Nancy Aurelia Booth Pack Biography

Nancy Booth was born April 11, 1826 in Brown County Ohio, the first child of William and Sarah Amelia Booth. Not much is known about Nancy, but the time she was 11 the family was living in Indiana where her sister, Susan, was born. By the age of nineteen she was living in Nauvoo, where on Jan. 21, 1846 she was sealed as John Pack’s second wife in the Nauvoo temple. She was almost twenty and John was 36. That same day John was also sealed to Ruth Moser and Elisa Jane Graham.


Just two weeks later on February 4, 1846, John took his mother, wives and children and they ferried across the Mississippi River. They camped at Sugar Creek for three weeks and then went on the Winter Quarters. Nancy stayed at Winter Quarters while John was heading west with the Vanguard company. John returned to Winter Quarters from the Salt Lake Valley in October of 1847 and over the winter made preparations to take his family west and they left April 1, 1848. Nancy and Ruth drove their own wagon and the Young-Kimball company arrived in the Valley on September 24, 1848. Although Nancy was expecting her first child, she and Ruth spent their first winter in the Valley living in their wagon boxes while Julia and her children lived in the home John built on the lot of what is now West Temple and First North.


Nancy’s baby named Sarah Amelia Pack was born June 2, 1849. On October 6, 1849, John was called to go to France on a mission and left less than two weeks later. On February 16, 1850, from St. Louis, John wrote Nancy a letter, “I hav bin three weeks in this place and I want to get away and be preaching in France. I am wating on Br. Taylor. We expect to start this week for Newyork. I cold write you a litter in french, but you cold not read it….I love to write to you for when I write it allmost seemes that I am in your presence, but alass it is not so. A long distance sepparates us in person but not in feelings…. I remane your kind and affectionate companion in time and to all Eternity.


Another letter written a little later states, “Prepare yourself for many a kiss when I get home. O how sweet will be our meeting.” He urges her not to be in a hurry “to ween your babe but let it nurce a good while. Kiss the little blue eyed girl for me on both cheeks and tell hir she has got a father that will be home one of these days and will kiss hir on the end of the nose.”


John returned from his mission in France arriving in the Valley on August 8, 1952, and his reunion with Nancy must have been as he wrote because Nancy’s second child, Adelbert Beaumont, was born just nine months later on May 4, 1853. This child was the first of the ABC children and John’s other wives also had babies over the next three months-4 babies in three months.


Nancy died on August 14, 1853 and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, leaving her two young children to be raised by the other wives.

Lucy Jane Giles Pack Biography

LUCY JANE GILES PACK
Lucy Jane Giles was born June 13, 1848, at Wield, England. Her father was William Giles and her mother Ann Finden Giles. The family were all baptized at Wield, England, on Sept. 6, 1864, by Elder 0.P. Kimball.


In 1866, Lucy and her brother, Albert, had a desire to emigrate to Utah with a party of Saints. Their parents gathered together all the means they could spare and let these two children come. For a time they regretted this, but soon they, too, felt a desire to travel to the valley of the Saints, and so after scheming and saving for two years, the parents and their other children followed Lucy and Albert and the family was reunited in Utah.


On May 2, 1868, Lucy married John Pack in Salt Lake City. To them were born three children: Lay Pack Whiting, Parley Pack, and Inez Ann Hoyt. Her husband died in 1885 and she was left a widow for thirty-eight years. She died April 25, 1918, having been a faithful mother and Latter-day Saint.

Jessie Bell Stirling by Wanda Pack Clayton

Jessie Bell Stirling Pack Written by Wanda Pack Clayton for D.U.P., January 1958
Yes, I remember Grandma Pack. She was a small woman, with the loveliest blue eyes I have ever seen—eyes always sparkling with good humor and friendliness. Those little black pioneer bonnets, with lots of ribbon—they were made for women like Grandma Pack, and she always wore one, as well as a black-fringed cape.


I remember well those winter afternoons when I was yet too young to go to school. My older sisters would be away at school, and my mother and I would watch to see that familiar figure coming down the road. Her home was in West Bountiful, Utah, about a mile from our place, but she walked up to see us and home again nearly every day, even when her age was 70-plus. Very often she would have walked to Bountiful first, another mile each way, to do a little shopping before coming to our place.


She had a large black purse with a gold clasp opening. When she would come in the house, I could hardly wait for her to open that purse and give me a handful of jellybeans. Somehow, there was always a paper sack of them in that purse. She called them “pigs,” and as children, we would make “pig pens” for them out of clothes pins and be pleasantly occupied for some time before giving in to the temptation to eat the “pigs.”


The picture I have in my mind of Jessie Bell Stirling Pack, my father’s mother, in her later years, is a picture of contentment and cheerfulness and the gift of enjoying life. These traits I know, now, were a great blessing to her, for without them her life could have become a little lonely and a little sad.


She was born in Scotland in 1845. Altho her whole family were converted to the L.D.S. church and became devoted members, Jessie Bell was the only one to come to Utah at the time she came. She was a girl of 16 and came with 800 other converts. The hazards of that journey are told in another history.


Ward Pack was assistant Captain of the company in which she travelled to Salt Lake, and Jessie Bell had great admiration for him. It was quite natural, then, that upon arrival in the valley she should go into his home as a helper for his wife, Laura. Jessie Bell says, in her own words, “Ward Pack was assistant Captain, but before we got in here, Ward asked me to come and stay with them—with Aunt Laura and him— and I came and stayed with them at his little house on the corner. While I was there, John Pack, Ward’s father, came to see the family and to see this girl who was staying with them, and in the spring he said he would like to get someone to help his wife with the cows, etc. And I went over to Kamas to work for him that summer. I had left all my people in the old country, you see. Later I married John Pack.”

And so this girl of 17 was married to a man many years her senior; in fact, he had many children older than she. Jessie Bell Stirling was either his fifth and sixth wife.


John Pack was a substantial citizen in the community. He had been one of the first five men in the valley. The first university in Salt Lake was in his home, and he figured prominently in early Utah history. Here, then, was security for my grandmother and a chance to raise a family in the church she loved so much.


Her husband established a home for her in West Bountiful, and there she raised their seven children. When John Pack died, the children were still quite young, but thru her industry and that of her five sons, they were able to maintain themselves on the farm they owned. My father was 15 years of age when his father died. He was very devoted to his widowed mother and was a great help to her for the next 20 years, not marrying, himself, till he was past 35 years old.


The testimony she had of the truthfulness of the gospel that first brought Jessie Bell Stirling to Utah never wavered throughout her life. I still remember her telling me about one time when her prayers were surely answered. She had lost a small coin purse containing a $5 gold piece. This, of course, was a considerable amount of money to her, and she needed it very badly. That night she prayed about it and in the morning, she said, she knew right where it was, for she had seen it in a dream. She went outside down the walk from her house to the road, and there on a little bridge over an irrigation stream, was, indeed, her lost purse, completely covered with fallen autumn leaves.


