Robert M Cunningham and Margaret Wright: A Midway Fort Family

robert m cunningham and margaret wright: a midway fort family

From Scotland to Utah: The Lives of Robert M. Cunningham and Margaret Wright Cunningham, Emigration and the Making of a Pioneer Family

A Midway Fort Family

HEBER VALLEY HERITAGE FOUNDATION, INC.

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Written by Wendell T. Rigby

Introduction

Searching for some of the basic information I wanted to include in this biography has been difficult, but I believe I have now pieced together how Robert M. Cunningham and Margaret Wright Cunningham came to be in Utah from Scotland. Since they were born early in the 18^th century some of the information was hard to come by and other information hard to confirm.

In attempting to find information regarding the ship or ships, they traveled on, I reviewed the online website “Saints by Sea” from 1858 through 1863 and could not find their names on any of the voyages shown. Based on what I have seen in the records, they appear to not have followed the typical process used by most LDS converts. Indications from the 1860 Census source indicate both Robert and Margaret were in a small town called Perry, Illinois, close to the Mississippi River, at the same time. As you will see later in this biography, Perry, Illinois, I believe was just a rest area for them to earn additional funds and then resume their jitneying’s to Utah. Perry was not a typical staging location for Saints coming from overseas on their way to Utah.

In attempting to determine which wagon train they came west on, one source indicated that they came to Utah in 1861. In reviewing all the information on LDS wagon trains from Church sources between 1860 and 1863, I was unable to find their names on either of these lists. Again, from the records I found that portions of both the Cunningham and Wright families traveled together as will be discussed under Robert’s and Margaret’s descriptions below.

In reviewing the obituary for William Shields Wright, it indicates his journey from east coast to Utah and beyond. His obituary indicates the following:

Obituary – William Stevenson Wright

Pioneer of Park City, W. S. Wright, resided in in Park City for 42 years. Fell a week ago last Friday and contracted pneumonia. Retired for last 7 years, Devoted husband and fond father. Leaves bereaved widows, sons, and daughter, aged sister and other relatives. Born in Baellieston, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 4 August 1835, aged 79 at death.

He came to America at 18, living in Maryland, Illinois, and Kentucky. In 1861 he came to Utah by ox team, going on to CA in 1863. In 1865 He was in Virginia City working the Comstock line. He returned to Utah in 1870, going to Alta and working at the Prince of Wales mine. In 1872 Mr. Wright came to Park City, going to work at the Ontario Mine and for 32 years was in the employ of that company.

Besides his widow, Mrs. Jennet Wright, he is survived by one daughter and two sons, Mrs. John A. Buck, William D. and Charles S. Wright, all residents of Park City. He also leaves a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, of Midway, Utah. Mr. Wright was an old and honored Mason, joining Argenta Lodge, Salt Lake, in 1878, affiliated with Uintah Lodge, No. 7, of this city in 1884. Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon under the auspices of Uintah Lodge, No. 7. Pall bearers: John Kelly, Sherman Fargo, R. W. Macdonald, James Bennie, James Murdock, Barney Riley, George W. Wilkinson, Sr., Ancil Johnson and H.M. Swan. Outside relatives and friends who came to attend the funeral were Mrs. G. E. Williams, Mrs. Ellen Higby, Mr. L.. G. Robertson, of Blackfoot, Idaho, Mrs. H.T. Davidson, and son, Emery Davidson, of Millbourne, Wyoming, Mr. and Mrs. Rob Ross, Midway, Utah, James D. Murdock, George Wilkinson, Fred Davis, Jake Oliner, Salt Lake.

Chapter 1 — Robert M. Cunningham (1827–1881)(KWJF-S93)

A Scottish Industrial Migrant to Illinois and Utah

Narrative Biography

Robert M. Cunningham was born on 13 March 1827 in New Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and was christened there on 16 April 1827. He was the son of Allan Cunningham and Elizabeth Marshall, members of Scotland’s industrial working class during a period of rapid coal expansion in central Scotland. Parish and census evidence places Robert’s formative years within coal-producing districts of Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire, environments characterized by occupational inheritance, economic volatility, and persistent geographic mobility

Early Life in Scotland

By 1841, Robert was residing in Dalziel, Lanarkshire, an area deeply shaped by coal mining and associated labor. These communities were dominated by multigenerational mining families, and Robert’s later occupational continuity suggests early training and immersion in industrial labor. The death of his father, Allan Cunningham, on 30 December 1855 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, marked a significant personal and economic turning point. This loss coincided with a period when industrial instability and overseas opportunity drove increasing numbers of Scots to emigrate.

