BIOGRAPHY
OF ANN HOWELL BURT
By Sophy Valentine
PROLOGUE
Ann Howell’s father William, upon arriving with his family, took up their abode
at Council Bluffs, where he started a store for the purpose of maintaining his
family till the next year, when they intended to continue their travels to Salt
Lake. But God had decreed otherwise. He was a delicate man, and the hardships
of the new life soon told on him. He died 21 Nov 1851 at Kanesville, in full
faith. Brother Hyde and Benson, two of the Apostles, visited him every night to
comfort him in his last hours.
In 1852 Sister Howell, now the sole caretaker of the little family, prepared to
begin the journey westward. Brother Howell had brought with him quite a
collection of books, which he had intended to add to a proposed public library
in Salt Lake City. But to obtain means Sister Howell was obliged to sell them
at a sacrifice. So the journey began by ox team and the children thought it
great fun.
One day Ann and her brothers had a particularly fine time, when one of the
little boys, 9-year-old William became very tired, and laid down in the high
grass under the wagon and fell asleep. No one thought about him till the
company was about to start again. Sister Howell missed him, but thinking he
was as usual among the other children of the company, the oxen were started up
and the heavy wagon passed over the body of poor little William.
Morgan described the happening: “We administered to him through the ordinances
of the Church of Jesus Christ, according to the scriptures, and the next night
he was strolling around the camp. He fell sick again in a day or two, and
Brother Taylor and myself administered to him again, but he died in spite of
everything and everyone.”
The stricken mother was beside herself with grief, but she bent her head and
bowed to the will of the Father. Her child was buried on the plains, where the
bodies of so many other pioneers had to be laid to rest.
This accident saddened the whole company, of course. Ann and her brothers were
heavy at heart, particularly Ann, who was her mother’s comfort and mainstay.
But the journey ended at last, and it was a happy day when they arrived in the
Valley. Salt Lake City wasn’t much of a place in 1852, but the weary travelers
thought it a heavenly rest, for they were free from the persecutions they had
been subject to in their old home in Aberdare, Wales.
Ann’s widowed mother Martha was remarried to William W. Morgan years later, and
sealed to him 13 Nov 1855 at the Salt Lake City Endowment House.
Ann was now 14, a well grown, tall lass, with the longings and aspirations of
youth. She was obliged to go about from place to place selling shawls and other
dry goods that her mother had brought away from her store at Council Bluffs. It
hurt Ann’s pride exceedingly but the family had to live, and she did not
complain, for that would only make the load heavier for her widowed mother.
After a year-and-a-half of struggling, Sister Martha Howell removed to Brigham
City with her children, thinking she could do better there. Two years later Ann
was married. She had not tasted much of youth’s pleasures, and now she was
plunged headlong into life’s cares and responsibilities.
LEAVES FROM THE JOURNAL OF ANN HOWELL
1 Jul 1854: “I married my husband Ricy Jones and moved from Brigham down to
Salt Lake City where we lived very comfortable and happy for about a year and a
half, but times were very hard, we suffered considerably for something to eat.
Oct 1854: “My husband has gone to find work, as we are quite destitute. He
wanted me to accompany him, but I could not think of it. It may be better in a
way, but we have come here for the Gospel’s sake, and here I intend to stay and
weather it out with the rest of the Saints. I refused to go with my husband,
so he sold the two-room adobe house he built on the side of the D&RG
depot. It was a severe trial on me. I went and lived with mother in Brigham,
which had been built into quite a little town since we lived there before at
the Old Fort.”
Note: Ann said that Ricy went to California in search of gold, but this cannot
be verified. In fact, much evidence exists to the contrary.
“About this time I received a letter from my uncle Lewis who was still living
in Wales. He had heard of my circumstances, so he wrote telling me that if I
would come back and live with him, having no children of his own, he would make
me heir to all his property. But of course I would have had to forsake my
religion to do so, and while this was a great temptation to me, as I knew that
all my poverty would be at an end, I was firm in staying with my religion, and
so did not go.
