Malissa Averett Turnbeaugh was born in Manti, Utah, March 19, 1853 . She was the daughter of Elijah Averett and Cherizade Grimes. Malissa was baptized in March 1861. She was married at 13 to William Riggs, by whom she had two daughters and separated. The daughters were Cherizade Woodward and Ellen Morris.

She had 25 children with five sets of twins. One of the children weighed 15 lbs. at birth.
Some years later Malissa Averett Turnbeaugh married William Turnbeaugh January 10, 1871, and was later sealed, an LDS practice of binding onefs family for eternity, in the St. George Temple on April 20, 1949. She was endowed, an LDS practice in the temple where participants take a number of solemn oaths and make covenants with God, on May 6, 1927. She had 25 children with five sets of twins. One of the children weighed 15 lbs. at birth.

Malissa was the first white child born in Manti, Utah, and came to Utahfs Dixie in 1862. She passed through many hardships in the early days of the settlement of Dixie. Malissafs only brother was killed by Native Americans in 1866. When she was a girl, she helped pick cotton and sheep; the cotton and wool were the first to go through the factory at Washington, Utah. Her parents were among the first to be baptized after the organization of the LDS Church and came across the Plains in 1848. Malissafs father helped work on the foundation of the first four Temples in Utah.

Malissa Turnbeaugh was a kind and loving wife and mother and always kind to the needy. It gave her joy to have her friends come in and talk of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for she was a devout Latter-day Saint.

She passed away in Cedar City April 13, 1927. Funeral services were held in Washington, on April 16, 1927, and she was laid away by the side of her husband in the Washington Cemetery. She was endowed on May 6, 1927 and sealed to William Turnbeaugh on April 20, 1949, in the St. George Temple.

Source: Legacies of Silver Reef, Washington: Turnbeaugh family reunite for Memorial Day


Written by Sarah Isaacson

økMay 26, 2013

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2013/05/26
/sisaacson-legacies-of-silver-reef-washington-turnbeaugh-family-reunite-for-memorial-day/#.VlFs3s9dFyJ