Nancy Jane McFerron (or McFerren/McFerran) was born on May 1, 1815, in Hill Town, County Donegal, Ireland (some sources say Crawfordsburn or Skelly Hill, County Down), the only child of William McFerran and Margaret McHarry. Her father died when she was two years old.

John McCleve was born in Crawfordsburn, County Down (some sources say Belfast, County Antrim), Ireland, on August 18, 1807, the only child of John McCleve Sr. (spelled McClave in Ireland) and Catherine Lamb. They were married on June 27, 1833 in Bangor, County Down, Ireland, and the couple had 10 children: Sarah (1834), Catherine (1836), Margaret Anne (1838), Mary Jane (1840), Isabel Wilkins (1843), John Taylor (1845), Joseph Smith (1847), Eliza Roxey (1849), Daniel Bell (1851), and Alexander Gilmore (1854). John was a shoemaker, and Nancy Jane was an expert needleworker and seamstress.

The family was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elders James Ferguson and John D.L. McAllister in 1841 and quickly accepted it, being baptized in June of that year. Both John and Nancy were the only members of their families to join the Church, and while Nancy's parents remained kind and loving, John's family wanted nothing more to do with him. Sadly, Nancy's mother died a month later in July 1841. The McCleves survived the disastrous potato famine of 1845-1847, which killed thousands of their countrymen, due to the kindness of John's employer, Alexander Gilmore, an Irish lord who owned a plantation where John was the overseer; they named their youngest son after him. In 1846, John lost his mother, and Nancy her grandmother. Their four oldest children were baptized on August 26, 1850 in the Irish sea after dark, due to local religious persecution and misunderstandings of this foreign religion.

Tragedy struck again in March 1852, when their son Daniel died at only 7 months old.

The family had always wanted to travel to Zion to join the Saints, but the cost of traveling all at once with such a large family was too high, so it was decided to send Sarah and Catherine first, and the others would come when they had saved enough money; the girls sailed to the United States on the Falcon, which left Liverpool, England, on March 28, 1853, and reached New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 18; they continued to Salt Lake City in the company of Captain John Brown, where they were quickly married, Sarah to John Young (brother of the prophet Brigham Young) on October 3, and Catherine to Phineas Wolcott Cook on December 18, 1853. Three years later, the rest of the family emigrated from Liverpool to Boston, Massachusetts, on the Samuel Curling, arriving on May 3, 1856; they made their way to Iowa City, Iowa, where they joined handcart company of Captain Daniel D. McArthur, leaving on June 11 and arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 26, 1856. Unfortunately, John had died two days earlier due to a broken blood vessel in his leg (some sources say he was injured while trying to prevent their handcart from going over a cliff, others that he was trying to keep a heavy chest from falling out of the handcart of the widow in front of them; still another says that while going up a steep hill, their handcart overturned and fell on him). He died in Echo Canyon that night and was buried along Bear River near Evanston, Wyoming (what is now Henefer, Utah).

On March 28, 1857, Nancy married David Ellsworth in Salt Lake City, becoming his second wife (sealed for time only, whereas he was resealed the same day to Catherine Lancaster, with whom he already had a 17-year marriage and two living children, for time and eternity). David was a farmer and member of the 17th Quorum of Seventy. They made their home in Payson, where David and Catherine were already living, and had two children together, which they named Diana Jane (1858) and Davisel (1860). Due to his skill as a horticulturist, David and his families were called to move to Harrisburg, Washington county, Utah (near St. George) in the fall of 1862, to serve as nurseryman, florist, and horticulturist; he established an orchard, nursery, and flower garden. In the 1870s, David and Catherine were called to move and extend his services to Kanab, Utah (about 80 miles east), where he started another nursery and gardens. David died in Kanab in about 1875. Nancy Jane remained in Toquerville with some of her children; as soon as the St. George Temple opened in April 1877, Nancy went and had herself sealed to John, as well as performing baptisms and other temple work for her great-grandmother, Jane Williams; both grandmothers, Jane McCracken and Mary Wilson; and her mother, Margaret McHarry. She died in Toquerville, Utah, on April 24, 1879, and was buried in the Toquerville Cemetery.

Patrick Twiss Bermingham was born on October 20, 1829, in Dublin, Ireland, the oldest of three children of John Bermingham and Mary Twiss. He married Elizabeth Catherine Rutledge on February 24, 1851, at St. Pauls in Dublin. They raised 9 children: Mary Katherine (1851), Edward John (1853), Jane Elizabeth (1859), Florence (1861), Charles Lloyd (1862), Twiss Albert (1868), Edith Frances (1869), Ne (1872), and Evelyn (1875). At some point, Twiss and Kate (as he called her in his diary) were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twiss was also a graduate of the University of Dublin and had worked as a private secretary to a British official.

The family emigrated to Utah in 1856. Patrick was elected first clerk of the ship Samuel Curling and kept the history of the emigrants who sailed with him from Liverpool, England, and crossed the American plains in the first two handcart companies of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Captain Ellsworth's company left Iowa City, Iowa on June 9 and Daniel D. McArthur's company on June 11, 1856. They arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 26, 1856. Salt Lake City was apparently very disappointing to Patrick and his family, who left the Church in 1857 and returned to Florence, Nebraska, where he had been offered a job as a school teacher. After seven years, they moved to Boston, and then later to New York City, where he eventually became Tax Commissioner. He died on February 24, 1899 in New York City, New York, and was buried in Valhalla, Mount Pleasant, New York.

Naomi Asay was born to Jerome Asay Sr. and Nancy Jane Meeks Asay on February 3, 1898, in Hatch, Utah. She had 10 siblings and was the second youngest. Naomi was great in school and a talented musician. In 1920, she married Ervin Andrew Anderson. They had three children together, but unfortunately, Ervin died just six years later. In 1931, she married Hyrum Jensen, with whom she had two daughters. She completed bachelor's and master's degrees at Minnesota State University.

Naomi was a talented writer. She was a correspondent for the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune and wrote many local histories. She was a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and was known for providing service in many ways, including working in a hospital and sponsoring an immigrant. Naomi died on May 7, 1987, in Ferron, Utah.