18 Mar 1855: “I have been going to the home of a well-to-do widow, as compared
to the general poverty that prevails, once a week for the purpose of helping
her with her work, for which I have received my dinner and a loaf of bread as
wages. Not much, to be sure, but it is better than nothing.
6 May 1856: “My first child Ricy Howell Jones is born. When my husband heard
that I have become a mother and had a son, he came back. Yesterday, as I was
going to my work, carrying my baby in my arms, and feeling weak and faint from
want of food, I dragged my limbs, for they felt like lead. As I passed the
corner of a certain street, a woman came out of her door and offered me a piece
of bacon to take home with me. It was the first time I had been offered alms
like that in the street, and my eyes fell to the ground; but they also filled
with tears of gratitude, for I surely needed the bacon, and while my lips
framed a reluctant refusal, my hands trembled with eagerness for it. The
sister saw my predicament and simply laid the gift in my hands. I thanked her,
and hurried back home to try some of it. That, with some stale bread, did give
me more strength, and I went to work feeling very grateful.”
Note: While Ann was rejoicing in the possession of this wonderful treasure,
her poor mother passed through another great sorrow: Her youngest child, Ann’s
half-brother Edmund, while playing around the fireplace outdoors where the
cooking was done, fell into the fire and was so badly burned that he died a few
days later. The family lived in a log house with the ground for a floor, and
had but few conveniences to help make cooking and the house work easy. Many a
night did Ann weep herself to sleep worrying over the future, wondering where
she was to get the necessities for herself and her child.
Shortly after Ann’s husband Ricy returned (1856), he bought a farm in “Stringtown’
north of Brigham, and they took up the battle of life in a dugout while he was
building a Rock House some few miles from where Ann’s mother lived. Their
first four children were born there, and life went on with many trials and
tribulations, interspersed with glimpses of sunshine, but always with the feeling
of security and trust in their Heavenly Father. They shared the ups and downs
of the people in general, mourned or rejoiced with their neighbors, and they
were all like one big family.
Note: When RH (1856-1935) grew up and returned to Brigham, he bought the farm
and Rock House, which his father Ricy built in 1857, because it was his
birthplace. Later BH acquired it and then sold it to Dave and Alice
Rosenbaum. After Dave died, BH looked after it until Alice died in 1936. Then
Young Dave (1884-1947), Martha Jones Rosenbaum’s son, had it for awhile, and
before he died, he promised to get a picture of it, but never did. The last
time Saidee saw it, the southwest corner was crumbling off. Judge Lewis Howell
Jones took Saidee to see it in 1955 and said he was going to buy it because, of
the four homes Ricy built, it was the only one then standing. Owen has since
tried extensively to locate it without success, so it must have been torn down.
“We are very, very poor. We make coffee out of bran, and we have neither milk
nor butter. If we want sugar we must make it ourselves out of beets. We sell
our good clothes that we brought from Wales to buy flour with. But we are not
alone in our poverty. All people are poor. Brother G tried to mix sawdust with
his bread stuff. But it did not work very good. It made them all ill. Still,
they had to eat what he had mixed up, for it was too precious to waste. ‘Oh for
a few of the good things we had at home [Wales].’ We were given a piece of
meat by Brother V. He had been up in the mountains, and carried home a couple
of animals that had died of starvation during the cold winter. Well, there was
not much meat to it, and when it was boiled it was black, still it satisfied
our hunger.
“Then I dried my eyes and had to smile at mother’s anxiety to set me right.
During the move South, Ricy was a Minute Man at Echo canyon on the Johnston
Army episode of President Buchanan. (Good crops were raised that year.)
18 Apr 1858: “An army is coming to destroy us, so they say. Johnston’s army,
they call it. They have winter-quartered out at Ham’s Fork. (The US President
is sending an armed force to Utah to put down a rebellion that does not exist,
and to impose a new territorial Governor by force to replace Brigham Young.)
It may be their intention to destroy us, but Providence is over all. I have no
fear, yet I know that many are trembling. It looks bad. President Young has
counseled the people to move South, and we are all going. We have been packing
up our few belongings; we haven’t much, which is a consolation at this time.
If the soldiers prove as hostile as is feared, our men are going to set fire to
our houses and cabins so that nothing but desolation will greet Johnston and
his men.