Emigration and Residence in Perry, Illinois

By 1860, Robert Cunningham had emigrated to the United States and was living in Perry, Illinois, where the federal census identifies him as a miner, with his birthplace consistently recorded as Scotland. In reviewing the records of his family, his sister Margaret, who is his older sister, traveled with Robert and the 1860 Census shows her in Perry, Illinois as well. Perry in the mid-nineteenth century functioned as a small inland market town serving surrounding agricultural and mining districts. It lacked direct railroad connections and was not a major transportation hub, yet its proximity to Mississippi River corridors and regional coal fields made it an attractive settlement for immigrant laborers with mining skills.

Perry, Illinois – where both Robert Cunningham & Margaret Wright were in 1860

In the mid–19th century, Perry (Pike County) reads in the sources as a small inland market town serving the surrounding farm countryside—more “local service center” than river port or railroad hub. A contemporaneous county map includes an inset of “Perry” (1860), which is a good indicator that it had an identifiable town core with platted streets and clustered businesses by that date.

A Pike County township summary written in the 1870s atlas era describes Perry as an enterprising inland town with no railroads, and notes it had a bank and a newspaper—classic markers of a modest but functioning trade center for the township.

A distinctive feature of the area in this period was “Perry Springs,” a mineral-springs resort/health destination that had gained wide notoriety by the 1870s; an 1872-era description emphasizes its reputation and curative claims. This suggests that, alongside ordinary farm-and-trade activity, the Perry vicinity drew at least some regional visitor traffic tied to the springs.

Academic work on Pike County town development also places inland towns like Perry into the county’s broader pattern of mid-century town formation and growth as agricultural service centers.

The best-documented Mormon migration corridors and waypoints in this era emphasize:

Nauvoo as the principal Illinois departure region for the early exodus (1846 onward), with the trail then crossing Iowa toward the Missouri Nauvoo may not have been a good place for Mormons to be gathering at this time in history.
Later immigrant transmigration routes (including many from the British Isles) moving via major river/rail hubs, especially Quincy, Illinois (and Hannibal/West Quincy), in 1859–1866—i.e., places with rail connections and large-scale transit infrastructure.
National Park Service trail scholarship likewise frames departures and outfitting in terms of organized departure points and major corridors, not small inland

Against that backdrop, the Pike County source describing Perry specifically notes it was an inland town “with no railroads, which makes it a less likely place for large emigrant companies to funnel through compared with nearby Mississippi River cities and rail nodes.

There were substantial Scottish LDS emigrants in the 19th century, but the Scottish-emigration studies show the migration at the macro level (numbers, gathering, routes via major ports/agents), without flagging Perry as a repeated waypoint.

Robert Cunningham’s presence in Perry is therefore best interpreted as a labor-driven settlement rather than participation in a formal emigrant company. The fact that both Robert Cunningham and Margaret Wright are documented in Perry during this period strongly suggests that the town served as a shared waypoint in their migration paths, rather than as an institutional gathering place

Military Service

In the post–Civil War period, Robert Cunningham entered military service as part of the Black Hawk War, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant. His military registration confirms his date of birth as 13 March 1827 and documents his service in 1866. While detailed operational records do not survive in the file set, the rank indicates literacy, trust, and leadership capacity—attributes consistent with his later stability and standing in Utah settlement records

Settlement in Utah and Marriage

By the early 1870s, Robert Cunningham had relocated to Utah Territory, settling in Midway, Wasatch County. On 7 June 1875, at approximately forty-eight years of age, he married Margaret Wright (35) in Salt Lake City. This late marriage reflects a life shaped by prolonged migration, labor demands, and geographic mobility prior to permanent settlement.

The 1880 federal census records Robert and Margaret Cunningham residing together in Midway, Utah, confirming their establishment within the Wasatch Back community. Midway at this time was a developing agricultural settlement populated by immigrants from the British Isles and Scandinavia, many of whom—like the Cunninghams—brought skilled labor backgrounds into the emerging rural economy.

Death and Burial

Robert M. Cunningham died on 26 November 1881 in Midway, Wasatch County, Utah, at the age of fifty-four. He was buried in the Midway City Cemetery, where burial registers and military records confirm both his identity and interment location. His death concluded a life marked by transatlantic migration, occupational continuity, and eventual settlement stability after decades of movement.