Yes, I do remember Grandma Pack, and she did have a good and happy influence on me when I was young. I am happy to recall these incidents of her life and record them with what else has previously been written of her life.

Ruth Mosher Pack Biography

History of Ruth Mosher1

1 This history was copied by MaDonna Nelson Lemon a great-grand-daughter June 1975. It was taken from a copy given to her by an aunt, Lilith Mitchell Hobbs, in 1946 and was apparently written by Ruth Mosher’s daughter, as she refers to her as mother. Hardcopy text was digitized by David R. Pack February 2011, lightly edited (a few typos and basic punctuation errors were corrected), and a few sentences added from an apparently later and unidentified transcription (placed within brackets).

Ruth Mosher was born in Kingston, Canada,* April 12, 1824. Her father’s name was Silas Mosher and her mother’s name was Martha Van Cura.

  • Ruth Mosher’s birth place is given as Prescott, Grenville-Dundas, Ontario, Canada on index card to Nauvoo Temple Records. She was endowed 7 Feb. 1846.

[Van Cura is a Dutch name. The Moshers came from England.] Also, she was of Irish and German descent and her parents were of the sturdy pioneer type. Her father operated a saw mill, after he moved to New York State, when Ruth was three years of age. They settled at St. Lawrence Corners on Lake Erie.

In the winter time they would go across the St. Lawrence River on the ice into Canada to visit with their relatives. The women would get in a cutter and the men would take turns pushing and pulling them across on the slick ice. On several occasions when they were across the river the ice would start breaking up and they would have to make the return trip by jumping from one block of ice to another, pulling the cutter behind them. In some places the cracks would be two feet wide.

Ruth was the fifth of ten children. She was raised on a large farm bordering timber land. They used to turn the cows out in the timber to feed and Ruth would bring them in and milk them. It was also her job to carry her father’s lunch to him down the narrow forest bordered roadway to the saw mill. One night, when her father was coming home from work, a panther jumped out of the timber at him. He caught the animal’s eye and walked on home. When he reached the clearing the animal ran away.

When Ruth was ten years of age her parents heard Mormon Elders were going to be speaking in the vicinity. Being very much opposed to Mormonism they forbade any of their children to go to any of these meetings. Ruth ran away and attended the meeting. She said that although she was just a child, she would never forget the feeling that came over her. She was so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that the words of the Elders just thrilled her, she knew from that moment that the Gospel was true. The Elders who brought the message to her were Warren Parrish and Ira Patten. When her parents heard that she had been to the meeting they were very angry with her and forbade her going again, but every time she heard of a meeting she stole away and attended it.

When she was twelve years of age she weighed 180 pounds, later she lost weight and her average weight was about 130 until later years when she grew heavier again. She continued attending meetings when ever the Elders were in that vicinity and witnessed a few baptisms. Two of these baptisms were of a Sister Maynard and her husband. Sister Maynard was a tailor[ess] and Ruth went to her home and learned the tailor trade. This was very useful to her in later years.

She was baptized in a hole cut in the ice in the St. Lawrence River at St. Lawrence Corners by Jesse Crosby when she was 20 years old. Her sister Hannah died about the time Ruth was baptized. Hannah appeared to Ruth in her burial clothes several times. Ruth was very much afraid as the people at that time were all very superstitious. Ruth became so nervous that she wouldn’t go into a dark room alone, and as soon as she got into bed she would cover up her head and keep it covered until morning. This went on for some time. Ruth said, “I prayed earnestly that if it was necessary for my sister to speak to me, that she would come again and that I would have courage to talk to her.” One day she went to Sister Maynards to take her lesson in tailoring. Sister Maynard was away from home. Ruth had been in the habit of staying over night, so she milked the cow did the other chores and went to bed. The next morning when she threw the covers down from her face her sister stood before her dressed in her every day clothes. Ruth said, “Hannah in the name of the Lord what do you want of me?” Hannah said, “I want you to do a work for me.” All fear left Ruth and she sat up and talked with her sister. She said, “How can I do a work for you, you are dead?” Hannah answered, “The Gospel you have joined is true and I want you to be baptized for me and do a work for me that will be shown you later. I am in a place called Spirits in prison and there are rebellious ones here as well as on Earth. You are the only one of our family who will ever join the church and no matter what trials and hardships you have to endure never give up or turn back.” This visitation helped Ruth to endure many things in her later life.

Brother and Sister Maynard were making preparations to gather with the Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois. Ruth decided to go with them. When the appointed time came she went to her room as usual to go to bed. When all the family were asleep she tied a few clothes in a bundle, crawled out of the window and walked a distance of three miles over a lonely road to her friend’s home. She left a note at home bidding her family good-bye telling them that she had gone to join the Mormons. When her mother read the note she grieved so terribly she took to her bed and never left it, although she lived sixteen years. She wrote repeatedly begging Ruth to come back home, but the Gospel was always more to her than life itself.

Upon arriving in Nauvoo she went to work for John Pack in the Mansion House, a building that had formerly belonged to the Prophet Joseph. She arrived there in the Autumn after the martyrdom of the prophet. Here she again met Jesse Crosby, the elder who baptized her and they started keeping company. Jesse was called on a mission but before leaving he asked Ruth to be his wife when he returned. She loved him and accepted his ring and said she would give him his answer when he returned. She continued to work at the Mansion House and late in the year of 1845 Pres. Heber C. Kimball called to have a talk with her. He told her that it was the will of the Lord for her to be sealed to John Pack. She had already given up so much for the sake of the Gospel, and wishing to live it in its fullness, she did not hesitate. John Pack was called into the room and they were immediately married. Ruth thinking at the time that she was being sealed for eternity and not for time. As soon as Bro. Kimball had performed the ceremony he said, “Sister Ruth I intended to have you myself but Bro. John got ahead of me.” Ruth was a very beautiful and attractive girl.

After the Nauvoo Temple was completed, Ruth worked there for six months cutting and making Temple clothes. On Jan. 21, 1846 she was sealed to John Pack in the Nauvoo Temple as his third wife for time and eternity. When Jesse Crosby returned home from his mission she gave him back his ring but throughout her life she remembered him with tenderest of feelings.

When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, John Pack and his three wives camped at Sugar Creek, just across the Missouri River from Winter Quarters. Here they built two cabins, one for the first wife Julia with her five children, the other one for the other two wives Nancy and Ruth.

