Alexander and Eunice McRae, 10th installment

Alexander McRae was in Fillmore, the territorial capital, on December 10, 1855, for the opening of the 5th Session of the Utah Legislature. He was elected sergeant-at-arms for the Council branch of the legislative assembly, which was presided over by Heber C.Kimball. [Journal History, Dec. 10, 1855; Deseret News. 5:325.] While in Fillmore, he married Caroline Amelia Owens Webb, a thirty-six year old widow with five children. She had also come to Utah in 1852, and had settled in Fillmore after living for a short time in Salt Lake County. This marriage probably took place in December 1855, or January 1856. [Irene W. Merrell, Edward Milo Webb, His Ancestors and Descendants, p. 110, 1852 supplement, p. 104.] After marrying her, he sent word to Eunice, in Salt Lake City, that he had married a widow with five children and was bringing them home. In the meantime, Eunice sent the news of the death of their little girl, Eunice, to Alexander, in Fillmore. Their letters passed each other, so that Eunice thought that the answer to her letter telling of Eunice’s death was the letter announcing Alexander’s second marriage. It wasn’t surprising that Alexander didn’t get a very good reception when he arrived home. [Statement of Zina McRae Irving, March 15, 1966.]

Before leaving Fillmore for home, he had been elected Territorial Marshal for 1856 by a joint session of the legislature. [Deseret News, January 5, 1856.]

After reaching Salt Lake, he settled Caroline Webb and her family in a house on South Temple and 7th East. In May of 1856, he traded the house he had been living in in the Tenth Ward, for a home on the corner of 6th East and Second South, in the Eleventh Ward. [David F. McRae, “Sketch of the Life of Alexander McRae”; Eleventh Ward Record, 1854-1892.]

He was sealed to Caroline Amelia Webb on the evening of May 17th by Brigham Young, in his office. Heber C. Kimball and John McRae were witnesses. [Nauvoo Sealings, Book A, p 62., 6:333; Journal History, Dec. 8, 1856. First husband, Edward Milo Webb, January 21, 1846, in the Nauvoo Temple. The Confidential Dept. of the Genealogical Society, which is supposed to have a record of all sealing cancellations, has no record of either of Caroline’s sealing having been cancelled.]

On September 16, 1856, Alexander preferred a charge of Unchristian-like conduct against Joseph Pierce of the 10th Ward for removing property from his home. The court decided that John McRae, Alexander’s son, and Joseph Pierce’s son-in-law, ought to return the said property. [Tenth Ward Record, 1851-1866, p. 173.]

Caroline Webb, and her family, must have returned, if only for a short time, to Fillmore, because Alexander’s first child by her, Albert McRae, was born October 9, 1856, in Fillmore, and was blessed at Cedar Springs in 1857, by William Felshaw. [Fillmore Ward Record, 1851-1869.] However, Caroline did not move back to Fillmore permanently before the coming of Johnston’s Army, in 1858. [Irene W. Merrill, Edward Milo Webb, His Ancestors and Descendants, p. 110.] Eunice didn’t particularly care for Caroline or her children, but when they were sick, she would take care of them. [Statement of Zina McRae Irving, March 15, 1966.]

Alexander was at Fillmore on December 8, 1856, for the organization of the 6th Session of the Legislature, where he was a member of the House. He was appointed a member of the Standing Committee on Indian Affairs that day, along with N.W. Bartholomew and E. Reese. [Deseret News, 6:349.] By December 30th, he was back in Salt Lake again, and, along with other members of the Legislative Assembly, was re-baptized on the 30th, by James W. Cummings, and was reconfirmed a member of the Church by Orson Hyde and Lorenzo Snow, with Orson Hyde acting as mouth. [Journal History, Dec. 30, 1856.] Apparently many of the early members of the Church were re-baptized as a sign of rededication of their lives to the Gospel. On January 5, 1857, the legislature, still in session at Fillmore, met in joint session and re-elected Alexander McRae to the office of Territorial Marshal for 1857. [Journal History, Jan. 5, 1857; Deseret News, 6:349.]

Alexander and Eunice’s eleventh child, who was named David Fitzgerald McRae, possibly after the brother who had introduced them in Kentucky in 1834, was born in Salt Lake City, January 16, 1857. [Eleventh Ward Record, 1854-1892.]

Bishop John Lytle of the Eleventh Ward had been called on a mission to Carson Valley, April 6, 1856, and the ward had been for a while under the charge of his two counselors, William A. McMaster and Joseph E. Taylor. In June 1856, the ward had been placed under the jurisdiction of Leonard W. Hardy, Bishop of the 12th Ward, though the 11th Ward continued to hold its own meetings. The Church leaders desired to reestablish the 11th Ward on an independent footing, so on January 19, 1857, Alexander McRae was ordained a High Priest and a Bishop, by Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop of the Church, and was set apart by Bishop Lytle of the Eleventh Ward. [Andrew Jenson, “History of the Eleventh Ward”; Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:620; D. U. P., Tales of a Triumphant People.] One of his first acts as Bishop was, on January 24th, to bless his eight-day-old son, David. [Eleventh Ward Record, Book B; Eleventh Ward Record, 1854-1892.] Joseph E. Taylor was set apart as his Second Counselor on Sunday, January 25th, and William A. McMaster was set apart as his First Counselor on March 3rd, 1857. William Thompson continued in his position as Ward Clerk. [Andrew Jenson, “History of the Eleventh Ward.”] The boundaries of the ward, at a time long after 1857, were 12th East and Elizabeth Street on the east, South Temple on the north, 6th East on the west, and 3rd South on the south. [Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church, p 747.] These appear, however, to be close to the 1857 boundaries.


Alexander's name is included in the list of Officers of the Legislative Council for the Fifth Session, 1855-1856. See Territory of Utah Legislative Assembly Rosters


Elaine Johnson's life history of Caroline Amelia Owens Webb McRae.

Letter from Caroline to her children, Dell and Belle Webb, 1889.