Notes for Cythnia Permilia Shumway

Notes for Cythnia Permilia Shumway

Cynthia was baptized at Amboy, Lee, Illinois in 1862. She was a faithful member of the LDS Church and also a poetess. She
wrote for the LDS church publications using the pen name of Perla Wild. She died at the age of 48 near
Springdale, Washington, Arkansas
____________________________________________

Our maternal great grandmother was Cynthia Permelia Shumway Wildermuth.
Her parents, Otis and Sally Shumway, were baptized into the Latter Day Saint
movement in October of 1832. They lived at Kirtland, Ohio and helped build the
temple there. Otis was ordained a seventy and preached in Kirtland and the
surrounding country. The Shumway family went to Far West, Missouri in July
1838, joining with the Zion s Camp at Petersburg, Ohio. The family continued
on with this company until they reached Far West. Later they went with the Saints
to Nauvoo, Illinois, remaining there until after the death of the Prophet Joseph
Smith. The Shumway family then started west with Brigham Young, going by way
of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. They soon discovered they had made an error in going with
him, and one dark night they wrapped the wheels of their wagon with burlap and
drove away. They lived at Inland, in Cedar County, near Tipton, Iowa for awhile. In
1846, Otis and his family went to Voree, Wisconsin to investigate the claims of J. J. Strang.
He accepted them and on 9 July, 1846 Otis was ordained a high priest. (We read
that Mrs. Shumway was also ordained a high priest!)

Soon after this, they became disgusted with the Strangite church and left again for
Cedar County, Iowa. A few years later, they joined the Reorganization and Otis served
as a Seventy. A report from the Quorum of Seventy to the Annual Conference of 1875
mentions Otis Shumway as follows: Otis Shumway; about 82. Always had a good standing
in the church, preaching in the branch and vicinity.

Otis s daughter, Cynthia Permelia Shumway was the second wife of Eli Mozart Wildermuth
(our great grandfather), and the mother of Grandmother Ermina Wildermuth Bronson.
Cynthia was baptized at Amboy, Lee, Illinois in 1862. She too was a faithful member of the church
and also a poetess. She wrote for the church publications using the pen name of Perla Wild.
She died at the age of 48 near Springdale, Washington, Arkansas.

More detailed informatiojn may be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/rande-b/history.html