Ann Chester (1836-1918)
From Biographical Wiki
| Ann Chester Ashby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born: | 12 Feb 1836 Crowle, Lincoln, England |
| Died: | 3 Mar 1918 Bountiful, Utah |
| Father: | Thomas Chester |
| Mother: | Hannah Chapman |
| Siblings: | Ann Chester |
| Spouse: | Benjamin Ashby |
| Married: | 25 Oct 1857 Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Children: | Frances Ann Ashby Susan Ashby Martha Ashby William Chester Ashby Benjamin Ashby Briant Ashby Hammond Ashby Joseph Goodworth Ashby Jessie Ashby Jessie Ashby John Fred Ashby Thomas Ashby Nathaniel Ashby Charles Alma Ashby James Ralph Ashby |
Ann Chester was born 12 February 1836 at Crowle, Lincs. England. She was the daughter of Thomas Chester and Hannah Chapman. She was the third child of a family of seven, however, a brother James and a sister Maryann died when they were young, so Ann was the oldest that lived to maturity. The next was a brother named Thomas, a sister Frances and another sister Emma who died as an infant. William was the youngest.
When Ann was only 8 years old her father was killed at sea, leaving An's mother with William only 17 months old, Thomas 6 years old and Frances 4 years old. Ann's mother was a tall, light complexioned, very energetic person. Her father was medium height and dark. Ann, (although she was not over 5 feet) resembled her father. She had beautiful brown eyes and dark curly hair. Her hair turned gray when she was very young and for 30 years her hair was white as snow. It looked as if it had just been marceled for she had a beautiful natural wave.
A few years after the death of Ann's father, her mother remarried. She married Joseph Goodworth and they had three boys. Mr. Goodworth also passed away and Ann and her brothers and sister went to live with their Chester grandparents.
Ann's mother, Hannah Goodworth, heard the gospel and was converted and baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in September 1854. Soon after Ann was visiting her mother and went with her mother to hear the Elders speak. She became interested and was baptized the 30th of June 1855. Elder Benjamin Ashby baptized her at Hull, Yorks, England and he also confirmed her the next day.
Ann received much ridicule from her friends and relatives. Alder Ashby recorded in his journal an instance that happened to Ann that helped to convince her of the gospel's truth. These are his exact words as recorded:
Sister Ann Chester, whom I baptized just before I went to New Castle, wrote me shortly after that she had received a great deal of opposition from her friends and relatives. She wished to have an assurance that she was doing as God desired her to do. She therefore asked for a testimony from him. She said that she thought that if anything came to her room she possibly might be frightened. She therefore asked to see something in the clouds. The next day about 2 p.m. As she was working by a window there came a cloud which opened like curtains. She beheld an old English church building on a hill surrounded by a multitude of people in great tumult and confusion. The building took fire and burned. Then the sea appeared with ships sailing towards a distant land. Then there was a succession of cities, villages, haystacks, fields, and woods, passing like a panorama. And then she beheld mountains and a long line of people with what she called little wheel barrows winding their way among them. Then she beheld a Temple with the sun shining on it.
She must have felt the Lord had given her this manifestation because she stayed with the Church. Her grandparents with whom she lived, who were fairly well to do, told her they would not leave her one cent, which they never did. Many of her friends would have no more to do with her either.
Ann and her mother and three half brothers decided to come to America. On the 22nd of March 1856, they took sail on the ship called (Enock Train.” We find on the sailing records in England that Francis, Ann's brother, who was 18 years had married before this time and he never came to America. Francis married William Clark and never saw her sister Ann again.
William came to America after he was married but he never joined the Church. He settled in Soda Springs, Idaho. His mother lived with him and died and is buried there.
Ann was 20 years old when they left England. We have no record of how they got to Iowa City. From there they left with the first Handcart Company. There were 50 handcarts that started out on June the 9th, 1856. The leader was Edward Ellsworth. A second company left June 11th. They arrived in Salt Lake Valley the same day. The company was met by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and a party of people and a brass band welcomed them. And thus the vision Ann had seen had come to pass.
On the way to Salt Lake Ann was taken ill with mountain fever and it was feared she would not reach the valley. But she had faith she would and did. When they arrived they went to the home of Briant Stringham, a brother-in-law of Benjamin Ashby who had informed his sister and Brother Stringham that they were coming. They stayed with the Stringhams for several months. And again Ann became ill. This time with Typhoid Fever. She was very ill. When Elder Ashby arrived home from his mission he helped to nurse her back to health.