In 1847 Pres. Brigham Young chose John Pack to cross the plains with the first company of pioneers. He moved his families across the River to Winter Quarters to live while he was away. Ruth worked and supported herself and helped with the rest of the family. When her husband returned from Salt Lake, he had lost both of his horses; so he decided that he would remain in Winter Quarters at least a year to equip himself for the trip to Utah. Heber C. Kimball was leaving Winter Quarters early the next Spring with a company of pioneers. He invited Ruth to come with his family and Wm. Clayton wanted Nancy to go with his family, as John had lost his team and had quite a family to care for and it would lighten his burden. Ruth and Nancy were delighted but when they told their husband he felt very discouraged and said that because he was poor they were going to leave him. His two young wives seemed quite determined to go and there were just ten days left before the company would leave. John went down the River sixty miles to his brother Rufus who outfitted him with two wagons, oxen, cows, provisions and everything necessary for the journey. He asked Ruth and Nancy which they would rather do, cook for a teamster or drive their own team. They said “We will drive our own team.” They were ready to go by Apr. 12th with the company.

When they left Winter Quarters Ruth and Nancy had three oxen, one cow, also a good wagon. They yoked and cared for their teams. Their provisions were parched corn meal and milk with a little sugar once in a while. They milked their cow, used what milk they needed and put the remainder in a churn on the back of the wagon. The motion of the wagon churned the milk and when they camped at night there was always plenty of good sweet butter to last through the next day. They took turns driving and on the day off they would sit in the wagon and sew or knit.

Ruth tells of their experience one day, “When we came to the Platte River it was Nancy’s turn to drive. The team started down stream, Nancy jumped right out in the water, turned their heads back and drove them on across. She had moccasins on her feet and as she continued to walk her moccasins stretched until they were a foot too long for her. As she walked they went flippety-flop. During the night the moccasins shrunk and it took a lot of greasing, rubbing and coaxing to get them back on her feet again the net morning.” They were happy and seemed to enjoy the trip. When they camped at night they would spend their evening talking, singing and sometimes dancing if they could find a suitable place.

They always camped over Saturdays to bake and wash. On Sundays they held their meetings. They had many trials on this trip but they had great faith which carried them through.

When they camped at the Elk Horn River, their camp was raided by Indians. One of the oxen of Ruth’s team was killed. The next morning when they were debating what to do a big read Texas Long Horn ox came in off the prairie and stood in place by the wagon. Brother Kimball said, “Yoke him up Bro. Pack, the Lord has sent him.” They used him the remainder of the trip to Utah. He was as gentle as the other oxen. The next Spring when he shed his hair they could see that he was branded with a U.S. government brand, which proved to them that the Lord had sent him and tamed him for their use.

The Company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1848 after a six months journey. John built a one room cabin for his first wife and their six children; Ruth and Nancy camped in the wagon box all Winter.

In the Spring of 1849 John was called to fill a three year mission in France. Before leaving he built a log room in Bountiful for Ruth and Nancy. With the assistance of Ward E., Julia’s boy, twelve years of age, Ruth went to the canyon, got out posts and fenced six acres of ground. She also got out their firewood. They plowed and planted the six acres into wheat. Ward plowed and Ruth harrowed the ground. In the Fall she assisted in binding the wheat and threshing it by driving horses around on it, then they borrowed a fanning mill and she took her first grist to Salt Lake City. Silas, her first child was born Oct. 20, 1849 in Salt Lake City. By the time her husband returned from his mission they had 40 acres of land under cultivation, with a good crop of wheat.

Mr. Pack joined a company of Saints on his return trip. He met an English girl, Mary Jane Walker and took her as his fourth wife soon after his return. In due course of time he had four new babies. Catherine, daughter of Ruth, was born June 8, 1853. Erastus, son of Julia, born June 17, 1853, Adelbert, son of Nancy born May 4, 1853 and Geneva, daughter of Mary Jan, was born 22 July. The father made a large box with rockers on it and the four babies were cradled in the same bed.

A large adobe house was built in Bountiful by John Pack. It was here that Ruth and Mary Jane lived with their twelve children. Julia and Nancy had a home in Salt Lake City. At this time Ruth had four children, Silas Mosher, Catherine DeValah, Irving James born April 17, 1855, Orson Parley born Nov. 2, 1856. Mother and Aunt Jane lived together as sisters and always enjoyed one another’s company. The children hardly knew which one was their mother.

In the year of 1858 when Johnson’s Army was expected, the families took all of their possessions they could
in their wagons and moved down on the Lehi Bottoms. They left their homes so that fires could destroy them in case the Army came to claim them. Julia, Ruth, Mary Jane and their 16 children traveled to Lehi and made themselves a home among the willows. They wove willows through the ones that were standing and succeeded in making their living quarters quite comfortable, when they were notified that they could return to their homes. Ruth and her family got as far as Salt Lake then the wagon box was lifted from the wagon and placed on the ground in the family lot. It was here her fifth child, Ursula Vilate was born Aug. 22, 1858. When Ruth was able she went on to her home in Bountiful.

After returning from the South they resumed their regular routine; spinning, weaving, making cheese, candles, soap and everything else they needed. Mr. Pack had sheep at this time so Ruth, Mary Jane and their children cleaned and picked the wool and prepared it for the carding machine. Ruth assisted with the spinning and did all the weaving. Having learned the tailor trade, she made all the clothes for her husband and his big family. After dying yarn, spinning or weaving all day, she would sit up until midnight, sewing by the light of one or two tallow candles. These candles were made by cutting the wicking the desired length, twisting slightly and hanging over a stick with the ends even, then let the twist come out gradually. She would put six of them on a stick, then melt tallow in a kettle as deep as the candles were to be long. She would dip and hang them over the kettle to cool. This process of dipping and cooling was continued until the candles were of the desired size. Ruth would make one hundred or more each time.

On March 2, 1860 Ruth gave birth to her sixth child a little girl. She was given the name of Yoma Zenith and was the last of the alphabet babies. Two children were born at Bountiful, Davis Co,. The other was a boy born Sept. 2, 1862, who was named John Ambrose.

While Ruth and Mary Jane lived together in Bountiful they had many happy and a few trying times. One morning they decided to spend the day with friends so they did their work up; made cheese and left the younger children home with Catherine and Geneva, who were about eleven years old. In their haste to get away they left a tub of warm whey on the kitchen floor. The two girls immediately proceeded to have some fun. They wet the smaller children’s heads with the whey and then patted flour into it. They would let it dry and then add another coat of whey and flour until they had a thick coating of dried dough on all the children’s heads. Then they used a 50 lb. sack of flour to make paths all around the house and barns. Ruth and Mary Jane expected their husband home that evening so they cam home a little early to see that everything was all right, as he was very orderly and quite strict. Imagine their consternation when they saw their children and the wasted flour. They put caps on the children and put them to bed, where they had to remain until after their father had gone next morning. Then they took brooms and weeds and swept the flour away. The father left early the nest morning so the flour went unnoticed. The children’s hair was so badly matted that they had to have their heads shaved.

