JANE ELIZABETH WIGHTMAN DIXON

JANE ELIZABETH WIGHTMAN DIXON

    Jane Elizabeth Wightman was born on June 22, 1818  in German Platte, Herkimer County, New York.  She was the daughter of Joseph and Amy Sholes Wightman.  Jane Elizabeth Wightman was a descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. Her Dutch lineage on the Gysbert op den Dyck side dates back to 1297. And as early as 1642 the Updykes (as they spelled their name) held land grants in New Amsterdam, subject to the sovereignty of the Dutch West India Co. Her ancestors owned free tracts on Long Island and possessed at one time all of Coney Island. As the estates were sold, one part was kept in the family for six generations, finally it being sold in 1816. It is today run as an extensive dairy enterprise called Cedar Crest Farm. The dwelling there was built before the Revolution, but has been remodeled as comfortable residence.  
    Jane Elizabeth married Christopher Flintoff Dixon on September 1, 1844.   He was a landowner from Canada.  The Dixons began their married life in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.  Shortly afterward they accepted the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then moved to Kirtland, Ohio.  Their oldest son, Joseph Wightman Dixon passed away shortly after his birth on October 19, 1845.
 

   They purchased the home of Hyrum Smith who had moved on to Missouri. Jane Elizabeth’s husband raised sheep and other types of livestock.  She cared for their home and the children as they were added to the family.  She corded wool and spun it into yarn, dyed it and then wove a blue and white bedspread in a bird pattern that was popular in the day.

    The Dixons was one of the last families to leave Kirtland because her mother had fallen and broken her hip.  She was bedfast for ten years and was cared for by Jane Elizabeth.  After the death of her mother, the family began the long trek across the plains in the spring of 1862 along with their eight children.  They were members of the Isaac Canfield Wagon Train.  The three older children had ponies to ride while the younger children walked along by the side of the wagon and then rode when they became tired.  They arrived in the Salt Lake  Valley on October 16, 1862.
    Three days after arriving in the valley, they traveled south to the community of Payson.  They  purchased forty acres of land that had originally been owned by James Pace.  He was one of the original settlers and the town had been named after him.  They erected a small, four-room adobe house with an attic.
    She had nine children with Charles Flintoff Dixon. Their children were the following: Joseph Wightman Dixon (born October 19, 1845), Ruth Elizabeth Dixon (born  November 25,  1846), Charles Hyrum Dixon (born September 23, 1848), John Henry Dixon (born July 15,  1850), Mary Adelma Dixon (born April 25, 1852), Erastus Wightman Dixon (born July 5, 1854), Emma Jane Dixon (born October 13, 1855), Estelle Victoria Dixon (born October 16, 1857), and Christopher Flintoff Dixon Jr. (born October 20, 1861).
    Mr. Dixon became a prosperous, successful farmer in Payson owning many acres of land, both in Payson and on the bench in Provo.
    Jane Elizabeth Wightman Dixon and her son, Charles Hyrum, became ill and died of typhoid fever.  Jane Elizabeth passed away on November 15, 1877 and her son passed away on December 7, 1877.  Both of them were buried in the Payson City Cemetery,