The Joseph Wing, Sr. family apparently moved to Mecca, Ohio (Mecca, Ohio is about 30 miles south of the Mormon Church Headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio.) at this same time. In Ohio at that time, 100 acres of farm land could be purchased for $1.25 an acre or by "squatting," on the land. We do not know how long the Wing family lived in Ohio but we do have the Mormon Archive Records which show that JSW was born at Mecca, Ohio on September 18, 1830 and his brother, Benjamin, in August, 1833. Since JSW was given the name Joseph Smith Wing (named after the Mormon Founder and Leader) we are compelled to believe that his father (Joseph Wing, Sr.) had been one of the converts to the Mormon faith sometime in the early 1830's along with the other thousands of converts in both New York and Ohio.

Somtime after Benjamin's birth in 1833 the Wing family moved from Ohio to Illinois. I have been unable to find any information that would give us any explanation of this move. However........

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the history books of this time period suggest one possible explanation of this move of the Wing family from Ohio to Illinois.

In 1838 the Mormons experienced a lot of trouble in Ohio, both within the church and with the other citizens. Joseph Smith, the prophet, was foreced to flee from Kirtland and to journey to "FAR WEST," in Missouri. Following his exit from Ohio many Mormon families also left on the jourey to Missouri. But very soon after their arrival there was also trouble in Missouri for the church members and in 1839 there was another exodus out of Missouri and into western Illinois around Quincy, Illinois. Brigham Young took an active role in directing the relocation of the families around the Quincy area. Detroit, Illinois is only 50 miles from Quincy.

Therefore, it is likely that the Joseph Wing family was part of this exodus from Ohio into Missouri and back into Illinois around this time (1839 - 1840)

In 1840 the Mormons founded the city of NAUVOO, Illinois for their church headquarters and began the task of building the city. In 1841 a delagation of Mormons were sent to Black River Falls (BRF) to procure lumber for the construction of NAUVOO. This delegation established a group in BRF and by 1843 there were 150 Mormons in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

It also happened during these Nauvoo days that Joseph Smith revealed his "doctrine of plural marriages." Although the doctrine wasn't published to the world at this time, it was revealed to many of the leading breatren. (See "ESSENTIALS IN CHURCH HISTORY," page 282)

The Mormons continued to have trouble with the other citizens of the state; in 1844 Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob and in 1845 the "GREAT TREK" to the west had begun. Let us also take note that at the time of their exit from Illinois there were several groups that split away from the curch to form their own church group. One of these groups, the "Strangites," were led by a James Strang and they ended up settling on Beaver Island which is in Lake Michigan. I will refer to this group later.

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Joseph Wing, Sr., passed away in 1844, andperhaps for this reason the rest of the Wing family (at least the widow amy, JSW, and Benjamin) did not leave their home in Pike County, Illinois. We can assume that there were also other Mormon families who "stayed-put" in Illinois and other communities in the midwest; including some of the Mormons in Black River Falls.

When JSW was 19 years old in 1849 he married his first wife (Rebecca Davis) in Pike County, Illinois. There were 2 children born to this marriage in 1850 and 1853. We have no information at this time about the life of this first family but the Mormon Archive revords show that some of the Wing family lived and died in Illinois. There are probably descendants of JSW and his parents living today in that same area.

Shortly after the birth of his second child JSW and hisbrother Benjamin traveled north to the community in Black River Falls. The reason for this journey are not known but we can speculate.

1. Perhaps JSW and Benjamin were two entrepreneurs out to seek their fortune. The PRE-EMPTION ACT of 1841 had established the right of a homesteader to claim property and there was land available around Black River Falls.

2. Or maybe they were sent by the Illinois Mormon Church to Black River Falls to strengthen the Mormon Community in Black River Falls.

3. Or.......? ?

At any rate, he apparently abandoned his family in Illinois to start a new life in Black River Falls. They journeyed north and arrived in 1854 when JSW was 24 years old and Benjamin was 21. His son Milan wrote in his autobiography that JSW and Benjamin "engaged in the mercantile business." We do not know the circumstances of their entry into this business. Various

documents seem to suggest that it was Benjamin who was the "businessman" and perhaps Joseph was the follower in the business.

During the 1850's the seeds of the Civil War were being planted. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was published and in circulation. John Brown was actively engaged in the "abolitionist" movement.

Since we have now followed JSW from his birth to his arrival in Black River Falls we will now backtrack to 1834 in Norway to pick up the life of Signa and follow it to her arrival in Black River Falls.