Appendix A — Chronological Timeline (Consolidated)

13 Mar 1827 — Birth, New Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
16 Apr 1827 — Christening, New Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
1841 — Residence, Dalziel, Lanarkshire, Scotland
30 Dec 1855 — Death of father, Allan Cunningham, Bellshill, Lanarkshire
1860 — Residence, Perry, Illinois, United States
1866 — Military service; rank of Second Lieutenant
7 Jun 1875 — Marriage to Margaret Wright, Salt Lake City, Utah
1880 — Census residence, Midway, Wasatch County, Utah
26 Nov 1881 — Death, Midway, Wasatch County, Utah
1881 — Burial, Midway City Cemetery

Appendix B — Family Network Context

Although Robert and Margaret Cunningham left no documented children, Robert’s and Margaret’s broader kinship network connects him to other Scottish immigrant families who settled in Utah. The Morton and Shelton materials researched, provided illustrate parallel migration trajectories—Scotland to the American Midwest and onward to Utah—underscoring the shared cultural and labor background of these interconnected families and reinforcing the interpretation of Robert Cunningham’s life as representative of a broader nineteenth-century Scottish industrial diaspora.

Source-Keyed Footnotes

Scottish census and parish records documenting birth, christening, residence, occupation, and burial of Robert M. Cunningham
Perry, Illinois historical context, migration analysis, and mapping materials
Consolidated timeline documents for Robert Cunningham

Chapter 2 — Margaret Wright Cunningham (1840–1886)(KWJD-Y7Y)

A Scottish Immigrant Woman in Illinois and Utah

Narrative Biography

Margaret Wright Cunningham was born in 1840 in Scotland, within the industrial districts of Lanarkshire, a region deeply shaped by coal mining, textile production, and associated working-class communities during the mid-nineteenth century. Surviving records place her among families whose lives were structured by wage labor, domestic skill, and close kinship networks—conditions that profoundly influenced women’s experiences in both Scotland and the transatlantic migrant world.

Early Life in Scotland

Margaret’s childhood unfolded during a period of rapid industrialization in central Scotland, when women’s labor—both paid and unpaid—was essential to household survival. Girls were commonly engaged in domestic service, textile-related work, or home-based labor such as sewing, laundering, and food production. These skills later proved indispensable for women who emigrated, particularly those who settled in frontier or semi-frontier environments.

Census materials and family-tree documentation situate Margaret within this social milieu and indicate a background consistent with later records showing adaptability, mobility, and resilience. While formal schooling for working-class girls was limited, literacy rates among Scottish women were high by mid-century, contributing to their capacity to navigate migration and settlement.

Emigration to the United States

By the late 1850s, Margaret Wright had emigrated to the United States, joining the broader movement of Scottish migrants seeking economic opportunity and family reunification. In reviewing her brother’s obituary (William Stephenson Wright), it provides the backbone of information regarding the path taken by Margaret and her family from the east coast of the United States to Utah. A significant number of her family traveled with them and the two Cunningham children (Robert and Margaret) as well as her mother, Janet Stevenson. Other Wright siblings traveling with the group were: Euphenia, Elizabeth, William and Margaret Wright. The father, Robert Wright, passed away in 1866 and so it appears the remainder of the family immigrated to America, with at least the Cunnninghams, Mortons and Sheltons. By 1860, Margaret Wright and her mother are documented to be in Perry, Illinois, the same inland town in which Robert Cunningham was also residing during that year. Her brother, William S. Wright, along with some of his siblings are shown being in LaSalle, Illinois, to the northeast of Perry, Illinois.

Perry in this period functioned as a small agricultural and mining service center, rather than a major river port or railroad hub. Historical analysis demonstrates that Perry was not a standard stopping point for organized Mormon or British immigrant companies, but it nonetheless attracted immigrant laborers and families who found temporary employment or community ties there. Margaret’s presence in Perry strongly suggests a labor- and kin-driven migration pattern, rather than participation in a formally organized emigrant train.

Life in Illinois

Margaret’s years in Illinois represent an important transitional phase. For immigrant women, such settlements often involved a combination of domestic labor, household production, and informal economic activity, including sewing, laundry work, and food preparation. Cultural artifacts included in research files—such as agricultural imagery and poetic reflections on labor—align closely with the lived experiences of women like Margaret, whose daily work sustained families amid uncertainty and movement.

Illinois communities such as Perry provided social contact with other immigrants, exposure to American cultural norms, and preparation for further westward migration. The shared residence of Margaret Wright and Robert Cunningham in Perry in 1860 suggests that their life paths had already begun to converge prior to marriage.

Migration to Utah

Sometime between the early 1860s and the mid-1870s, most 1861, Margaret Wright and company relocated to Utah Territory, joining a population increasingly composed of European immigrants. Utah communities offered women both constraints and opportunities: while social roles emphasized marriage, motherhood, and domestic labor, immigrant women often exercised substantial influence through household economies, religious participation, and mutual aid networks.

