Biography
Upmstead Rencher, Jr. was born 12 August 1823 in Wake County, North Carolina, United States to Umstead Rencher (1793-1823) and Stacey Roberts (1808-1880) and died 11 July 1881 Twin Sister, Blanco County, Texas, United States of unspecified causes. He married Elizabeth Jemima Philpott (1828-1909) 8 January 1846 in Wake County, North Carolina, United States.
Childhood
Umpstead, Sr. was one of the finest locksmiths of his time and was very successful financially, accumulating a great deal of wealth for those days. However, he was slow in finding a wife and was twenty-nine years and ten months old when he married Stacy Roberts. Stacy Roberts was born sometime in 1808 in North Carolina. She was something less than fifteen years old when they were married on November 8, 1822. On May 31, 1823, less than seven months after their marriage, and at the age of thirty years and four months, Umpstead Rencher died. His death was sudden and apparently was caused by heat exhaustion. Three months after the untimely death of Umpstead Rencher on August 12, 1823, his fifteen-year old wife, Stacy, gave birth to their first and only child, a son, named Umpstead Rencher Jr. As Umpstead Sr. had been successful financially and left a plantation and wealth at his death, his brother Abraham Rencher (1798-1883) was appointed guardian of Umpstead Jr. and his affairs.
After the death of Umpstead Rencher, Sr., Stacy Roberts Rencher married Alfred Beavers on October 12, 1825 in Wake County, North Carolina. Stacy Rencher Beavers later moved to Sumpter County, Alabama, and was later visited by Umpstead Rencher, Jr. It was reported that she had several children by Alfred Beavers. It is possible that Stacy Rencher Beavers and some of her children were early pioneers to Utah. This possibility is attested by a letter written to William David Rencher while he was on a church mission in the South in 1892. The letter was written by Charles R. Rencher, who was a son of Daniel Grant Rencher, brother of Umpstead Rencher, Sr. and acting guardian for Umpstead Rencher, Jr. while Abraham Rencher was away on political assignment. Umpstead Rencher, Jr. married Elizabeth Jemima Philpott on January 11, 1846 in Wake County, North Carolina.
Move to Alabama
A short time after their marriage they moved to Mississippi and then on to the southern part of Sumpter County, Alabama. This move to Alabama was to be near his mother, Stacy Rencher Beavers, who had previously moved there from North Carolina. It is said that a large portion of Umpstead Rencher’s wealth was used to help his again—widowed mother and her large family. This fits the pattern of living set by Umpstead, Jr., for he was a kind and generous man throughout his life. The Rencher family lived in Sumpter County for several years and it was here that their first child, Virginia Caroline, was born on December 2, 1846. On March 2, 1848 their eldest son, James Grandison was born and on November 28, 1849 Mary Ellen was born.
A Curious Visitor
It was while the Renchers were living in Alabama that an event occurred that was to have a lasting influence on their lives. They lived on a large plantation far from their nearest neighbors. Umpstead Rencher and his helpers often worked away from the house so they had a bell that Grandmother Rencher would ring if there was trouble. They also kept several very fierce dogs tied to a post near the house to protect Elizabeth and the children.
One day Elizabeth was doing her housework and the dogs were laying in the shade of the house by the door. She turned around and an old man with a long white beard stood in the doorway. Grandma Rencher was so startled the first thing she said was, “How did you get by the dogs?” The old man replied that the dogs would not molest him. She gave him a drink of water and he told her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ that had been restored and that two young men would come to them and that they were to listen to their message and do what they told them to do. When the man turned to leave Grandmother thought she would have to go help him get past the dogs, but when she got to the door he was gone.
She looked all around the house and could find no sign of him. The dogs were still asleep by the door and the man was nowhere to be seen. When Grandpa Rencher came from work she told him what had happened and about the mysterious man who had visited her and about the messages he had given her. For the remainder of her life, Grandmother Rencher believed the mysterious old man who had visited with her that day to be one of the Three Nephite Apostles.
Move to Texas
Soon after this incident, Umpstead Rencher, Jr., looking for new or greater opportunities or heeding the call of the pioneers, moved with his family to Texas. They traveled by ship from Mobile, Alabama to Galveston, Texas and settled in Liberty, Liberty County, Texas. Here on March 6, 1853 John Umpstead their second son and fourth child was born. A short time after moving to Texas the Mormon missionaries contacted them and told them of the Book of Mormon and of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These missionaries explained many of the Gospel principles. Upon finding that the missionaries taught the same principles as those that had been explained to Elizabeth by the mysterious stranger, Umpstead, Jr. and Elizabeth were converted and in December1, 1853, were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Washington Jolley. Perhaps the hand of the Lord had guided them in their travels.
