Cecelia Yorston Johnston

Cecelia Yorston

Widowed on the Wyoming trail when her husband Hugh died, she gathered her children and kept walking the last 300 miles to Salt Lake City. She lived to age 88. Her January 6, 1856 letter to her son Hugh in Cardiff, Wales — found among her effects at her death — is one of the only first-person accounts in this entire family history.

At a Glance Has open questions

Born: ~1799, Orkney Islands, Scotland (age 55 in 1854)
Died: 1886, Utah (age 88)
Parents: Of the Yorston family of Orkney
Spouse: Hugh Johnston; later married Sidney Algernon Knowlton
Children: Margaret, James (b. 1836), and William
Family line: Johnston line (Jerry's father's side)
Relation to Jerry: Jerry's great-great-grandmother (paternal line) — mother of James Johnston

How sure are we? Documented through her own surviving letter and Church emigration records.

Still to find out

Whether the original (not the ~1916 typed transcription) of her 1856 letter survives.

Read about Cecelia in…

From Scotland to Zion

Sources for this page

Cecelia Yorston Johnston — Letter to her son Hugh in Cardiff, Wales
Primary source — personal letter · January 6, 1856

Written sixteen months after Hugh Johnston's death. Found among Cecelia's personal effects when she died in 1886; a typed transcription was made ~1916. One of the only first-person accounts in this entire family history. Preserved in family genealogical records.
LDS Church History Biographical Database
Institutional archive

Confirms Hugh Johnston's death (Sept 29, 1854, age 54, Empey Company), James Johnston's 1890 British Mission, and the Blackett family (John William Blackett ID KWCF-N6M; Robert Collingwood Blackett Sr. ID KWJH-KQV).
Peter Sinclair Journal, 1853–1854 (pp. 167–270)
Primary source — trail journal · 1853–1854

First-person account placing the Johnston family in his tent ('four Johnstons together,' Sept 1, 1854). Held at the LDS Church History Library, Salt Lake City.

Notes from the family

Remember something about Cecelia? A story, a photo, a correction, a date? Even a messy note helps. Just open the plain-text file research-notes/cecelia-yorston-johnston-notes.md and type it in — or tell Scott (or Claude Code) “add this to Cecelia’s page,” and it will be woven in properly, with the source recorded.