This life continued until 863. Prior to this time Mr. Pack had entered a ranch in Kamas, Summit County. He had taken Julia out there one summer, also Mary Jane for one summer. They both said they would never go again as the Indians were troublesome. Ruth had entered the land in Bountiful and the home had been built for her, she was now quite comfortable, yet without hesitation she said, “Yes, I will go!” She moved out to Kamas on Mar. 6, 1863. The first summer she had two hired men to help her, they and her small boys milked 20 cows, She made 1000 lbs. of butter. As she made it she put a strong brine over it in a large wooden keg, Mr. Pack had had made. Then she poured the brine off each time she churned and added more butter. She packed the butter in solidly and put the brine back over it. When the keg was full the butter was a sweet as when she churned it. She took it to Salt Lake and sold it for 50¢ per pound. She also made 1000 lbs. of cheese that summer. She stayed there through the long cold winter, continued to make butter and cheese and took care of the cattle. The next summer she had her loom moved out from Bountiful. She spun yarn and wove 50 yards of fine white flannel and bought herself a gold watch (which still runs and is owned by her son-in-law, L. M. Carpenter).

On Mar, 13, 1865 her eighth child Martha Mary was born in Kamas. The following winter was a very hard one. The snow fell so deep and drifted around the house so that they couldn’t see out of the windows.

It was during this winter that the feed for the cattle gave out and they had to drive them over the crusted snow to the Provo River Bottoms where they fed on willows. A third of them died. Ruth’s flour also gave out and they live on bran and shorts bread and milk. They had no vegetables of any kind. The climate was so cold they couldn’t even raise potatoes.

The next spring Indian troubles were reported and the few settlers were advised to move to Peoa. Ruth loaded her few household goods and her children in a wagon and again left her home. When they came to the Weber River it was dangerously high, but they were using a large hay rack and an ox tem to ferry the people across. They all got across safely and lived there until September, then they went back to their home in Kamas. The people were advised to build a fort for their continued safety. This they did, the outside walls of the fort comprised the walls of their homes. There were a good many Indian scares, but they were able to settle them all safely and peaceable.

Ruth was always far seeing and very industrious. She was never idle. She continued with her weaving and wove carpets for nearly all the people for many miles around. She made a specialty of men’s clothing. She would make a man’s suit for a gallon bucket of molasses. She cut and made temple clothes for many Latter-day Saints. She did all of her sewing by hand. In 18780 she bought her first oil lamp, she prized this very highly although it was just a little hand lamp. In 1867 her last baby, Benjamin Van Cura, was born. This made a total of nine children she had brought into the world under the most adverse circumstances.

In 1870 Ruth went back to New York to see her people. She found that her parents were dead and her youngest sister Martha was living on the old homestead. Her father left quite an estate, but he had disinherited Ruth because she had left home and joined the Mormons. Her people were overjoyed to see her and entertained her royally. They took her every place, even across the St. Lawrence River in a cutter. She had a wonderful time visiting her relatives, but they wanted none of her religion. Her dead sister’s prediction came true that she would be the only one to join the church. She was able to gather a lot of genealogy while she was there. She returned home in June, after having been gone about nine months.

The year following her return Mr. Pack bought a cheese factory so he could make cheese on a scientific plan. He and two of his sons were partners. Ruth and the son’s wives made the cheese. The second year Ruth made three 100 lb. cheeses. Mr. Pack took them to the State Fair and received first prize on them for quality and appearance.

Ruth worked in the cheese factory until 1880 when she decided that the town needed a hotel. She built on two rooms and added more as she needed them until she finally had a large house beautifully furnished. She did all this with her own planning and hard work, without any help from the proceeds of the ranch. She was always well patronized and whoever came to her place found a good bed and a first class meal. She was renowned all over that part of the country for her hospitality, cheerfulness, courage and her wonderful cooking. She was lovingly known by everyone as Aunt Ruth. She kept her hotel until she was 80 years of age. She never neglected her religious duties. A person wouldn’t be in her house 15 minutes before she would ask them if they were Mormons or not. She always kept open house and everyone throughout the stake knew they would be welcome at Aunt Ruth’s. Her house was always full at conference time. She never accepted a penny from her friends and she very seldom had a hired girl. She was a stake counselor in the Relief Society for 25 years. She with the president visited the stake once each year with horse and buggy, traveling a distance of 250 miles. She always paid her own way and assisted others.

During the building of the Summit Stake House, the Relief Societies held bazaars and raised $1000.00 towards finishing the building. They were also building a new meeting house in her ward. She was 75 years old at the time, yet she took her horse and buggy and visited every house in the valley, collecting $5.00 from each family to seat the meeting house. After holding one conference in the building it burned down. She took her horse and buggy again and started collecting for another new meeting house. She was very successful in this work. If the Bishop needed help he always called on “Aunt Ruth.”

She loved the social side of life and always went to dances and picnics with the young folks. In those days it took a good deal of ingenuity to prepare a good meal, yet she took great delight in having a crowd of young folks in for a hot meal and a sociable evening.

In the year 1885 her husband passed away. Although she had never had much of his company, yet she grieved very much and felt lonely without him. She had her religion and her children to comfort her. She had always been such a good manager that after her 60th birthday she was well to do and prosperous. Ruth was an ardent believer in tithing. She was able to keep her own home and to care for herself until ten days before her death, then she took a stroke and passed away at the age of ninety, September 10, 1914. One child preceded her to the grave. The other eight children survived her.

Ruth was blessed with faith and the gift of healing. She assisted in washing and anointing many women before their confinement. She also had the gift of Tongues. There were a few who made light of this gift and knowing this, Ruth would resist the Spirit when she was prompted to speak in tongues. Finally the gift was taken from her. She then saw that she had done wrong, so she prayed to the Lord that if He would return the gift she would ever resist it again. The gift returned to her and remained with her as long as she lived.

Ruth’s husband and his five wives had a total of 43 children. They decided to use the letters of the alphabet as initials for their names, giving each child two letters. Following is a list of the alphabet babies:

A. B. Adelbert Beaumont
C. D. Catherine De Valah [also seen as DeVala]—Ruth’s daughter
E. F. Eurastus Frederick
G. H. Geneva Harriet
I. J. Irving James—Ruth’s son
K. L. Kamelia Luella
M. N. Merrit Newton
O. P. Orson Parley—Ruth’s son
Q. R. Qunice Rufus
S. T. Sedenia Tamsen
U. V. Ursula Vilate—Ruth’s daughter
W. X. Walker Xonophon
Y. Z. Yoma Zenith—Ruth’s daughter

Jessie Bell Stirling Pack Biography

Jessie Belle Stirling Pack (her own story)

On Sunday, Nov. 1, 1924, May P. Ingham, Pearl P. Taylor, Eliza Pack and Mary Pack
went up from Salt Lake to Woods Cross to see Aunt Jessie, one of Grandfather John
Pack’s wives, to get her to talk, if she would, of the past, so that they might put it on
record. Aunt Jessie seemed young and alert at that time; her voice was hearty and ringing as she welcomed her visitors; one could scarcely believe her to be 79 years of age, but she was born in 1845, she said.