Move to Utah
Although Umpstead and his young family had journeyed many hundreds of miles since leaving North Carolina, their journeys were far from being over. They yearned to gather with the Saints in Utah, so on 27 Feb, 18541, they began a long and arduous journey of 2500 miles that took them seven months. The Rencher family arrived in Salt Lake Valley on 21 Sep, 18541 and settled in Lehi, Utah. Here on December 6, 1855 Peter Preston their fifth child and third son, was born.
Dixie Cottom Mission (1857)

In 1857, a group of about 38 southerner families were called by Brigham Young (1801-1877) on to settle the Virgin River area of Southwest Utah and to crow cotton, to decrease the saints reliance on expensive product from back east. Other pioneer families joined them in 1861 but this ambitious endeavor came to an end after the close of the Civil War and cotton prices collapsed.
Umpstead lived in Lehi two years and then President Brigham Young called Umpstead, Jr. and 27 other Southern men to move with their families to Utah’s Dixie and assist in the colonization of the Washington and St. George areas. The Rencher family was one of the very earliest to arrive in Washington, Washington County, Utah. It was said that he built the first campfire there. The family resided at Washington for about two years and it was here on May 6, 1858 that Abrahm1 Hinton was born.
Settlement in Grass Valley
While at Washington, Umpstead was given charge of the community’s sheep and cattle on shares. In search of summer pastures, he moved into a beautiful mountain valley some thirty or forty miles north of St. George, Utah, called Grass Valley. It was here that Umpstead built a house and established the most permanent home that the Umpstead Rencher family ever had. It was here on October 16, 1860 that their seventh child, Elizabeth Jemima (Lizzie) was born on January 24, 1863. Their eighth child, William David was born on August 19, 1865 and the ninth child was born on August 19, 1865 and they named him Benjamin Grant. He died when he was about four years old. Joseph Alvin was born on April 8, 1868, Emma Isabell was born on August 6, 1870, Ammon Lee was born on September 9, 1874 and on January 13, 1877 Thomas Jay, the thirteenth child, was born.
Umpstead Rencher walled up a big spring on this property, and the water supplied the household as well as furnishing plenty for a beautiful garden. It was here that he developed a farm and a large dairy. He also acquired mountain range and cattle. In fact, having come from the South, he built a small scale edition Southern plantation The house was spacious and grand for the time in which it was built, with a long porch running the full length of the house, and a fireplace in most of the rooms.
The Renchers were industrious and the land productive. The family prospered financially and acquired large holdings in land, cattle, sheep and horses. They milked a large herd of cows, the milk from which was mostly made into cheese. The Rencher cheese was famous in those days in Utah and Nevada. Many tons of this cheese was freighted from Grass Valley to Salt Lake City and to the mining town of Pioche, Nevada. Also many thousands of bushels of oats and barley were grown, cut with scythes by hand, threshed and freighted to the mines in Nevada. The grains sold from ten to twelve dollars per hundred.
The Rencher home was the meeting place of friends and strangers alike. An article from the early records of St. George Stake gives an account of the 24th of July celebration of 1868, which was held at Umpstead Rencher’s home in Grass Valley and states that the dinner was prepared and served by the Rencher family.
Grass Valley was rather isolated and there were very few neighbors and no schools. As a result, he built a school house and hired a private teacher for his numerous children. The Rencher children often went to school all day with an hour or two off for meals and chores and then back to school at night for another long session in the school room.
Back to Texas
Living in this isolated area of Grass Valley, and being quite self-sufficient and prosperous, the Rencher family did not maintain regular contact with the programs and activities of the Mormon Church, as would have been the case had they lived in one of the established Mormon communities. The family remained together in Grass Valley until about 1880 when Umpstead Rencher, Jr. was criticized by Church leaders for his apparent less-than-total commitment to church programs. Also, he was probably not desirous of entering into the Church’s new “United Order” type of community which required deeding property to the community.
As a result of this disgruntlement Umpstead decided to return to Texas where he had lived some twenty-five years earlier. By this time his son James Grandison had married Rena (Lorena) Snow, daughter of William Snow. They were married in the St. George temple on February 28, 1878. Mary Ellen had also married Spencer Wiltbank in the St. George temple of May 27, 1880. These two children, along with John Umpstead and Peter Preston, wished to remain in Utah. Umpstead Rencher gave the ranch in Grass Valley to Jim and gave a good share of his property to the other three remaining in Utah. Then settling his affairs and carrying what wealth he had accumulated in gold, he took the rest of the family back to Texas.
