Roskelley Family Photograph Collection, 1880-1920
P0013
More Photo Collections / Ordering Copies / Search Engine
Selected images
Scope and Content:
The collection consists of portraits of family members
including Samuel Roskelley and his wives, views of the Smithfield UNRR depot and the Sego
Milk plant.
Provenance:
The Roskelley photographs were donated to Special Collections in August of 1992 by
Mrs. Joleen Olson of Hyrum, Utah.
Biographical Note:
Samuel Roskelley (1837-1914) was one of the earliest Cache Valley pioneers. He was born in Devonport, Devonshire, England in 1837 and he
converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints while still a boy. He came to America in 1853 and eventually made his way to
Utah. He entered Cache Valley with the first cattle herd in 1855. He left the valley in 1856 after being called to serve a mission in
Great Britain. He returned to the United States, however, during the Mormon War. In 1858 he married his first wife, Rebecca Hendricks in
Salt Lake City. In 1860 he moved back to Cache Valley and settled in Richmond. Roskelley was very active in the community and with the
Mormon Church. He served as the bishop for the Smithfield Ward in the 1860s. In 1880-1881 he served a second mission to Great Britain, and
in 1882 he was called as a missionary worker for the St. George Temple. Roskelley also worked on the Logan Temple and in 1884 he started
his service as a recorder of the Logan Temple. After 1901 he became the president of the High Priests’ Quorum of the Benson Stake. In 1889
he was arrested (but later acquitted) on polygamy charges. At that time he had four wives (Mary Roberts, Mary Jane Littlewood Rigby,
Margaret Rigby, and Sarah Maude Burton) and twenty two living children. His first wife, Rebecca Hendricks, died in 1880.
Researcher Note:
More materials on the Roskelley family are available in MS 65.
Register completed by Daniel Davis, May 2001.
Inventory:
Box 1.
1. Portrait, Samuel Roskelley (1837-1914) at 49 years, January 1886.
2. image Portrait, Samuel Roskelley, ca. 1905. Photograph by John Rabe, Logan, Utah.
3. Portrait, Mary Jane Rigby Roskelley (wife of Samuel), ca. 1887. Photograph by Mrs.
Fannie Hoyt.
4. Portrait, Mary Jane Rigby Roskelley, 1880's. Photograph by T.B. Cardon's, Logan, Utah.
5. image Portrait, Wilford Roskelley (b. 1880) and Richard Roskelley (b. 1880), ca. 1885. Sons of
Samuel Roskelley by different wives.
6. Portrait, Richard Roskelley and his wife, Hilda Marie Johnson Roskelley, ca. 1901.
Photograph by Thomas and Odell, Logan, Utah.
7. Portrait, twins Margaret and Martin Roskelley, children born to Mary Jane Rigby
Roskelley (1895), ca. 1902.
8. Portrait, Mary Roberts Roskelley, wife of Samuel Roskelley (married 1865), ca. 1905.
9. Duplicate of #8.
10. image Men standing outside the Smithfield Depot of the Utah Northern Railroad, 1918. One is
possibly Martin Roskelley.
11. image The Sego Milk plant at 400 West Center St., Smithfield, ca. 1915. One of the men
standing in front is Jacob Watson.
12. Oversized portrait, the sons of William Frederick Rigby, Sr.: William Eckersley Rigby;
David Eckersley Rigby; Elmer Eckersley Rigby; Parley Rigby; Junius Rigby; James
Eckersley Rigby; Henry Eckersley Rigby; Lorenzo Young Rigby; George Clark Rigby;
Martin Clark Rigby; Joseph Eckerslsey Rigby. Ca. 1915.