Nelson Arave in Nauvoo

Nelson Arave moved to Nauvoo in 1842, at about age 10.
His "adopted" parents, Jesse and Ruth Lampson, lived on the Joseph Smith homestead, block No. 155.
Jesse was a high priest in the LDS Church and about age 60, was blind or going blind.
It was likely that Nelson helped his parents doing many chores and travel to church meetings.
Nelson said in later life that he recalled seeing the Prophet Joseph Smith often and that he called him a poor orphan boy.
Joseph Smith also gave Nelson a special blessing and prophesied that he would be the father of a large posterity. (That certainly came true.)
Nelson received his partriarchal blessing on Jan. 16, 1846.
The Lampson's did not seal Nelson to them, according to temple records, when they went to the temple in 1846. By 1848, church records show that Jesse Lampson had died.
Nelson's own obituary stated that he intimately knew the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Nelson said he also recalled the speech by Brigham Young after Joseph was killed, where Brigham spoke with the voice of Joseph.
By 1846, the Lampsons and Nelson had moved to Council Bluffs, to escape persecution.
In 1851, Nelson left Sister Lampson and headed west to Utah territory.
It would be great to find more exacting information or stories about Nelson when he was in Nauvoo.

How Did Nelson Arave End Up in Nauvoo?

Nelson Arave, the first and original "Arave," ended up in Nauvoo in 1842, about the age of 10.
How did he end up there?
Nelson's father and grandfather died on May 19, 1835 while rafting logs on the St. Lawrence River.
The simple story is that soon afterward, Nelson's mother felt she could not care adequately for all three of her children and so in about 1835, she "loaned" Nelson to Jesse and Ruth Lampson, who were soon going to resettle in New York, where she was headed. Nelson was only about age 3 at this time.
However, the Lampsons, who had been members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since 1832, didn't end up traveling that way.
They moved with the church to Michigan, where Nelson was baptized at age 8. Two years later, in 1842, the Lampsons (who had two daughters) had moved to Nauvoo with the church.
Given the poor communication at the time, perhaps Nelson's mother did not have the time or resources to search for him. While she had to have known there was a chance she might never see Nelson again, I'm sure she thought about him a lot and would have liked him to be with her.
Meanwhile, the Lampsons did not actually adopt Nelson formally, but he lived with them for more than 15 years,until he headed to Utah territory.

How Many Araves Are on Facebook?

Facebook searches are not as comprehensive as you might believe they are.
However, I counted 67 different Araves out there, in addition to the 15 that are members of All Things Arave, and so the total is at least 82 on Facebook.

How Many Araves Are There?

How many people named Arave are in the U.S. today?
Uncertain, but there seem to be many hundreds.
Telephone directory searches are becoming increasingly less comprehensive, because many of the younger generation are switching to cell phones only and thus do not show up on such listings.
However, going by the latest phone book searches, here are how Araves are listed now, by each state, as a rough idea of the Arave presence in each state:
(22 total states have Araves listed....)

Utah: 46
Idaho: 42
California: 13
Arizona: 8
Montana: 6
South Carolina: 5
Kentucky: 3
Virginia: 3
Oregon: 4
Colorado: 4
New Mexico: 2
Washington State: 2
Tennessee: 2
Texas: 2
Nevada: 2
Maryland: 1
Missouri: 1
Minnesota: 1
Nebraska: 1
Florida: 1
Wyoming: 1
New York: 1

Other states: 0 listings.

--According to Ancestry.com, they have 913 Arave birth, marriage and death records.
They also have 5,123 family trees under Arave, plus 161 records of military service.
Average Arave life expectancy is about age 81 now.

Nelson Arave's Prison Time

Like many Mormon Polygamists of the late 19th Century, Nelson Arave -- the first Arave -- spent time in prison.
Nelson was sentenced to 60 days in Prison in Ogden's Fourth District Court on March 6, 1893 by Judge Miner, for having two wives.
He was released on May 5, 1893.
Prison in those days was the Utah State Prison, where Sugarhouse Park is now.
When released, Nelson was told to only live with one of his two wives. He picked the younger wife, Mary Ann Williams Arave, who was age 45 at the time, vs. Aroline Wadsworth Arave, who was age 56 at the time.
All that is known is that sometime between 1893-1896, Nelson and his second wife and that family moved to Idaho.
The move was designed to show that Nelson was not living with two lives any longer.
One of the as of yet unverified "legends" about Nelson's arrest is that it was my Grandfather Arave, Eugene Arave, who supposedly told the sheriff where his father was hiding, to be arrested. Eugene would have been age 10 at the time.
Also, of note is that during Nelson's prison time, the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated on April 5, 1893, and so Nelson missed out seeing any part of that milestone.
Furthermore, it is also ironic that almost a century later, one his descendants, A.J. Arave, served as the warden of the Idaho State Prison.
(The above two photographs are of Sugarhouse Park today, the site of the prison where Nelson Arave served for two months.)