Hint and Dave, being the two oldest boys, traveled with their father over a large part of central Texas looking for a suitable place to settle. Tanny, who was thirty-four years old, stayed and helped Grandmother with the other children. Umpstead finally moved the family to the “Twin Sisters Ranch” located in Kendall County, about sixty miles west of Austin and a few miles south of Blanco.
They hadn’t been in Texas long before Umpstead realized it had been a mistake to leave Utah. He deeply regretted this move and promised the family that they would return to Utah in a year. This promise was never to be fulfilled, for in July, he was taken violently ill with what we would call appendicitis. On July 11, 1881 he died at the age of fifty-seven years and eleven months. He was buried in the Blanco Cemetery at Blanco, Texas. Before he died he extracted a promise from his wife Elizabeth that she would take the family back to a Latter-day Saint community.
Epilogue
Upon learning of his father’s death, Pete settled his affairs in Grass Valley, Utah and joined his mother and family in Texas. A short time later, John and his wife Julia Keele, together with Mary and her husband, Spencer Wiltbank, settled their affairs in Utah and also joined the family in Texas. After the arrival of the ones from Utah, they gave up the Twin Sisters Ranch and purchased a farm four miles up the river from the little town of Blanco. It was there the Renchers lived the thirteen years that they remained in Texas.
While in Texas Pete married Betha Stubbs of Blanco on February 20, 1884. Hint also married a Blanco girl, Henrietta Smith, on December 14, 1884. John and Spencer did not like Texas so they remained only a short while. They left Texas for Round Valley, Arizona. Some of Pen Wiltbank’s relatives had been called by the Church to settle there. John, Julia, Mary, Pen and their younger brother, Dave, made the journey to Round Valley by wagon and arrived there on September 26, 1883. John remained only a short time in Round Valley and moved on to Old Mexico. While in Round Valley, Dave was baptized and called on a mission to the Southern States in 1892. On his way to his field of labor, he went by way of Blanco to see his mother and brothers and sisters. While in Blanco he baptized Lizzie, Joe, Bell, and Jay and talked to his mother about going back to live with the Saints. Some two years later after filling his mission, he again came by way of Blanco to accompany his mother and the unmarried members of the family on their journey to Round Valley, Arizona.
The two sisters, Lizzie and Bell had gone to Round Valley by train the previous year. On May 2, 1894 Grandmother Rencher, Tanny, Dave, Joe, Lee, Jay and a friend, Harris McCrocklin left Blanco with three wagons, a buggy, and a number of loose horses. They traveled by way of Roswell, New Mexico, then across New Mexico into Arizona. When they came to the Pecos River it was in flood stage, but Dave and Lee undertook to cross over to Roswell, New Mexico to get grain for the horses. The current was so strong it turned the buggy over. They succeeded in cutting the horses loose and each horse brought a boy to shore, although on opposite banks. The buggy and one harness were lost, although they made many attempts to get the buggy. However, they were very thankful to have escaped with the horses and their lives. At Roswell, they purchased a light wagon to replace the lost buggy. On July 11, 1894, thirteen years to the day since the death of Umpstead, Jr., they arrived in Round Valley, Arizona, and were given a royal welcome by the people there under the direction of Bishop George H. Crosby. So once more, after many years of suffering and sorrow, part of the family was united again among the Latter-day Saints. Thus the promise made by Grandmother Elizabeth at the death bed of her husband was fulfilled. Hinton and his family arrived in Round Valley in the fall of 1898. Pete and his family arrived in Round Valley in the spring of 1900. Thus Elizabeth had all her family, except Jim in Utah and John in Mexico, once more together for a few short years.
- Elizabeth Jemima Rencher (1860-1922) married John Thomas Patterson (1860-1942) in the Salt Lake Temple on June 13, 1900. Aunt Lizzie was a dressmaker and milliner. John Patterson owned and operated sawmills in the Eagar area. Later they owned a hotel in St. Johns.
- William David Rencher married Medora Bigelow on December 15, 1886. They were later divorced and he married Georgianna Bathsheba Smith at Snowflake, Arizona on June 3, 1903. David was a school teacher, surveyor and farmer. He filled two missions for the church, was in the St. Johns Stake Presidency and for many years was the St. Johns Stake patriarch.
- Ammon Lee Rencher married Margaret Jensen on December 25, 1898 at Eagar, Arizona. She was the daughter of Peter Jens Jensen and Christina Charlotte Oman. He worked in the A.C.M.I. store in Holbrook, later moved back to Eagar and was a carpenter. At the time of his death he lived in Bakersfield, California.
