Zilah's Story
Birth: September 26th, 1848 | female | in Meriden, Warwickshire, England
Death: September 1st, 1864 | 15 years old | Unknown Location
Memorial: Stone 13 | left column
Rozilla Zilla May Goode is the sister of Eliza Ellen Goode and daughter of Eliza Goode who later married Charles Smith. (No information on her father.) Zilla’s step father is Charles Smith. Eliza and Charles had 10 children (12 including Zilla and Eliza).
The family immigrated to America on the ship “William Topscott.” Upon arriving in America, they traveled to Florence, Nebraska to join the Horton D. Haight Company bound for the Salt Lake Valley with other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While Zilla’s name is not listed on the Company roster under Goode or under Smith, the company left August 10, 1864.
Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Records indicate that 15-year-old Rozilla died on September 1, 1864 of unknown causes. She is buried on the plains along the Mormon Trail.