She was willing to talk of the past “if she could remember,” and she said in part:
“I was born in the old country in 1845, on Sept. 26, and I lived with my people in
Forfarshire, Dundee, Scotland, until I was sixteen years of age, when I emigrated to Utah with others from that part. My father was Scotch, and his name was Thomas Stirling. He was born, probably, about 1808. My mother was English, and her name was Elizabeth Bell. I think she was born in 1811. At any rate, she was born the same year that Queen Victoria was. I remember her saying that often.

“We heard and accepted the gospel in Scotland. Previous to that we were
Presbyterians, but as soon as my father heard Mormonism, he was convinced and was
baptized. The rest of the family all accepted the Gospel after that. I was baptized when I
was thirteen. I think we first heard the gospel through a man by the name of Gilles who
lived in Dundee. He came over to Forfarshire with two missionaries and they held
meetings there. My father, after he joined the Church, was president of the branch in
Forfarshire. In this branch at that time were Sister Ramsey and Young, two to us
every night. We were all religious.old ladies, our own family, and one or two others.
We used to held meetings in our house.

“My father was a very religious man. I remember that he used to read the Bible to us every night. We were all religious.

“I was baptized when I was thirteen, in Scotland, in the Loch. (Loch stands for lake of
fresh water). I was baptized one Sunday night by moonlight—probably on account of the opposition. I remember they used to call me “Mormon Jessie” then, but I didn’t care. An Elder, by the name of Baxter, I think baptized me. He came to our place from Utah. I
remember that I used to black his shoes when he would come Saturday nights, for him to wear on Sunday.

“I came to Utah when I was sixteen, and I was the only one in our family who came
at that time. My aunt, my father’s sister, pleaded with me to stay and she offered me a
good home with her—she was quite wealthy. I remember that she felt badly about my
leaving and that she cried all night. But I felt that I just had to come, and all her pleading
did no good. She told me that I would come out here and Brigham Young would want me for his wife, but I just laughed at that.

2


“I never would have come to Utah if I hadn’t had such a strong testimony of the gospel. My aunt begged me so hard to stay. She had no children of her own, and she wanted me to be with her. I said, ‘I can’t stay. I’ve got to go!’


“The company I came with was in charge of Elder Ben E. Rich and Elder Francis M. Lyman. Brother Lyman was 21 at that time, and he was married. Their fathers, Brother Charles C. Rich and Brother Amasa Lyman were with us, too; but at Liverpool they left us and went ahead of us on a steamer. By the time we got to Liverpool, there were 800 in the company. We came on the ‘William Tapscot’, a sailing vessel, and it took us six weeks and two days to cross. Apostles Rich and Lyman, who were sailing on the steamer, passed us on the water and went ahead of us.


“When we were out on the sea one night, we had a terrible storm. We didn’t know but what we were all going to the bottom. Brother Lyman and Brother Rich walked up and down the deck, one on each side of the ship, talking to us and telling us that we would be alright, and I tell you they were not afraid to work! In the morning, the storm had broken up, and it was the most beautiful day I ever saw, and we all went upon deck, and we held a meeting. The captain in charge of the vessel was the first to speak. He said, ‘I am going to call you Brothers and Sisters because I tell you these brethren have saved this vessel,’ and he told us that we had been blown back 300 (?) miles that night, and if it had not been a Mormon vessel, he said it surely would have gone to the bottom.


“Yes, there were 800 people on that vessel, and when the Captain spoke he was addressing 800 people. There were only Mormons on the ship beside the crew. He said he was sure that it was through the faith of those people that our ship had been saved.
“The rest of the journey was uneventful. Stinking water was the only drawback.
“The ship came in at Castle Gardens, New York, and we had to file out while two men looked us over and passed us through, two by two. The captain said, ‘Oh, this is a clean company. You don’t need to bother.’


“After that was over, we traveled nine days and nine nights in cattle cars to St. Joseph, Missouri. These cars were all closed and locked, and we had to lie down at night just as we could, feet to feet, and head to head. The train crew thrust their lanterns through the window and said, ‘Oh, this is the way Mormons travel-four a bed.’


“St. Joseph was the awfulest feeling place I was ever in. The boat wasn’t sailing until the morning, and we had to stay in a big barn near the river over night. We had some clean clothes, and we did so want a bath. We went out walking and looking around, and we met some soldiers. When they heard we were staying in a big barn, they said that was awful and if we would come with them, they would find us a comfortable place to stay over night. We were young, of course, and inexperienced, and we thought everybody was as good as we were, and we came pretty near going with them. But Brother Rich and Brother Lyman came down and saw us with these men, and they motioned for us, but you can just see what such things might have led to.

3


“We were on the boat two days and two nights from St. Joseph and we landed at Council Bluffs. We tried again to get a bath at Council Bluffs. We started out there, but the sky got all black. I said to the girls, ‘We got to get back.’ We were quite a little way from our tents and luggage. Before we could reach them, it commenced to rain, and for all the storms you ever saw! We had no shelter as the tents weren’t up then, so we just had to duck under the canvas and hold it up over our heads. During an awful crash, I looked out. Two men were talking over their tents and luggage and when the lightning struck, they fell. It didn’t storm very long, and when it had stopped, I rushed out. I had some olive oil, and I poured it on one man. His neck was all blistered. Pretty soon he was better, but the other man was dead. Then, soon afterwards I found that my feet were all blistered. The next day they swelled way up, and after that I was in bed for a week with them. Even now, when it storms, it affects my feet and makes them swell and ache.


“We stayed in Council Bluffs for three weeks waiting for the ox teams to come for us. They were teams from Utah that were sent across the plains for us. We left Council Bluffs May 15, 1862, and arrived in Salt Lake Oct. 20, 1862, after traveling all the time. We would travel all day on the plains and if we could not get to water, we would travel all night. When we would camp, we would gather up buffalo chips, and wood, where we could, and build our fire and cook a little bacon. Then the boys would get their fiddles and we would clear off the sage brush, and dance. We sang Scotch songs, then we would sing hymns and have prayers and go to bed. We had to make our beds right on the ground, and if, in the morning when we woke up, there was a snake in bed with us, we’d just kick it out.


“Brother Horton Haight was Captain of the Company, and Ward E. Pack, Sr. was Assistant Captain. Then the company was divided into divisions of 100s, 50s, and10s, with a captain over each division. All of the 600 who crossed the ocean came on across the plains. “When we had left one camp, we had to keep on until we came to the next, for the oxen had to be fed and watered whether we were taken care of or not. One time Captain Haight said, ‘Let’s go through to the next camp. I want to visit with Captain Miller, who is ahead of us in charge of a company.’ That made fifteen miles more to go, or thirty miles altogether. It was way past midnight before we got there. Ward Pack satin one of the seats of one of the wagons. I looked up and said, ‘Ward, this is slow murder!’ and he said, ‘Well, it won’t happen any more.’ We got in the best we would, but some were unable to get to camp, and the men had to go back to them, to protect them from wild animals. They went back and found the people who were behind and stayed with them all night. We laid over the next day and rested.