Marriage and Married Life

On 7 June 1875, Margaret Wright married Robert M. Cunningham in Salt Lake City, Utah, at approximately thirty-five years of age. This late marriage reflects the realities of prolonged migration, economic instability, and the demographic imbalance common in immigrant communities. Their marriage marked the culmination of years of movement and adjustment on both sides of the Atlantic.

By 1880, Margaret and Robert were residing together in Midway, Wasatch County, Utah, a developing agricultural settlement populated by immigrants from the British Isles and Scandinavia. Census records confirm Margaret’s presence in the household, where she fulfilled the central domestic role typical of married women in nineteenth-century Utah: managing the household, contributing labor to family survival, and maintaining social and religious ties within the community.

Death, and Burial

Margaret Wright Cunningham died in 1886, because of a farm accident, only a few years after the death of her husband in 1881. The circumstances surrounding her death are contained in the obituary shown below. She was buried in Midway, Wasatch County, where her grave forms part of the broader landscape of immigrant settlement and family memory.

Information from Obituary

Accidental Death

Last Monday while Mrs. Margarett Cunning was at work in the field in Midway, she met with death, in a shocking manner. She was standing on the top of a load of grain at the rear of the wagon bearing down the load, when the ladder at the front broke and she was propelled forward to the ground with great force.

The lady’s neck was broken by the fall. A coroner’s inquest was held before justice J.B. Wilson and the jury rendered a verdict in accordance with the case. Mrs. Cunningham was buried at Midway, last Tuesday and there was a large turnout of friends at the funeral. Mrs. Cunningham was highly beloved by all who knew her and was a sister of Mr. William Wright of this city.

Chronological Summary

1840 — Birth, Scotland
1860 — Residence, Perry, Illinois
7 Jun 1875 — Marriage to Robert Cunningham, Salt Lake City, Utah
1880 — Residence, Midway, Wasatch County, Utah
1881 – Husband (Robert Cunningham) dies.
1886 — Death and burial, Midway, Wasatch County, Utah

Historical Significance

Margaret Wright Cunningham’s life exemplifies the experience of nineteenth-century Scottish immigrant women whose stories are often preserved only indirectly through census entries, marriage records, and family memory. Her migration from industrial Scotland to the American Midwest and to Utah reflects patterns of female mobility that accompanied—and sustained—male labor migration.

Through domestic labor, adaptability, and community participation, women like Margaret were foundational to the success of immigrant settlements. Her life, viewed alongside that of Robert M. Cunningham, reveals a shared transatlantic journey shaped by work, migration, and the search for stability in a changing world.

Appendix — Contextual Notes on Women’s Labor and Migration

The cultural materials provided—agricultural imagery and poetic reflections on labor—offer valuable insight into the emotional and physical realities of women’s work in the nineteenth century. These sources, while not biographical in a narrow sense, help situate Margaret Wright Cunningham within the broader gendered economy of migration, where women’s labor was essential yet frequently undocumented.

Chapter 3 – Emigration to the United States by Robert Cunningham and Margaret Wright

By the late 1850s, Margaret Wright had emigrated to the United States, joining the broader movement of Scottish migrants seeking economic opportunity and family reunification. From records reviewed, it can be established that both the Wright, Cunningham families and at least Robert Bell Ross, Mortons and Sheltons traveled through Maryland, Kentucky and Illinois together and then onto Utah. Whether they traveled with a LDS immigrant company or not, has not been determined. I am assuming they all came on the same ship from England, most likely Liverpool and landed at either Boston or New York City. From William S. Wright’s obituary, they traveled from one of these ports, south to Maryland. By 1860, she is documented in Perry, Illinois, the same inland town in which Robert Cunningham was also residing during that year.

Appendix — Contextual Notes on Women’s Labor and Migration

Footnotes

¹ Robert M. Cunningham, born 13 March 1827, Scotland; died 26 November 1881, Midway, Wasatch County, Utah; FamilySearch profile and attached sources.

² Margaret Wright, born 1840, Scotland; died 1886, Utah; FamilySearch profile and attached sources.

³ Church History Department, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, review of companies and ‘company unknown’ listings for 1859–1864.

⁴ Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to

Cyberspace, 3rd ed. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2015).

Chapter 4 – Grain Farming in Heber Valley, Utah (1850–1890) Introduction

Robert M. Cunningham’s death certificate indicates his profession as a farmer. As such, and since it was such a vital part of who he was and what he became, I thought it would add to the kind of person Robert became in the latter parts of his life. Farming during this period in history was extremely physically intensive and required a strong personality to be successful.

It also points to the kind of person Margaret was and became as she had to provide equal labor on the farm to make it successful.

