Asenath Slafter
1796-1867

	Husbands: Josiah Janes Samuel Bent Benjamin Gibson
	3 Children including Henrietta Janes
	Father: Eleazer Slafter Mother: Eunice Fenton Show Pedigree

Asenath Slafter was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, Aug 18, 1796. Her parents, Eleazer and Eunice Fenton Slafter were also born and raised in that same town. At 36 she married Josiah Janes on Dec. 6, 1832. Twin boys were born to her on March 12, 1834, but they only lived a few days. On March 8, 1835 their daughter Henrietta was born and she was their last child.

About 1839 they heard the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Josiah read the Book of Mormon through, hardly putting it down, and then immediately applied for baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some two years later Asenath and her mother and two younger sisters Julia and Lucinda also were baptized into that religion.

The extended family, including her mother and sisters, moved to join the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, arriving there in May, 1841. Their daughter Henrietta later remember seeing the Prophet Joseph Smith several times before he was martyred on June 27, 1844. Shortly thereafter, Josiah also died in Sept., 1844. The three generations of women were now alone, and Asenath remarried Samuel Bent in the Nauvoo Temple. He had been a preacher in the Congregationalist Church before joining the saints in Kirtland, Ohio. Soon after the exodus of the saints from Nauvoo, President Brigham Young appointed Samuel to be the presiding Elder at Garden Grove. He remained there until his death on August 16, 1846. Asenath and the family did not accompany him to Garden Grove but remained in Nauvoo until October, 1846. The reason for their delay was the sickness and death of Lucinda who passed away in September.

Asenath was now husbandless again and faced the great journey westward with her aged mother and daughter. She was very poor and so had no equipment for the journey. Thus, she had to wait on the west bank of the Mississippi for four weeks before they other teams provided them transportation. They arrived in Garden Grove in mid-November, and stayed there nine months until they got more help to go to Council Bluffs, Iowa. There they stayed for another four years. While there, Asenath's mother died in 1848 at the age of 81. She had suffered much in her old age for the gospel. Now Asenath and Henrietta were alone.

On Dec. 5, 1848, Asenath married Benjamin Gibson for time only. This marriage proved to be a failure, so they separated. The great opportunity to go west came in 1852. They left Council Bluffs in June and arrived in September. Henrietta, now 17, walked nearly the entire distance. They lived in Union Fort in 1854 where Henrietta met her husband, Isaiah Cox. Asenath lived with them, and passed away in St. George, Utah, on Oct. 5, 1867.