“We had to cross the Platte River five times. “One day we girls said, ‘Let’s go ahead and get to the camp. We know that we could find it ahead about 15 miles.’ We walked fast and got about four miles along, and we saw Indians coming along on horses. That scared us, of course, and we started running back to the oxen. When we got there, we were pretty nearly dead. We said, ‘Well, we will never

4

go against counsel again. We will never go ahead of the ox teams the rest of the trip. “Well, yes, we had plenty to wear. I had just one sun bonnet, but made that last. The men had flour and bacon and a little tea. We didn’t buy anything additional at Council Bluffs. Everybody got rations.


“We arrived in Salt Lake Oct. 20, 1862. We had to walk all up and down both sides of the streets several times to find a place where we could buy enough gingham to make a sunbonnet. Only little wooden building lined the streets with wooden windows. No more like stores!


“James Mare, who lived with his family then down by the Lion House, came down to meet me, and I went up to his place. He knew me when he was in the old country, as a missionary in Dundee. He brought me to his house and treated me fine. It was said that he was one of the smartest men to measure lumber they had ever had in this country. I stayed there a few days, but I cried all the time. Mr. Mare wanted me to get married, and I did not want to marry. Then Ward Pack came and asked me if I would like to come up and stay with his wife, Laura. So I went.


“Ward Pack was Assistant Captain, but before we got in here, Ward asked me to come and stay with them-with Aunt Laura and him-and I came and stayed with them at his little house on the corner. While I was there, John Pack, Ward’s father, came to seethe family and to see this girl who was staying with them, and in the spring he said he would like to get someone to help his wife with the cows, etc. I went over to Kamas to work for him that summer. I had left all my people in the old country, you see. Later I married John Pack.


“In Salt Lake, Ward brought us a melon; it was the first we had tasted, and we thought it was the best thing we had ever tasted. Next day we went out foraging and brought in what we thought were melons, but before we had a chance to eat them, we were informed they were merely green squash.


“The old Pack house in the Seventeenth Ward was a good house. The lumber came from Kamas. Julia, one of John Pack’s wives, lived there until taxes became so high. So long as she raised her strawberries, cucumbers, etc., she could live there, but when taxes were raised, she had to move to Kamas. She died there. She used to keep the place in Salt Lake so beautiful. She raised flowers and used to sell out flowers, in addition to garden products.”


This finished Aunt Jessie’s reminiscences about herself. There was some discussion of Grandfather John Pack. He worshipped horses, it seemed. He had one horse by the name of “Ham” that no one could manage but himself. When he was away, people had to water and feed the horse by letting buckets down through the loft, from the top. John Pack liked to travel alone<resented instructions. May Ingham recalled that at one time she had asked to ride with him. He had let her go with him, but she had had to come back on a hayrack; and as they jogged slowly along, Grandfather Pack came sailing past in his buggy alone. Aunt Jessie recalled a time when she and Agnes came to town when he

5


thought they should not have done so. He was angry, and he had the men hitch up oxen to take them home; and as they crawled along the road, he sailed past them in his buggy alone again. Aunt Jessie recalled how he brought this horse he loved up on the front porch, right through the house to the back porch one time and then said, “Now, give him a lump of sugar.”


Someone said, “Grandfather was awfully high strung, wasn’t he?”
“Oh, law,” Aunt Jessie said, “But he’d get over it!”


The horse, Ham, died when John Pack was an old man. He, himself, died just one month after. Some said it was the horse’s death that hastened his own.


John Pack was French and Low Dutch. Low refers to the country from which his people came. Possibly he claimed this descent from his mother, as records show his own folks were English. Aunt Jessie said his mother looked Dutch to her. She was a little woman.


When the first pioneers came to Utah, Brigham Young was taken ill up in the canyon, and he sent five men down to see what they could find. Three came back and one of the five was John Pack. On the monument on Main Street and South Temple, and also, on the monument at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, John Pack is given credit as being one of the first five pioneer men to enter the valley.


from Corliss Clayton June 2009

Jane Robison Pack Biography

Rufus and Jane Robison Pack Biography
John Pack as Revealed in the Records

1866, October 11. John’s Older Brother Rufus Dies

Rufus Pack was born July, 20, 1803, in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. He was baptized into the LDS church on March 6, 1836, and was endowed on January 8, 1846, in the Nauvoo temple. He married, successively, three wives: Betsy Green, Hannah Draper, and Jane Robison. He died on October 11, 1866 in Mills, Iowa, and was buried in the Van Eaton Cemetery, Mills, Iowa.

Kansas Cyclopedia of State History:
“Mr. Campbell was married November 29, 1867, to Julia P. Pack, daughter of Rufus and Jane (Robison) Pack, the former a native of New York and the latter of Michigan. Mr. Pack was engaged in farming and stock raising. Mrs. Campbell was born in a prairie schooner in Fremont county, Iowa, and was raised in Mills county, attending the common schools. Her father [Rufus] was killed by a mowing machine in Iowa, and her mother died while in Utah.”1

  1. Frank W. Blackmar, editor, Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc., with a Supplementary Volume Devoted to Selected Personal History and Reminiscence, transcribed October 2002 by Carolyn Ward (Chicago: Standard Publishing Co., 1912), 3:45.

1870, July 20. John Is Sealed for Time to Jane Robison

John Pack was sealed for time only to Jane Robison Pack (widow of his brother Rufus Pack) July 20, 1870 in the Endowment House.2 However, the 1870 Census records in both Utah and in Iowa indicate that Jane is living in Iowa at the time of this sealing. Furthermore, in the 1880 census, Jane lists her status as widow, and not married. In addition, we find no record that John‘s children say that John and Jane were ever married. Finally, it is obvious that although Jane is still living, John does not include Jane in his will like the other wives.3

  1. Lyndon W. Cook, Nauvoo Marriages / Proxy Sealings 1843-1846 (Provo, UT: Grandin Book Co. 2004), 20.
  2. Wendell LeVon Pope, Joseph Robison and Cornelia Guinal: Their Children and Grandchildren (North Logan: Wendell LeVon Pope, 2001, rev. 2003), 97, 107, FHL, Salt Lake City.

“History of Hinckley”:

“One of the first families to settle in Hinckley was a widow [referred to as “Mrs. Pack” in this history] and her family.”4

  1. Colby Bliss, “History of Hinckley”

Find a Grave Memorial :

“In 1876, Jane and her children moved down to Millard County by the Sevier River. The town of Deseret had been settled there in 1860 only to be washed out by the river. Deseret 2 was rebuilt and the settlers dammed the River and built a bridge. In 1868 another flood came and wiped out the settlement again. In 1874 the town was resurrected again when miners came in and rebuilt the dam and began a large farming operation. West of the river in the northwest section is where Jane moved with her children and became the first settler in Deseret #3. The area was later known as Bloomington, then Hinckley.