Jul 1858: “We are at Provo Bottoms and just having a fine time. Mother and
the children and everybody are here. And we are just enjoying ourselves,
having happy, sociable times in spite of the camp life and the primitive
conditions with which we are surrounded. We have obeyed the counsel of our
leaders, and all will work out for our good. I never thought we could have
such a fine time in exile. We go visiting each other, and we women go in
clusters down to the lake and bathe with the children.
“Johnston and his men seem very nice people in a way, they have come in
peaceably, and are scattering their abundance among the people. ‘All things worketh
together for good to them that love the Lord.’ And now we must go back to our
homes. It is almost with a feeling of regret that we leave, for we have found
so many nice congenial people, and we have certainly enjoyed this bit of
hardship.
Aug 1858: “At home in Brigham once more. Oh, but it seems desolate. The
Indians have burned up what little furniture we had left, and taken out of our
houses what they could use. There is no grain, for none has been stored, and
there is nothing to harvest, for nothing was planted. What will we do for food
for the little ones? But we must trust in Him who never forsook us.
Sep 1858: “We have found a large patch of segoes below the town, which seems
to have been planted especially for us. They are fine, large and good tasting,
not like the small variety we children used to find above town. Mother and I
take our sacks and go down to the patch, and dig quantities along with our
neighbors. The first day, Mother heaved a deep sigh as she shouldered her
pack, and as I came up behind her, tears came to my eyes at the sight. It
doesn’t matter about me, but my poor, hard-tried Mother, who might now have
been a lady at her ease, back in dear old Aberdare. ‘But what benefiteth a man
if he gains the whole world, etc.’ Now, we do not sigh any more, nor do I shed
tears, only of gratitude for the food we have found. There are about 20 or 30
acres of the segoes, I should judge. So I hope they will not give out soon.
7 Oct 1858: “My second child, William Howell Jones is born.
Nov 1858: “I had occasion to go see Sister B this morning, and such a treat as
I had; warm biscuits and honey. I never tasted anything so delicious. When
Sister B returned from her exile, she and the children found a patch of
milkweed flowers all covered with honey. They picked the flowers, rinsed them
in a tub of water, and afterwards boiled the fluid down. They obtained about a
gallon of honey. My, but it was good. (Settlers are arriving to take up
choice tracts of land at Three-Mile Creek, south of Porter Rockwell’s claim.
This is one of 17 Wards in Box Elder Stake, organized as a Branch in 1854.)
May 1859: “We are living on a farm at Three-Mile Creek (Perry). I have had to
ride the plough horse. It has nearly ruined my complexion, but that is not the
worst annoyance, nor the greatest danger that has threatened us on the farm.
The Shoshone Indians seem to be on the warpath, and we live in constant fear of
an attack from them. Our neighbor, Sister Peters was left alone one night.
After going to bed, she heard someone trying to open the door, and just as she
threw herself against it, she felt the weight of somebody from the other side.
In spite of her efforts, Sister Peters was forced back slightly as a bronzed
arm shot through the aperture. Some way, she got hold of the table and pulled
it up in front of the door, and catching up the butcher knife, which lay on it,
she ran the back of the knife along the arm, which was quickly withdrawn. Then
she began to scream for her husband, who was nowhere near, but it had the
effect of hustling the savages away.
Nov 1860: “Back to Brigham. Living in a small house that leaks very badly.
We sleep in the cellar, close by the house, yet we are not safe from the rain
there. We have to sleep with umbrellas over our heads. Many of our men have
to work at Camp Floyd, where the soldiers are stationed. And oh, what a
Godsend that army had been to the people of Utah. Their coming was like an
ominous cloud over our heads, and our hearts almost failed us with fear; but
the cloud was big with mercy, and broke with blessings on our heads. How much
good cheer they have brought to our homes, for they furnished our men with work
and paid well for it. We have been able to sell our products, such as we can raise,
at a good price, and they have scattered wagons, oxen, wagon covers, clothes
and many needed things among us. Who, but an all wise Father could have sent
the enemy with succor we needed so badly?”
