Gaskell Romney | |
---|---|
Born | Saint George, Utah Territory, U.S. | September 22, 1871
Died | March 7, 1955 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. | (aged 83)
Occupation | Builder |
Known for | Patriarch of the Romney family |
Spouse | Anna Amelia Pratt |
Children | 7, including George |
Father | Miles Park Romney |
Gaskell Romney (September 22, 1871 – March 7, 1955) is regarded as a patriarch of the Romney family,[1] a U.S. political family. Romney was born in St. George, in what was then the Utah Territory, the son of Miles Park Romney[2][3][4][5] and Hannah Hood Hill.
Gaskell Romney moved to Mexico when his father helped to found the Mormon colony in Colonia Dublán, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1885. The Romney families lost their holdings in Chihuahua during the Mexican Revolution and in 1912 Romney moved back to the United States.[6] Eventually he was reimbursed by the Mexican government for some of his losses.[7] He married in 1895 to Anna Amelia Pratt. Romney was the father of six sons and one daughter: Maurice, Douglas, Miles, George W. Romney, Lawrence, Charles and Meryl. Gaskell himself was a candidate for County Commissioner 1931 as a Republican. He died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 7, 1955, and is buried in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in the city.[8]
A number of Romney's descendants have become prominent in U.S. politics. His son, George W. Romney, was a two-term governor of Michigan and a presidential cabinet member; his grandson, Mitt Romney, ran in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, and served one term as governor of Massachusetts and is currently serving as the junior U.S. senator from Utah; and his great-granddaughter Ronna Romney McDaniel was the chair of the Republican National Committee until February 2024.
Through Romney's wife,[9] there is an ancestral link with renowned early Mormon leader Parley Parker Pratt.[10][11][12] The Romney clan is also linked by marriage to the Smith family, the Matheson family, and the Huntsman family.[13][14] The Pratt family dates back to the 17th century in Connecticut, originating with William Pratt who served as a representative to the colonial legislature of the state for 23 terms. Miles Romney, patriarch of the Romney family, immigrated to the United States from Dalton-in-Furness, England, in the 1840s.[15] Aside from politics and government, their legacy extends into other professions.
...young Gaskell Romney married a Pratt girl, Anna Amelia. ... Anna Pratt Romney, George's mother, belonged to the bluestockings of the Mormon establishment."
One hundred and fifty years after the death of his ancestor, Parley Pratt's great-great-grandson Mitt Romney announced his bid for the Republican Party's nomination. ... He had served as governor of Massachusetts, and his father, George, as governor of Michigan.
...the youngest son of the most prominent Mormon in American politics — a seventh-generation direct descendant of one of the faith's founding 12 apostles—Mitt Romney....
Romney is...the scion of a family dynasty integral to the progress of an American-born faith....
The Romney and Huntsman families — two intertwined clans that go back to the early days of Mormonism....
"Both Romney and Huntsman descend from Parley P. Pratt, one of the most storied early Mormon leaders," said Joanna Brooks, a Mormon scholar.... "Both have family and personal connections to the institutional hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And both enjoy an unusual degree of access to high-ranking church leaders," she said.
Media related to Gaskell Romney at Wikimedia Commons