“Jane and Rufus, Jr., age 14, took up some land one mile south of where the post office stands. Here they built the first house in Hinckley. It was a one-room log cabin which stood until about 1989 when it was destroyed by fire. They hauled the logs 30 miles from Oak Creek Canyon and had them split at the saw mill. They made a roof out of willows and mud and used chalk and sand to fill in the cracks. While building the home they lived in a dugout. Jane and Rufus, Jr. harvested 800 Bushels of grain. The second family in Hinckley was Jane’s daughter, Amanda Jane and her husband Erastus F. Pack, son of John Pack.”5
Sealed for time to Jane Robison Pack (widow of Rufus Pack) 20 Jul 1870 Endowment House.”6

  1. Gus Pendleton, Find A Grave Memorial 31769448, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=31769448, accessed April 2012.
  2. Lyndon W. Cook, Nauvoo Marriages Proxy Sealings 1843–1846, 20.

Jane Robison

“Jane Robison was born February 17, 1828 in Onadaga County, New York. Her father was William Henry Robison and her Mother was Elizabeth Squires. By 1836 the growing family and relatives had moved from New York to Michigan where they heard the gospel from Mormon missionaries. The family moved to Nauvoo in 1842, shortly after they joined the Mormon Church. They lived across the River in Montrose, Iowa among other of her father’s siblings.

“On April 17, 1845, at the age of 17, Jane married John Ackerley, whose wife had died. Jane became the stepmother of John’s daughter who was about 2 ½ years old. John and Jane’s first child, Emily E. Ackersley, was born in 1846 in Montrose, Lee County, the year the Mormons were expelled from their homes and were driven out of Nauvoo. Jane’s husband John, apparently died 24 October 1846 in that exodus from Nauvoo. Jane, now a widow with two children (aged 4 and 1), went with her parents to Winter Quarters. Here her father died in November 1846, leaving Jane’s mother pregnant and with five children. Jane’s mother and several family members crossed the plains to the West in 1949, but without a husband, Jane was not in a position to go with them. The following year, at age nineteen, Jane found a husband in Rufus Pack, whose first wife Elizabeth (Betsy) Greene died in February 1841, leaving Rufus with five children. His second wife Hanna Draper died at Panca, Nebraska in 1846 leaving him with 2 more. Jane married Rufus Pack in 1847, and with her two and his seven, she suddenly had nine children to make into a family—at age nineteen!

“After Rufus married Jane Robison he took his family across the Missouri River and south to Fremont County in the southwest corner of Iowa and did not cross the plains to the west.

“They settled about 30 miles down stream from Winter Quarters at Bartlett, Mills County, Iowa. Jane bore 7 children all in Bartlett or nearby Egypt, Lyons Township. . . . Rufus and Jane stayed in Iowa and became affiliated with the Nephi Branch of the Reorganized LDS Church in Mills, Iowa. . . . Rufus was killed in a farm accident in 1868.”1

Subsequently, in 1870, Jane Robison Ackerley Pack was sealed to John Pack for time.


1 Wendell LaVon Pope, Joseph Robison and Cornelia Guinal: Their Children and Grand-children (Logan, Utah: W. L. Pope, 2001).

Julia Ives Pack Biography

Biography
of
Julia Ives Pack
Compiled
by
Veldon R. Hodgson
Historian
The John Pack Family Association
17 June, 1995

JULIA IVES PACK
Born: 8 March 1817, Watertown, Jefferson County, New York
Died: 23 June 1903, Kamas, Summit County, Utah
Father: Erastus Ives
Mother: Lucy Paine
Pioneer: 1 April 1848–September 1848
Company: Captain Heber C. Kimball
How: By ox team and wagon
Spouse: John Pack
Born: 20 May 1809, St John, St John, New Brunswick, Canada
Died: 4 April, 1885, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
Married: 10 October 1832, Watertown, Jefferson County, New York
Their Children:
Name Date of Birth

Ward Eaton Pack 17 April 1834

Lucy Amelia Pack 24 June 1837

George Caleb Pack 6 November, 1840

John Pack Junior 5 October 1843

Julia Pack 5 October 1845

Don Carlos Pack 22 August 1847

Eleanor Philotte Pack 22 August 1849

Erastus Frederick Pack 17 June 1853

Merritt Newton Pack 1 May 1856

Sedenia Tamson: Pack 20 May 1858

Joel Ives Pack 9 September 1860

Julia Ives Pack and her husband were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 8 March 1836, on her birthday, at Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. They were baptized in a frozen stream of water in which a hole had been cut in the ice for this purpose. She and her husband, John Pack, along with her mother, Lucy Paine Ives, and their first child, Ward Eaton Pack, migrated to Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, in the spring of 1837. Her husband’s father and mother, George and Pkiotte Greene Pack, had preceded them. They located there on the Chagrin River.

All of the family, including the parents and grandparents, left Kirtland in the spring of 1838 and traveled to Daviess County, Missouri by wagon. They endured much privation, persecution, and over exposure to the elements there. Julia’s father-in-law, George Pack, and one brother-in-law, Levi Woods, died from over exposure and disease near the Grand River in Daviess County. At Far West, because of the mob activities, there were twenty members of the family who were forced to live in a single room log cabin, with a dirt floor and no chinks between the logs, during the severest winter weather. The family moved across the Mississippi River to a place in Pike County, Illinois, four miles from Perry, Illinois. Her mother died an early death, 20 October 1839, at the home of Stephen Markham, in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, at the age of 56 years. She was completelely worn out by the mobbings and hardships.

Julia and her mother-in-law Phylotte Greene Pack were members of the Relief Society at Nauvoo, being admitted at the sixth meeting, which was held in the Lodge Room, 28 April 1842.

After the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the family left Nauvoo, 8 February 1845[6], crossing the Mississippi River and camped on Sugar Creek with many of their brothers and sisters in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first day of March, 1845[6], a company of Saints was organized and they began the long journey to the Rocky Mountains. The company arrived at Cutler Park the 1st day of August, 1845[6]. Julia drove a team of horses most of the way. The company then moved to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, 1 September 1845. Her husband John Pack was called to be a Major in Brigham Young’s Company of Saints who travelled to Great Salt Lake Valley. John was among a party of eight horsemen, who first entered the Salt Lake Valley, 22 July 1847. The rest of the company entered the valley 24 July, 1847. John Pack, among others, left the Salt Lake Valley 16 August and returned to Winter Quarters; he arrived there in late October 1847.

Julia came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848 with her husband [and] two of his wives, Nancy Aurelia Boothe Pack and Ruth Mosher Pack, along with all of their children, in the Heber C. Kimball company. This company arrived in Salt Lake City in September 1848.
A Relief Society was first organized in the 17th Ward, Salt Lake City, Utah, 16 August 1856. It was reorganized 13 February 1868, with Miranda Nancy Johnson Hyde as president. The officers and visiting committees of the Relief Societies met at Josephine Haywood’s. home.
Julia Pack was admitted as a member of the Relief Society Thursday afternoon, 13 February 1868.