Nelson Arave's Pioneer Trek

Nelson Arave, the first Arave, came from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Salt Lake City in 1851 as part of the John G. Smith Company.
The group left Council Bluffs on May 10, 1851 and arrived in Salt Lake City on Sept, 15 or Sept. 23, 1851.
Nelson is reported as having arrived on Sept. 15. (By then, Nelson was age 18).
On today's roads, it is 938 miles from Salt Lake City to Council Bluffs. In those days, it was surely 1,000-plus miles.
The company required more some 168 days to reach Salt Lake, likely averaging only about 6 miles a day.
(In contrast, a drive in 2012 from Salt Lake to Council Bluffs only requires 13 hours -- one long day, or an airplane ride of just several hours.)
The John G. Smith group had about 50 members. It also sported three wagons, five oxen and several ponies.
Nothing significant is reported from this pioneer trek, which took place just over for years after the first Mormon Pioneer trek to Salt Lake did.
(However, less than 4 years later, Nelson married Aroline Wadsworth, who was also a member of the same pioneer company.)
Some of the Smith company, including Nelson, was advised by Brigham Young not to unpack, but to head to "East Weber" (today's Uintah, Weber County). Nelson arrived there on Sept. 20, 1851.
Nelson lived in East Weber until 1858.
Then, he moved to Mountain Green, from 1858-1860.
He was in Morgan from 1860-1862; and then back to Mountain Green, from 1862-1869 or 1870.
Nelson lived in Hooper from 1869 or 1870 until sometime between 1893 and 1896. He died in Basalt, Idaho in 1906.
-Here's a lost of the participants of the John G. Smith Pioneer Trek (1851)and the known participants' ages.
Arave, Nelson Narcisse (18)
Barney, Alcea Celinda (10)
Barney, Alice Malena (16)
Barney, Danielson Buren (19)
Barney, Edson (44)
Barney, Edson Alroy (8)
Barney, Eliza Arabell (14)
Barney, Joseph Seth (5)
Barney, Lillis Ballou Comstock (46)
Barney, Louisa Walker Butterfield (28)
Barney, Partha Ann (1)
Birch, Fanny L. Wright (51)
Birch, George Wallace (34)
Birch, George Washington (infant)
Birch, Jane Elizabeth (10)
Birch, Susan Catherine Paine Thornton (40)
Birch, William Augustus (14)
Boothe, Amanda Susannah (10)
Boothe, Darius Daniel (12)
Boothe, Emily Charlotte (14)
Boothe, Henry (49)
Boothe, John Allen (19)
Boothe, Lewis Nathaniel (18)
Boothe, Martha Ann (8)
Boothe, Susannah Lyster (45)
Boothe, Willis Henry (17)
Brunson, Lewis (20)
Brunson, Seymour (14)
Butterfield, Mary E. (8)
Carey [or Corey], (Unknown)
Caulder, Isabella (29)
Cooley, [Mr.] (Unknown)
Crawford, James III (24)
Day, Abraham (33)
Day, Alice (1)
Day, Elmira Bulkeley (30)
Day, Elmira Jeanette (6)
Day, Ezra Joanas (4)
Day, Joseph Smith (11)
Day, Juliette (2)
Elmer, Harriet Gould (48)
Elmer, Jerusha Kibbee (9)
Elmer, John (72)
Felshaw, Caroline (6)
Felshaw, Hannah Olive (2)
Felshaw, John (14)
Felshaw, Lucy Rachall (9)
Felshaw, Mary Harriett Gilbert (43)
Felshaw, Sarah (infant)
Felshaw, Susannah (infant)
Felshaw, William (51)
Harding, Alma (16)
Harding, Charles (13)
Harding, Dwight (44)
Harding, Elizabeth Jane (11)
Harding, George (17)
Harding, Phoebe Eliza (5)
Harding, Phoebe Holbrook (41)
Hill, Alexander (71)
Hill, Elizabeth Currie (75)
Hill, Samuel Hood (10)
Lawrence, Emma Smith (14)
Lawrence, Maria (16)
Lawrence, Mary Ellen (11)
Lott, Isaiah Barkdull (4)
Loveless, Hyrum Smith (6)
Loveless, John (44)
Loveless, John Oscar (3)
Loveless, Mary Elizabeth (13)
Loveless, Parley Pratt (11)
Loveless, Rachel Mahala Anderson (45)
Loveless, Rachel Priscilla (10)
Loveless, Rhoda Sanford Lawrence (39)
Loveless, Sharlotte Lucretia (infant)
Loveless, William Duncan (8)
Mace, Elizabeth Armitta (4)
Mace, Elizabeth Armstrong (32)
Mace, Hiram (40)
Mace, Hiram M. (infant)
Mace, Lamire (11)
Mace, Marritta (2)
Maxfield, Elijah Hiett (18)
Maxfield, Henry Adheimer (infant)
Maxfield, James Appleton (14)
Maxfield, John Ellis (9)
Maxfield, John Ellison (50)
Maxfield, Joseph Smith (4)
Maxfield, Richard Dunwell (20)
Maxfield, Sarah Elizabeth (7)
Maxfield, Sarah Elizabeth Baker (40)
Maxfield, William Welener (11)
Melland, Charlotte Katherine (16)
Norton, Alanson (37)
Norton, Althea Marie (1)
Norton, Charles Waterberry (15)
Norton, Harriet Emmeline (14)
Norton, Lucy Ellen (11)
Norton, Lucy Wilkinson (62)
Norton, Martha Elmina (4)
Norton, Sallie Maria Freeman (34)
Park, Amanda Louisa (17)
Park, Cynthia Jane (15)
Park, Esther Catherine (13)
Park, James Addison (8)
Park, Matilda Stewart (42)
Park, Samuel Wallace (20)
Patten, [Sister] R. R. (Unknown)
Poppelton, George Joseph Stennett (7)
Shirtliff, L. A. (Unknown)
Skidmore, Henry Brett (20)
Smith, John Glover (43)
Stevens, Roswell (43)
Thornton, Jasper (17)
Wadsworth, Abiah (41)
Wadsworth, Abiah (2)
Wadsworth, Eliza Ann (9)
Wadsworth, Eliza Ann Hardy (45)
Wadsworth, Joseph Warren (19)
Wadsworth, Lucinda Mathena (infant)
Wadsworth, Nancy Ellen (11)
Wadsworth, Susanna Aroline (14)
Willey, David Orson (1)
Willey, Jeremiah (46)
Willey, Jeremiah Russell (4)
Willey, Samantha Call (36)
Willey, William Wallace (9)
(Note: The above photograph is of the original This is the Place Monument, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. The more popular and modern This is the Place Monument is southwest of the first marker. This photo is also taken where Nelson Arave and many a Mormon pioneer would have received their first view of the entire Salt Lake Valley.)