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SIGNA LUNDEN ANDERSON was born in Fonsdahl, Norway on May 17, 1834. This area of Norway is in the section named TELEMARKEN. She had brothers Ole, Knut, Gunder, and perhaps one more brother plus a sister Margaret, about her same age. They were part of the larger BOOKKE family in that part of Norway. We do not have any information about their life in Norway, but history tells us that the sons who did not stand to inherit the family farm were inspired to search for a better life in America. Signa's father was named AADNE and her mother was HELGA.

In the spring of 1843, when Signa was 8 years old, the family boarded a 3 masted schooner named "EALOUS" and began a 10 week journey over the ocean to New York City. They probbly sailed from Drammen, Norway and may have been a part of a larger Norwegian group that was also immigrating.

Their destination was Wisconsin probably because friends from Norway had preceded them and had recommended that they should emigrate and join them in the New World. When they arrived in New York they followed the usual route to the west, taking a river boat which took them up the Hudson River to Albany, New York. Then they probably changed boats again for a ride on the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York. Next, a transfer to a Great Lakes steamer to conclude the journey. The steamer took them the length of Lake Erie, then north on Lake Huron and finally into Lake Michigan and south to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin there was a Norwegian settlement that had been established near Muskego in Racine County. The Lunden family joined this settlement and established a farm as did other immigrants from Norway. This community became known as "LITTLE NORWAY" and the Township was (and is) called NORWAY.

In 1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state

The Lunden family remained in this community (refer to the pamphlet "HISTORIC HEG MEMORIAL PARK" for information about this community in the 184o's) until 1853 when an epidemic of Cholera struck the area. It took the life of Signa's father and many other residents of the area. Her father (AADNE) may have been buried on their farm; we looked around the cemetery at the Lutheran Church in Little Norway but found no trace of a gravestone. The old cemetery records were destroyed in a fire in the early 1900's.

It apparently became compelling to some of the members of the area to leave in order to escape the epidemics. So the widow Helga and her grown children along with several other families sold their earthly goods and property and loaded a few necessities into a "covered wagon" to start a journey west. They had heard stories of fertile soil and other Norwegian settlements that were prospering further west.

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The wagon train headed west consisted of four families. The group was as follows:

1. The LUNDEN'S -- the widow Helga and her 6 children.

The Nichols' -- The widown Gro and her children

3. The Tetagrav's -- The widow Turi and her children

4. The Storly's -- Gulick and his wife and children

Their destination was to join a Norwegian community in Minnesota that they had heard about from friends in Racine County. We do not know their exact route thru Wisconsin. They must have followed the standard Trails thru the state. The first bridge to span the Wisconsin River had opened in 1852; so I am guessing it was on their route. During the month of August, 1854, they were traveling in their covered wagons along the Trempealeau River in western Jackson County, Wisconsin and they encountered a picturesque valley. Signa's son, Milan, described what happened next as told to him by his mother and grandmother.

"...It was here that they beheld outstretched before them, a scene that captivated their innermost tastes and longings. Arriving at an eminence that gave them a commanding view of their surroundings, they thought there lay before them the most beautiful scene their eyes had ever gazed upon. As far as the eyes could see, the landscape seemed one of bewildering interest. The hillsides were studded with clusters of beautiful trees, among which hundreds of birds were flitting, and whose merry songs seemed to invite them into their midst. The soil boasted its fertility through the luxuriant growth of its vegetation, and the waving meadows seemed to invite the weary animals to browse in their bountiful pastures. And as to further enamour them of the plentitude of nature's resources, they found themselves within the boundaries of a sportsman's paradise. Deer, bear, ducks, gesses, prairie chickens, and the now extinct passenger pigeons....were abundant."

(This quotation is from Milan's article entitled "REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS." It includes much more detail about the lives of the pioneers in the 1850's.)

Their pioneer group decided to travel no further but to start their new life in this beautiful valley. (Us descendants owe "Mother Nature" our eternal gratitude. We owe our existence to the beautiful Trempeauleau Valley that enticed those pioneers to make it their home.) It probably reminded them of their homeland in Norway. SIGNA was now 18 years old. The pioneers immediately started preparing shelter for the coming winter and for setting out crops in the spring. They wee joined in the area the next summer by another family of Norwegian immigrants. This family was Nels Fenney, his wife, their son and his pregnant wife. Their story is described in the "SHURE AND BRITE" chapter.