- Joseph Alvin Rencher married Nettie Hunt of Snowflake, Arizona of October 12, 1898 in the Salt Lake Temple. She was the daughter of John Hunt and Lois Barnes Pratt. Joe was a farmer and rancher. He brought his wife to Eagar and they made their home down the street from the Pete Rencher home and near the home where his mother lived with Aunt Tanny and Aunt Bell. He later moved to Snowflake, Arizona and lived there until his death in 1929. He filled a mission to the Northern States and filled two stake missions. At the time of his death he was a member of the High Council of the Snowflake Stake.
- Thomas Jay Rencher married Camelia Jensen on August 12, 1903 in Eagar, Arizona. Camelia was sister of Ammon Lee’s wife, Margaret. He was a member of the High Council in St. Johns Stake and the Ward Clerk in Eagar Ward. He lived in Phoenix, Arizona at the time of his death in 1950.
- Virginia Caroline never married
- Emma Isabell never married. They both lived with their mother in Eagar.
Some of Ben Rencher’s fondest memories are of the days when Aunt Tanny and Aunt Bell would “borrow Benjy” and he got to spend the day at their home. They always kept apples, cookies and treats for their nieces and nephews. Elizabeth Rencher spent the last years of her life surrounded by many of her children and grandchildren in Eagar. Ben remembers his Grandmother Rencher sitting by the door in the summer and the stove in the winter. He says every time he walked in their door his Grandmother would say, “Tanny, this child is starving to death.” She always talked with a Southern accent and her advice to Ben was, “Chile, use yo own sense.”
It was here on January 18, 1909, just five days after she had prepared a birthday dinner for her youngest son, Jay, and had all the family to dinner, that Elizabeth Philpott Rencher was taken violently ill with an attack of gall stones. She had suffered with this ailment for many years. She died at the age of eighty years and one month. She was buried in the cemetery at Eagar. What a remarkable life she had led.
Elizabeth Jemima Philpott Rencher was small of stature, slim and beautiful with lines of character and accomplishment written on her face. She was always clean, well dressed, and sociable in her peaceful home. As a girl she was reared in luxury. At the age of eighteen she left her home and people, never to see them again, and began a journey such as few people have ever made. This journey extended over rivers and mountains and burning desert; a journey that seemed to have no end, and once ended only to be retraced and repeated; a journey to be broken by short stops to build a home, to bear children only to be uprooted and move onward. Always each journey was to be the last, but greener pastures beckoned. For twenty-eight years she lived without a husband and held the family together. Always, to all the family, “HOME” was wherever she was, regardless of how far away some might be, and always they spoke and talked of “going home”.
Children
Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
Virginia Caroline Rencher (1846-1936) | |||
James Grandison Rencher (1848-1920) | |||
Mary Ellen Rencher (1849-1907) | |||
John Umpstead Rencher (1853-1936) | |||
Peter Preston Rencher (1855-1942) | |||
Abram Hinton Rencher (1858-1931) | |||
Elizabeth Jemima Rencher (1860-1922) | 16 October 1860 Grass Valley, Washington County, Utah, United States | 12 March 1922 St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona, United States | John Thomas Patterson (1860-1942) |
William David Rencher (1863-1958) | 24 January 1863 Pine Valley, Washington County, Utah, United States | 17 January 1958 St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona, United States | Hannah Medora Mariah Bigelow (1868-1962) Georgianna Bathsheba Smith (1870-1946) |
Benjamin Grant Rencher (1865-1869) | |||
Joseph Alvin Rencher (1868-1929) | |||
Emma Isabelle Rencher (1870-1920) | |||
Ammon Lee Rencher (1874-1963) | |||
Thomas Jay Rencher (1877-1950) |
Siblings
Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
Umpstead Rencher (1823-1881) | 12 August 1823 Wake County, North Carolina, United States | 11 July 1881 Twin Sister, Blanco County, Texas, United States | Elizabeth Jemima Philpott (1828-1909) |
Vital Records
Texas Gravestone

- Location : Blanco Cemetery, Blanco County, Texas
- Umpstead Rencher at Find A Grave
See Also
- Umpstead Rencher
- Rencher Family
- Rencher in Wake County, North Carolina
- Rencher in Blanco County, Texas
References
- Information from Umpstead Rencher’s Sketch written by John U. Rencher; Joseph Alvin Rencher's Sketch of his life; Nelson Family History by Mansel H. Nelson; Rencher Family Genealogy charts prepared by Benjamin Jay Rencher, Jr. and Louise Burbidge Rencher