The True Nelson Arave Indian Tale

There's a prominent tale about Nelson Arave regarding Indian trouble.
My own family's story names the Indian leader -- Little Soldier -- claims the natives whipped Nelson because they were afraid Brigham Young was going to send soldiers to run them out of the area. Then, after withstanding a beating, Nelson walked with the Indians on horseback to see Brigham Young in Salt Lake and sort things out.
My family's story claims it happened in Mountain Green in the 1870s.
Some of my brothers and sisters gave this story as fact in some school classes in the past.
That timeline and location for this story is definitely incorrect. Nelson moved to Hooper in 1969 or 1870.
Also, the main Indian trouble history records in the area happened in 1854, when Nelson was living in East Weber (forerunner to today's Uintah).
History records that Little Soldier and his Indians had a winter camp near Ogden in 1854 and stole cattle and cut fences that year. In September of 1854, Brigham Young met with various local Indian leaders in Weber County and gave them presents to keep the peace.
"Nelson Arave: Our Heritage of Faith" booklet history by Alvin Earl Arave in 1997, isn't as detailed as my family's version of the Indian story.
This version is also not as exaggerated either.
There's no report of Nelson being whipped, or of the Indians actually going with Nelson to see Brigham Young. (Nelson went alone). He returned with gifts from Brigham Young, as well as with an unnamed man Young send to help affirm his support for the Indians.
If this story about Nelson Arave and the Indians took place in 1854, then it is likely true. Otherwise, it is a legend and has been tied into the famous 1854 account.
It is about 34 miles from Uintah to downtown Salt Lake City.
Both stories state that Nelson walked that entire distance. Even at a walking speed of 3 mph (pretty fast for trails of that era), it would take almost 11 1/2 hours of non-stop walking for Nelson to have reached Salt Lake. So, even if he started walking at 7 a.m., he wouldn't have arrived in Salt Lake until 6:30 p.m., or after. So, he had to stay the night there, it seems.
In conclusion, my own immediate family's version of Nelson Arave and the Indians is simply exaggerated and doesn't stand up to official written histories on the area.
The Alvin Arave version seems more credible and is certainly true, if it can be proven to have taken place in 1854.
Otherwise, I don't doubt that Nelson Arave had some sort of encounter with some angry Indians at some time in his East Weber years, but outside of an 1854 occurrence, I'm suspicious that it directly involved Brigham Young, or a walk to Salt Lake City -- and was probably a much less interesting tale than the Arave family histories claim.
There were also reports of "Indian trouble" recorded in history, from 1860-1862. That's primarily why Nelson and other Mountain Green settlers moved to Morgan for two years, 1860-1862. But Little Soldier was not a factor then and Brigham Young was likely just giving gifts to the Indians by then. Also, Nelson is not said to have walked from Morgan to Salt Lake, as that is an extra 10 to 12 miles to Salt Lake.