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THE MARRIAGE...The following spring after their arrival in Jackson County, Signa, (and probably her sister Margaret) traveled the short journey to Black River Falls. I am guessing that it was for the purpose of seeking employment to support themselves so they would not be a burden to the family; this may have been the custom of the times.

In 1855 both JSW and Signa are in Black River Falls and somehow they meet and marry. The circumstances of their marriage are not known. We do not even know what motivatd JSW to switch his middle and last name so that he was married as Joseph Wing Smith. Perhaps it was to protect himself from being detected as a bigamist; since he had another family back in Illinois. We also do not know if Signa was married as Signa or Sarah; but it was common to Americanize their Norwegian names. Her family had revised their surname from Lunden to Anderson. At any rate, she was called Sarah in her later life and I will conform for the rest of the story.

The next summer (1856) Joseph and Sarah returned to Trempealeau Valley and they built a house immediately west of Sarah's mother and brothers farm. I can guess that the motivation to build this house was to acquire land ownership by simply occupying the land. The PRE-EMPTION LAW of 1854 allowed settlers to acquire ownership of land by building and living in a house on the property. We have on file a Quit Claim Deed, dated February 26, 1857, which transferred the land from Benjamin Wing to Omer Smith. Perhaps this kind of a transaction was a method of documenting the land ownership. During these years together (1855 - 1860) it is likely that Joseph and Sarah made frequent trips between Trempealeau Valley and Black River Falls to maintain their interests in both places. Their 2 sons were born in Black River Falls; Omer was born on October 26, 1856 and Milan on February 10, 1858.

Joseph Smith Wing apparently started his double life at this time.

In June, 1856, the Prophet, James Strang, ws murdered on Beaver Island by other followers of his "Strangites sect." His murder was because he was discovered to be practising polygamy, which was in violation of his own religious teaching. His death left his wives to fend for themselves. Three of them, Betsy McNutt, Phoebe and Sarah Wright, migrated with their families to Black River Falls. The Wright widows were relatives of Lyman Wright who had been in Black River Falls with the Mormon logging crews in the 1840's.

The Mormon Archive records show that JSW conceived a daughter with the widow Sarah Wright the same month that Milan was born. The daughter was born in Black River Falls on November 17, 1858. Joseph and Sarah Wright were married in Black River Falls on January 1, 1859. With Joseph's third marriage he now had 3 wives (2 in Black River Falls) and 5 children. He was 31 years old.

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Apparently all during 1859 JSW successfully lived his double life. He had 2 wives in Black River Falls and 3 infant children. It is difficult to think of any excuses that would justify his acts at this time. Both his Black River Falls marriages were a definite violation of Wisconsin statutes. If we studied Mormon history and their "doctrine of plural marrige," we might gain some insight into his justifiction of his marriages.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

On March 18, 1860 a very destructive fire, which "destroyed pretty much all of the business portion" of Black River Falls, occurred. The fire completely destroyed the Wing brothers mercantile business. Milan writes in his autobiography, "...Shortly after the fire the family moved to my father's farm" in Tremealeau Valley. Their house became known as MOUND SPRINGS a few years later when it ws used as a post office. The house has remained standing throughout the years. It is known as the oldest building in the valley.

The details of what happened next were never told to my generation. We can only speculate that the community found out that Joseph was a bigamist, which was a crime. He was forced to flee from Wisconsin. He took his Mormon wife and baby with him. He was in Sweet Water, Wyoming on May 26, 1862 for the birth of their second child. Later JSW's third family moved to Springville, Utah where 4 more children were born between 1864 and 1872.

It was on April 12, 1862 that the Civil War broke out when the first shot was fired on Fort Sumter by Southern troops.

Sarah's brother, Knut, volunteered to serve in the Army and was killed in the war. It is sad that the circumstances of his death (at least time and place) were not documented anywhere. This left Sarah's mother and older bachelor brother, Ole, alone on their farm, a quarter of a mile away from Sarah and her 2 boys. It was probably a natural and obvious action to combine the 2 families. Especially since Sarah had the 2 boys who could learn farming from Ole and could help him on his farm.

They lived together on the farm for many years. Sarah had help from her mother and brother in raising her 2 sons. Sarah's mother perhaps died in the 1870's when she was in her 70's. The story from this point forward is best told with the Autobiography that Milan wrote, which elequently describes his life. Refer to the chapter titled "MILAN AND THEOLINE" to continue the story in Milan's own words.

The end of the JOSEPH and SIGNA Chapter.