Between 1850 and 1890, the transformation of raw sagebrush land into productive grain farms in Utah’s Heber Valley required sustained labor, environmental adaptation, and capital investment. This study situates the farming activities of Robert M. Cunningham and his wife, Margaret Wright Cunningham, within the agricultural realities of Wasatch County during the late nineteenth century. [1]

Environmental Conditions of Heber Valley

Heber Valley lies at an elevation exceeding 5,500 feet, characterized by cold winters, short growing seasons, alkaline soils, and native sagebrush vegetation. Successful grain farming required careful timing of planting and harvest, irrigation from local streams, and gradual soil improvement. [2]

Land Clearing and Preparation

Initial development involved clearing dense sagebrush using grub hoes, axes, and controlled burning. Breaking plows drawn by oxen or horses were employed to turn virgin soil, a process repeated over several years before full productivity was achieved.

Grain Cultivation Practices

Primary grains cultivated in Heber Valley included wheat, oats, and barley. Planting was done by hand broadcasting or seed drill, followed by harrowing.

Harvest relied on grain cradles and sickles, with threshing accomplished using flails or horse-powered machines.

Draft Animals and Equipment

An 80-acre grain farm typically required two to four draft animals. Oxen were favored in early years for endurance, while horses gained prominence later. Essential equipment included moldboard plows, spike-tooth harrows, wagons, and harness gear.

Farm Buildings and Domestic Structures

The Cunningham household would have occupied a modest log or framed dwelling, heated by a wood stove. Outbuildings included a barn or stable, granary, equipment shed, and root cellar, all constructed by hand using local timber.

Labor and Family Economy

Farming labor was organized around the household. Margaret Wright Cunningham’s work included food preservation, poultry care, dairying, and field assistance during peak seasons. Seasonal cooperation among neighboring farms was common during harvest and threshing.

Conclusion

Grain farming in Heber Valley demanded resilience, technical skill, and sustained effort. The Cunningham farm exemplifies the agricultural foundation upon which rural Wasatch County communities were built in the nineteenth century.

Notes

Leonard Arrington, *Great Basin Kingdom* (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958).
Utah State Historical Society, *Wasatch County Agricultural Records*, 1860–
Paul Wallace Gates, *History of Public Land Law Development* (Washington, DC: GPO, 1968).
Clarence Danhof, *Change in Agriculture* (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969).
Allan Bogue, *From Prairie to Corn Belt* (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963).
Thomas Carter and Bernard Herman, *Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic* (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981).
Julie Roy Jeffrey, *Frontier Women* (New York: Hill and Wang, 1979).
Wasatch County Deed and Probate Records, 1865–
Results (1): Genealogical profile confirming the identity, lifespan, and household relationships of Robert M. Cunningham.
Crops Raised in Provo River Valley (typed compilation): Lists grains, vegetables, and fruit crops historically cultivated in the Provo River drainage, including wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa, and garden produce.
Crops Raised in Provo River Valley (handwritten list): Corroborates typed records and reflects local historical recollection of Wasatch County agricultural production.

Farming – Harrowing: Period photographs and implement diagrams depicting horse-drawn harrows used for soil preparation in Utah fields.
Farming – Old Farm Equipment: Illustrated references and advertisements of nineteenth-century plows, cultivators, and harvesting machinery.

The following author-supplied primary and compiled reference materials have been incorporated into the analytical framework of this chapter:

Primary Source Files Incorporated

Farming – Photo – Scoop Excavator: Illustrates a horse‑drawn soil scraper or scoop used for land leveling, ditch maintenance, and irrigation preparation, directly supporting discussions of field preparation and water control.
Farming – Picture – Cultivating: Depicts cultivators and secondary tillage implements used to break clods, control weeds, and prepare seedbeds following initial plowing.
Farming – Picture – Sowing: Visual representation of hand broadcasting seed, a common method of planting grain prior to widespread mechanical seed drills.
Farming in the 1900s: Included for contextual contrast, illustrating technological developments that post‑date the Cunningham era and clarifying which mechanized practices were not yet available during the 1850–1890 period.

Bibliography

Arrington, Leonard J. *Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900*. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958.

Bogue, Allan G. *From Prairie to Corn Belt: Farming on the Illinois and Iowa Prairies in the Nineteenth Century*. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.

Danhof, Clarence H. *Change in Agriculture: The Northern United States, 1820–1870*. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969.

Jeffrey, Julie Roy. *Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–1880*. New York: Hill and Wang, 1979.

Utah State Historical Society. *Wasatch County Agricultural and Irrigation Records*. Salt Lake City.

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