Note: Camp Floyd was established in 1858 by Col. Albert Sydney. Johnston’s
3500-man army had been sent from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on the ‘Utah
Expedition’ to quell a reported rebellion among pioneer settlers. During the
army’s three-year stay in Cedar Valley, it never engaged in combat, but did
profoundly affect the economy. More than 16 million pounds of wagon freight
was hauled here 1100 miles. Large warehouses, barracks, mess halls, stables,
officer’s quarters, headquarters buildings, blacksmith shops, corrals, a huge
arsenal, and other structures had to be built to accommodate the large army.
The surrounding area soon had a combined military and civilian population of
7,000 compared to 15,000 in Salt Lake City. When the army left in May 1861,
they left some $4 million for of army surplus which was auctioned off for
$100,000.
25 Dec 1860: “My third child, Martha is born.
4 Jul 1862: “My fourth child Esdras Howell Jones is born.
May 1863: “We are living in a dugout up here on the North Spring. The
neighbors call it ‘The Castle of Spiders’, and it is well named, for I never
saw so many reptiles and bugs of all kinds. For several mornings I was puzzled
to find my milk-pan skimmed; could not understand what could have done it. So,
the other evening I sat down behind the door, with my knitting, to watch the
proceedings, and what was my surprise, to see a huge bull-snake come crawling
out from the head of our bed and, swaying gracefully toward my crude cupboard,
begin to skim my cream. Now I cover my milk tightly. This is a hideous place.
Some days ago, I killed a rattlesnake with my rolling pin, as he came crawling
down the steps. I was just cooking supper and my baby (Esdras) was on the
floor or rather the ground, for we have no other floor. I was badly frightened.
Editor’s note: There is no doubt the pioneers felt it important, and were
concerned enough with these creatures (snakes) to mention them in their
writings. Snakes must have been on their minds or at least in the back of the
minds enough to warrant mentioning and warning others. At the time of arrival
of the first company of Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, there were
about 26,000 Indians living in the Great Basin. Much of their time was spent
in gathering seeds and berries, and hunting small game. Indians of the Great
Basin also traded with other Indians and Fur traders for items such as food,
guns, whiskey and horses, which later were sources of conflict. The stealing
of horses and cattle, and the Indian practice of begging made many Mormons
careful and somewhat suspicious of the intentions of the noble red men.
Nov 1863: “The Indians have been troublesome for a long time, pilfering here
and there, scaring the women half to death. They stole a horse of ours, and
one night they killed a man a few miles from here. So, most of the men up here
on the Spring formed a company, and went out to make an attack on them.
“My neighbor, Sister Jerusha Pierce – she is the daughter of the martyred Hyrum
Smith, and sister to the Patriarch John Smith, and also Joseph F. Smith –well,
she came over to spend the day with me while our husbands were away. I had
prepared lunch and we sat down comfortably to gossip a bit, thinking very
little of the Indians or any other danger. All of a sudden we were nearly
petrified with fright to see two bronzed terrors in full war paint and regalia
standing in the doorway. In an imperative manner they demanded bread, which I
gave. Then they apparently consulted together; after which one started toward
Sister Jerusha, pointing his gun at her. She fainted promptly, and I felt like
doing the same, but in this moment of pressing need, I remembered having heard
that an Indian has some little respect for a courageous woman, so snatching the
axe which we kept behind the door, I raised it above my head and made for the
nearest redskin. Much to my surprise, he lowered the rifle, and dodging the
swing I made at him, laughed, and he and his companion quickly departed saying
something about a brave squaw. Then it was my turn to faint, and meanwhile Jerusha
came to, and two such bewildered looking objects as we must have presented, I
guess are seldom seen. That’s an experience I shall never forget, nor, I think
any of us, for I never was so frightened in my life.
Oct 1864: “We are going to move away from here. I am weary of fighting all
these reptiles. A few days ago while keeping the flies off my baby’s face as
he (Esdras) slept on an improved bed on the floor, I discovered to my horror, a
large tarantula crawling toward the child. I seized the broomstick, thrust the
end of it at the tarantula, and when it took hold of the thing which was
provoking it, I hurriedly put it in the fire.