First Arave Mother -- Aroline

I've posted a photograph of Nelson Arave's grave previously.
Now I'm adding the headstone for Aroline Arave, Nelson's first wife.
She is buried in the Hooper, Utah cemetery.
Her full name was Susannah Aroline Wadsworth Arave. She was born in Camden, Maine on Sept. 16, 1836. She died on May 15, 1917 in Hooper.
She was a daughter of Abiah Wadsworth, another prominent early Utah pioneer.
If you have the name Arave, you are either a descendant through Aroline or through Nelson's second wife, Mary Ann Williams, Arave (born May 6, 1848 in Abercarn, South Wales, United Kingdom).
Back to Aroline, she was apparently blind in her latter years and the family had to take care of her. She lived five years longer than Nelson's second wife, who died at age 64. Aroline was age 81 when she passed away.
Nelson had 12 children by his first wife and 11 by his second wife and so that's 23 total children.
Since I served an LDS Church Mission in southwest England and South Wales, I wish I would have known then that an Arave ancestor had been born there. I know I went right through Abercarn,South Wales at least once. I remember it well since there were so many professed atheists in that area, because of a coal mine disaster that killed hundreds in the 1870s. (I lived in Chepstow, Cardiff and Ebbw Vale while on my mission and also visited castles and the site of President David O. Mckay's mother's birthplace.)

Why A-R-A-V-E?

We're stuck with this unusual Arave name, like it or not.
However, how did it come to be?
My mother, Norma Arave, has the answer in one of her 4 oversized Nelson Arave research books/scrapbooks.
Her research states that when Jesse Lampson (also times misspelled "Lambson") Nelson's "adopted" father (though not legally)realized he was going to die soon, he told Nelson what his real surname was, though he didn't know how to spell it.
The name was very likely Arrivee (the French word for Arrival).
Somehow, Lampson came up with the weird ARAVE spelling and likely the even stranger verbal way to say it -- "Arvey."
Nelson himself was probably no more than grade school age at the time.
In addition, a letter that Nelson Arave sent to a son, Joseph Arave, on an LDS Church mission and dated April 16, 1905, gives further support:
"Dear Son:
"I received yours of the 12(th). Twas very glad to hear from you. I am well at present and hope this will find you the same.
"You spoke of a man named Aravee (,) that is the way it is pronounced in France. My father and grandfather were drowned in the St. Lawrence river while rafting logs about the year 1836. In 1837 my mother went to St. Laurence County New York. There she married a man named Meyers. Her name was Jenette. I had a brother named Louis. He was born in 1836. I was born in 1834. I do not know my father's given name or whether he had any brothers or now. This is all that I can remember about it.
"Please write soon and let me know how you are getting along and how you enjoy your mission.
Yours afectionately (sic) Nelson Arave."
So, there you have it.
Anyone else out there have a different origin story, or one with more detail?
The one problem I have with the letter is that means Nelson was drawing on memory of when he was no more than two or three years old. I certainly can't recall much before age four or five in my life, so was he an exception to that? I'm not sure.
(Note: There is also some question as to whether "Nelson" was really the first Arave's first name. Some have wondered if the Lampson family didn't give him that first name.)