Getting Closer to the Family of my Husband's Great, Great Grandmother

One of my research "brick walls" for the 16 years I've been working on our family's history has been my husband's great, great grandmother Pleasant Horner. She was on my mind this past week so I spent most of today looking for her family online. She was married to my husband's great, great grandfather John Haught, and as I wrote in my previous post this morning, I woke up today to an email that referenced the Haught ancestors of my husband.

As a result of the research I did today, I was able to prepare this chart:

Much to my surprise, I found quite a bit of information on the family of Pleasant Horner on the Family Tree at familysearch.org. While I didn't find any photos of Pleasant Horner, I did find this attractive portrait of her sister Mahala. It had been provided to the Family Tree by V. K. Roberts.

Also available there for viewing was this photo containing another sister Nancy Ann Horner with her husband at left:

By looking at these photos of the sisters of Pleasant Horner, I think we can get a good idea of her appearance. 

I found this photo of Colonel Ellsworth Horner, son of Elias and Mahala Horner Villers. 

Further hunting turned up this wonderful story submitted by V. K. Roberts. Larry and I found it particularly interesting since we're members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But our immediate families were not members of the Church as early as the times referenced in this article: 

What's in a name and a dream?

Contributed By vkroberts · 12 October 2013 ·

Elias and Mahala Villers decided to name their new baby boy on that 13th day in August, 1868, after a Colonel Ellsworth, the first Union Colonel to fall in the Civil war. Elias had served three years as a Union soldier. Colonel was a honest honorable hard working man. Growing up mid West Virginia's rolling green and wooded hills with 10 other brothers and sisters gave Colonel some treasured memories. He never forgot his roots and beloved West Virginia. He often sang to his children the song, "Mid The Green Fields of Virginia." Colonel Ellsworth Villers was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints the thirty-first of August 1925 in the Iowa River just north of his home in Tama.Grandpa had sent for the missionaries after he dreamed his father and mother visited him. His father Elias had not joined the church while living. Elias told Grandpa in the dream not to put off joining as he had done till it was too late. Grandpa recalls the Mormon missionaries spent a lot of time with his parents teaching them the gospel while living in West Virginia. Grandpa's father disagreed with some points of doctrine and never joined the church. Grandpa remembered hearing one missionary say to his father "Brother Villers, I will preach to you in the spirit world." This was the very same missionary Grandpa saw in his dream preaching to his father.

I'll continue my search for information about Larry's great, great grandmother Pleasant Horner Haught. Today I identified her parents and siblings and was blessed with these photos. Who knows what I'll find the next time.