On October 25, 1857, she was married to Benjamin Ashby, but she was still too weak to stand and had to sit during the ceremony. They were married at the home of Joseph S. Scofield by Apostle Erastus Snow. At this same time Maryann Collins Dryer was also married to Brother Ashby. After they were married, they rented two rooms from the Scofields, and the two wives lived together.
That winter Johnston's Army arrived. And in the spring when the army moved closer, many moved their families. So Brother Ashby moved his wives to Spanish Fork. Brother John M. Chidester allowed them to build a straw and willow room back of his house. And he gave them an acre of land to raise food on. They were there until July. On July 3, Brother Ashby and his wife Mary walked to Lehi, where Benjamin worked and got a team and went back and got Ann who was not well.
Before they were married Brother Ashby had obtained 20 acres of land 10 miles north of Salt Lake City. By August 1st he and his wives Ann and Mary were successful in reaching it. They built another willow and straw shack under a willow tree. Benjamin bought stone and adobies to build a home. He worked hard but winter set in and the roof was not on the house. Again willows and straw was used, and the family moved in. On the 9th of December Ann gave birth to her first child, a daughter, which they named Frances. The roof leaked and a cold rain leaked into the room making it necessary to move Ann's bed from place to place to try to keep her dry. She became ill, and had an abcess in her breast that gathered and broke. She was again taken to Harriet Stringham's home and was tenderly nursed and cared for. Soon after this Mary divorced Benjamin taking with her her baby girl.
The house finally was finished. It was 30 feet long and 10 feet wide and was divided into 3 rooms. It was located in West Bountiful, which soon became a large settlement. Ann was the mother of 14 children. Three daughters first: Frances, Susan and Martha. They were healthy and developed into womanhood. Frances married Alma Page and was the mother of 16 children and lived to be past 90 years of age. Susan married Cyrus Page and was the mother of 9 children. She was past 80 when she passed away. Martha married James Burningham and had 4 children. She lived to be 92.
William Chester was the first son. He married Annie Otterway – they didn't have children. Benjamin was next—he died when an infant. Briant was next—he married Lydia Jorden and was the father of 9 children. Hamond was next, then Joseph Goodworth—they both died as infants. Jesse came next—he lived almost 10 months.
John Fred was next—he married Elizabeth Annie Jones and was the father of 5 children. Ann was not able to nurse her babies and in those days when formulas had not been worked out, it was difficult to feed a baby so the family always got a goat when a new baby arrived. When John was born, a goat was impossible to find and cow's milk didn't seem to agree with him. So they fed him on rice water and he developed and lived to be past 90 years. “I'm sure the Lord was with him,” his mother often said and John was very fond of rice all his life.
In 1874 Ann was very ill with cholera marvus and gave birth to twins and almost lost her life. She was only 7 months along. Both baby boys, Nathaniel and Thomas died the first day. Three years later she gave birth to another son—Charles Alma. He married Martha Jane Prosser. They had 10 children. James Ralph was her 14th child. He married Elizabeth Torry and had 12 children.
Ann was a hard worker and a very neat person and a splendid manager. She was a good cook and always had something good in her cupboard for her children and grandchildren. She did beautiful handwork. She had been trained as a seamstress and milinar before she left England and her training was used with skill. I can see her in my memory when she was in her older age, very plump with a long full black skirt, a beautiful black beaded velvet cape on her shoulders and a fancy black bonnet on her head.
Her husband died 19 November 1907 and she was 71 years of age. She built a small house in East Bountiful on the lot her daughter Martha lived on, and her son Briant lived in the old home. Martha looked after her and real often a grandchild would spend the night with her. We all loved her.
The winter of 1917 she moved in with Martha who was now a widow. She seemed to be enjoying good health. On the 2nd of March 1918 she seemed to be well when she went to bed but awakened about 11 p m with pain in her chest and passed away in the early morning of March 3rd, 1918. She is buried beside her husband in the Bountiful Cemetery.
She left descendants in great number and was loved by all who knew her. Ann was deeply religious and served her church well. She did hundreds of names at the Salt Lake and St. George temples—when travel was as it was and the temples only doing one session most days. She must have spent many days doing this work. We as a family should be grateful to this stalwart lady.
[edit] Sources
- Hatch, Jason. FindaGrave
