = IGI
Source 4}	81 = Genealogy
Source 5}	75 = Geog history
Source 6}	1114=Geog history
Source 7}	152 = Family hstry
Source 8}	153 = Family hstry
Source 9}	154 = Family hstry
Source 10}	711 = Family hstry
Source 11}	710 = Biography
Source 12}	1749=Baptism rec
Source 13}	902 = Passenger ls
Source 14}	177 = Passenger ls
Source 15}	1748=LDS history
Source 16}	356 = Church recrd
Source 17}	156 = Cemetery rec
Source 18}	158 = Cemetery rec

Parents: } Johannes Haeberli & Anna Barbara Haeberli
Relationship No.} 21

1st Household No.} 143 = Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland

Occupation 1} Housewife
Occupation 2}

Religion/Church} Later-day Saints

Spouses: Prime} Staheli, Johann Georg
Total Number of} 1

Notes: Sophia Barbara Haeberli* was born 25 Apr 1826, and was baptised 26 Apr 1826, in the Evangelisch church, Altnau, Thurgau, Switzerland. Some sources report Illighausen, Thurgau, as the birth place, and one source gives Rebstein, St. Gallen.

Her parents were Johannes Haeberli & Anna Barbara Haeberli, who were apparently well-off financially.

Sophia married Johann Georg Staheli in Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland on 17 Jul 1841. They had eight children born in Amriswil. These were Wilhelmina, born in 1849, Jakob, born 1850 and died 1851, Elizabeth born 1851, Johann George (George) born 1854, Maria (Mary) born 1855, Johannes (John) born 1857, Sophie, born and died as infant, and Sophie born 1859.

Sophia and her husband were baptized in the Landschlacht Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day on 6 Jun 1859 by Johannes Keller, a local Mormon missionary from Weinfelden. Their daughter Wilhelmina was baptized the following January.

On 3 May 1861, Sophia and George (as he was to be called in America), along with five children, left Amriswil, traveling by train to the sea, crossing to Liverpool. They set sail on the Monarch of the Sea on 16 May 1861. The seven week voyage was rough, especially for Sophia who was pregnant. Their youngest daughter, Sophie, died 28 May 1861, and was buried at sea. They arrived in New York on 19 Jun 1861. George stayed at Castle Gardens at the wharf with the older children, and Sophia stayed in a hotel with the younger children.

A few days later, the Mormon contingent left by train for Florence, Nebraska (present day Omaha). Here they joined the Sixtus E. Johnson Company, comprised of 107 individuals. They set forth by wagon train on 14 Jul 1861 for Salt Lake City, Utah. Their journey took ten weeks, and they arrived 27 Sep 1861, joining George's parents and daughter Wilhelmina, who had come the previous year.

At the October conference of 1861, President Young called 109 families, including the Staheli families, to the the Dixie mission in Southern Utah. They left in November 1861, for the 300 mile trip south. They arrived in Santa Clara, located about 5 miles northwest of St. George, between 24 and 28 Nov 1861. The Staheli family moved into the second floor of the Ita Hatch home in the southwest corner of the rock Fort built by Joseph Hamlin.

On 26 Dec 1861, Sophia gave birth to their daughter Barbara. On that same date, the rain began to fall. By some accounts, it rained for forty days. "The Great Flood" arrived early in the morning of Friday, 17 January. Sophia, still ill from childbirth, was rescued by Joseph Hamblin as the Fort was being swept away. The Fort, town, orchards, and vineyards were entirely gone, and the old settlers along with the Swiss newcomers had to start over.

That spring, George became ill with Mountain fever, now recognized as typhoid, and was sick for six weeks. Then Sophia came down with it, still in a weakened condition from childbirth, and died 3 Jun 1862. There was no cemetery at the time of her death. Family notes indicate that she was buried in the Edward R. Frei, Sr., lot, or Clawson Frei lot, in Santa Clara, marked by a rosebush. She now has a cemetery marker in the Santa Clara City Cemetery, Santa Clara, Utah.

*The Switzerland Baptismal Records give her name as Barbara Sophie Haeberli.