Jul 1865: “Last week we Brigham dames and lassies gave a dinner in honor of
President Brigham Young. It was quite an affair for our small town. The
tables were nicely decorated and we had a lot of good things. President Young
seemed to hesitate before beginning to eat, and looked about the table,
apparently for something. At last, he smilingly asked one of the waitresses if
she could procure him a bowl of buttermilk. We got it in a hurry, and when he
received it he was much pleased, and seemed to relish it more than anything
else on the table. While watching him at the table, I could not help thinking,
‘He eats to live, and does not live to eat.’
Date: “Shortly after this we decided to move to Wellsville, Cache Valley, and
take up a large farm. We built a cozy little house on Main Street, and I
started a millinery shop, and small store, the first that was ever started in
that town. I made a perfect success of it for several years. About that time
we organized the Relief Society, and they called on me to act as Secretary and
Treasurer, which I did to the best of my ability. Workers were very scarce at
that time. I remember one day going to Logan.
Editor’s Note: It should be reported here that Apostle Lorenzo D. Snow of
Brigham City who administered church affairs over the entire Northern Utah
District, was promoting drama as one of the Churches cultural activities.
Consequently a play evolved in which a dashing young actor John Davidson Burt,
once Brigham City Marshall, Deputy Sheriff and Probate Judge of Box Elder
County, and Bishop of Brigham City Third Ward, took the leading role. Ann
became interested, tried out, became the leading lady, and you guessed it, fell
in love with him. She soon became disenchanted with her farmer-husband Ricy,
who was now freighting for a living between Butte Montana, Promontory Utah and Pioche
Nevada, and would be away from home for weeks at a time.
8 Mar 1866: “My fifth child, Brigham Howell Jones is born.
May 1866: “Good tidings have come to us from Wales. Mother will at last
receive that which is hers, and of which we have been deprived so long. Her
‘case in chancery’ has been disposed of, and by going back, she will receive a
great deal of money. It will at least seem a great deal to us. How thankful
we are that after so many years of poverty and privations, which mother has
borne uncomplainingly, she will be rewarded.
“We have no money to travel with, but mother went to Salt Lake to see President
Young. It took her three days to get there by ox team. He has promised to
loan her the necessary funds. He even offered to see that her children were
well placed during her absence – good, kind and grand man that he is. But that
is not necessary, for I am to live at mother’s place and take care of my family
and hers, a great responsibility, being young myself. My mother Martha Howell,
stayed in Wales about a year while Ricy and I took care of my younger
brothers: Rees 18, Lewis 15, and my half-brother Joseph Morgan 9. As payment,
mother gave my husband Ricy money for a new wagon to freight with.
24 Nov 1866: “We went to Salt Lake Endowment House for our endowments and sealings.
Apr 1868: “My sixth child, Lewis Howell Jones is born.
18 Oct 1868: “Entering polygamy, Ricy married Margaret Bennet Morse at Salt
Lake EH.
5 Jan 1870: “Seventh child, Mary Ann (Molly) Jones is born to Margaret.
11 Jul 1871: “Eighth child, Alice Jones is born to me.
Sep 1871: “Ricy’s Patriarchal blessing given by Charles W. Hyde at Wellsville.
25 Feb 1872: “Ninth child, Celestia May Jones is born to Margaret.
1872: “Tenth child, Zina Howell is born to me.
22 Sep 1874: “I filed suit for divorce in Cache County Probate Court.
2 Oct 1874: “Divorce granted from Ricy. Court decides that defendant pays and
delivers to plaintiff the following alimony:
1. All the Hawbush claims owned by defendant. (The farm was Margaret’s).
2. One-half of the defendant’s hay land.
3. Thirty bushels of wheat; twenty bushels of potatoes.
4. Two cows and calves; two yearlings; one two-year-old.
5. One sewing machine; one stove.
6. Two cupboards and furniture and bedding now in possession of plaintiff.
7. One voucher of U.N.R.R. of $100
8. Cost of suit.
“After living in Wellsville 13 years, I took my eight children, moved back to
Brigham City, remarried 9 Aug 1875, and was sealed to John Davidson Burt, as
his third polygamous wife.”
