Samuel Roskelley papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains seven boxes of papers from Samuel Roskelley, an early settler of Cache Valley. It includes several important documents pertaining to the life and family of Samuel Roskelley, such as his diaries, life sketches, and financial records. Of particular interest are items related to his work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which relate to temple work in the St. George, Manti, Salt Lake, and Logan temples, as well as meetings of the High Priests’ quorum of the Cache Valley Stake. These papers are useful to anyone researching the history of early Mormon settlers in Cache Valley or the history of the Roskelley family.
Dates
- 1862-1979
- Majority of material found within 1862-1906
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Restrictions
Open to public research.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Permission to publish material from the Samuel Roskelley : papers and temple records must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.
Biographical Note
Samuel Roskelley was born to Thomas and Ann Kitt Roskelley in Davenport, Devonshire, England on January 1, 1837. Raised Baptist, he converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1851 and emigrated to Utah in 1853 with the Appleton Harmon company. After being called back to England in 1856 for a two-year LDS mission, Roskelley returned to Utah and married Rebecca Hendricks on July 22, 1858. In 1860 he settled in Richmond, Utah, but church leadership soon asked him to make the short move south to Smithfield, where he served as a church bishop from 1862 to 1880. There he held a number of other important positions in the community, including superintendent of common schools for Cache County, mayor of Smithfield, and captain of the Cache Valley Militia. During this period Roskelley also married a second wife, Mary Roberts, in 1865. He ultimately took on four additional wives over the course of his lifetime: Mary Florence Kelsey, Mary Jane Rigby, Margaret Rigby, and Sarah Maud Burton.
In 1880, Roskelley departed on a second mission to England, and shortly after is return in 1881 he was appointed president of the high priest quorum of the Cache Valley Stake on August 6, 1882. He assisted in the construction of the Logan Temple, for which he was later named recorder on May 2, 1884. Samuel Roskelley passed away on February 10, 1914 in Smithfield, Utah.
Extent
7 boxes (3.75 linear ft.)
Abstract
This collection contains seven boxes of papers from Samuel Roskelley, an early settler of Cache Valley. It includes several important documents pertaining to the life and family of Samuel Roskelley, such as his diaries, life sketches, and financial records.
Arrangement
Arranged into three series: I. Roskelley Temple Records; II. Roskelley Family Records; and III. Personal Business Records; IV. Roskelley Genealogy
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection of material regarding Roskelley and the Roskelley Family was deposited in the Hatch Memorial Room at Merrill Library as part of the Cache Valley Historical Society's archive by R. Welling Roskelley. Later the archive was donated to the Department of Special Collections by the president of the Cache Valley Historical Society, S. George Ellsworth. Originally part of CVHS COLL MSS 43; processed in 1976; separated in Nov 1981.
In 2015 the collection was reprocessed to accommodate new donations. These donations include the map in Box 2, Folder 5, which was donated to USU Special Collections by Richard Saunders in 2015, as well as the items in Box 3, which were donated to USU Special Collections by Gaylen and Elaine Ashcroft in 2015. The family history material in Box 7 was donated by Favell Plant in 2006.
Additionally, the mathematics text in Box 1, Folder 1 was transferred into this collection from the Richard Welling Roskelley Papers (Coll Mss 284, Box 4, Folder 11) in 2015. It was donated by Richard Saunders in 1997.
The two deeds in box 6, folder 5 were donated by Richard Saunders in 2018.
Separated Materials
Photographs of the Roskelley family are available P0013.
- Title
- Guide to the Samuel Roskelley papers 1862-1962
- Author
- Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives.
- Date
- ©2015
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide is in English in Latin script.
Revision Statements
- 2009: Template information was updated to reflect Archives West bets practice guidelines.
- July 6, 2015.: In 2015 the collection was reprocessed to accommodate new donations. Additionally, the item in Box 1, Folder 1 was transferred into this collection from the Richard Welling Roskelley Papers (Coll Mss 284, Box 4, Fd 11) in 2015.
Repository Details
Part of the Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan Utah 84322-3000 United States
435 797-8248
435 797-2880 (Fax)
scweb@usu.edu