The minutes of the Salt Lake City 17th Ward Relief Society show the following: “Thursday, 27 February 1868, a committee to appraise the value of donated articles, such as rags for rag rugs, straw for straw hats, quilts, which were made by a group of members living on one block etc., was called. Julia Ives Pack was called to be the president of that committee.” She acted in that capacity until 2 July 1868.

Then, on that date, we find the following entry: “It was motioned and passed tht Mrs Julia Pack be the President of the Visiting Committee in place of Mrs. Davis, who has gone north.” She held that position until the death of Sister Hyde, 24 March 1886 (almost 18 years).

The Relief Society of the 17th Ward was then reorganized with Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith as president, Julia Ives Pack as First Counselor. Julia served in that position until 16 August 1894 (8 years). The Seventeenth Ward Relief Society Presidency was then reorganized again, with Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith as president, Julia Ives Pack as first vice president and Sophia Nuttal as second vice president. Julia served in this position until 10 May 1896, at which time, she moved to Kamas, Summit County, Utah and joined the Relief Society Organization there.

Julia bore eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, nine of whom grew to maturity. Her second daughter, Julia Pack died at the age of 5 months at Cutler Park after the arduous journey from Nauvoo. Julia Ives Pack’s seventh and last son, Joel Ives Pack, was kicked by a horse and died at the age of almost eleven years.

At Kamas, Merril Newton Pack built an addition to his house, where Julia lived until her death. She was a wonderful woman with a strong personality and undaunted courage, exceptional vigor of body and mind, kind and free-hearted. She was an ardent defender of the truth, self-sacrificing, and had all the qualities that go to make up a nobel and exceptional character. Her motto was, “Do everything at the proper time, and never be behind time.”

Julia Ives Pack died June 23, 1903. Funeral services were held in her home at Kamas, then her body was taken to Salt Lake City where a funeral was held in the 17th Ward June 25, 1903. Interment was in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

A more detailed account of some of these events in her life follow below in her own words:

“My father, Erastus Ives was born at Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 2 November, 1780. He died at Watertown. Jefferson County; New York, 3 September, 1828. (Julia was only eleven years old at that time.)

“My mother, Lucy Paine (the daughter ofJudge Ephraim and Mary Thompson Paine) of Amenia County, New York, was born 25 December 1782 at Amenia, Amenia County, New York

“My father and mother were married in December 1805. Their children were: Joel, Jerome, Julia, and Henry. My mother died 20 October 1839 at Nauvoo, Illinois. 1 was born 8 March 1817, at Watertown, Jefferson County, New York.

“I was married to John Pack 10 October 1832. Our first child, Ward Eaton Pack was born at Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, 17 April, 1834.

“My husband and I were baptized 8 March 1836, into The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We migrated to Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1837. There, our first daughter, Lucy Amelia, was born 24 June 1837. We left Kirtland in the spring of 1838 and went to Daviess County, Missouri, twenty miles from Far West. We were in Far West at the celebration on 4 July 1838 when the cornerstone for a temple was laid. The Saints had a good time. It was a general time of rejoicing.


“About the first of September the mob began to gather against the Mormons, made attacks on them, burning houses in some places. We moved into Far West and stayed there until Brigadier General Parks and Mr. Donovan came on the scene and dispursed the mob and sent them home. We went back to our home. Shortly after, a company of immigrants came, bringing word that Levi Wood husband of Phoebe Pack my husband’s sister, had died at Huntsville, Missouri. They also brought word that Phoebe was very sick unto death. My husband and I started next day to go and look after them. Our first day’s journey took us within five miles of Grand River Ferry. We stopped all night at a neighbor’s house. There was but one room in the house, and the landlady made us a bed on the floor. About the middle of the night, the man of the house came home, complained of being very tired and that he had not had his boots off for several nights. He had been in the mob camp that was gathered against the Saints at Dewitt on the Missouri River. We started on our journey the next morning and were nearly to the ferry when a company of armed men, about thirty in number, met us. About half of them had passed when the head man wheeled about, rode up to our wagon, and asked if we were Mormons. My husband told him we were, and he told us we would have to go with them to their camp. He ordered us to wheel about. They took us about five miles across a new rough road to their camp. The leader of the gang came up to our wagon and ordered my husband to take his valise and follow them, saving “We take you for a spy.” He said to me, “You can bid your husband goodbye. You will never see him again. You can go to that house,” pointing to a log house across the hollow.


“I told him I would not go one inch, I said “If my husband dies, I will die with him.” I put my foot on the wheel of the wagon to jump to the ground when my husband took hold of my hand and whispered to me: “You stay with the wagon and take care of the horses. I am not afraid of them and will be back soon.” They took him through a patch of hazel brush to an open space covered with grass. Sachel Woods, a Methodist minister said: “Here will be your grave, we are going to kill you unless you will deny Joe Smith.” My husband said: “Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. You profess to be a preacher of righteousness and so do I. I’ll meet you at the day of judgment.”


“There were five or six of them. They talked around inquiring who would shoot him, but none seemed really willing to do the deed. Finally a man standing by our wagon called out “Let that damned Mormon go.” Soon they came back with him, ordered him back into his wagon, saying if we were ever seen in that country again, it would be at the peril of our lives. They sent the same company back with us to the ferry and saw us across the river. We went on to our sister at Huntsville and found her very sick. She was completely salivated with calomel and was near her death. We stayed two weeks and did all we could for her, then put a bed in our wagon, placed her upon it with her little child six months old. We left the three older children with a Mormon family, Amos Herrick.


“We started on our journey home and got as far as Carlton, a small town forty miles from our home. At a grog shop in this town were several of the mob that took us prisoners. They knew us and said, “There are the one we took prisoners. Let us go for Sachel Woods.” A man jumped on his horse and went full speed for somewhere. We went a short distance through a piece of timber, then left the road and started for home across the prairie. Two or three times during the night we came to deep narrow gullies cut by the storms in the rich soil. My husband would unhitch the horses, get them over; then we would draw the wagon over by hand it being a light wagon something like the delivery wagons we have now. We reached our home shortly after daybreak and found nv husband’s brother, Rufus Pack there sick with chills and .fever. The mob had returned and were annoying the Saints, driving them out of their homes and burning their dwellings.


“My husband’s father was taken sick a few days after we arrived home. A few days later he died. The next day we took him to Far West, held the funeral and returned home the same day, and stayed up all night, loaded our wagons with what we could and started to Far West. The next day when we reached there, my husband bought some logs for a house, laid them up and chinked the cracks with wood without plastering it, then we moved into it. It was the last house of the city towards Goose Creek. There were twenty of us in this one cold room. The mob came against Far West. Our leading men, the Prophet and others, were delivered up to them and our city was surrounded by the mob guard. Two of them stood in front of our door for weeks.


“William Bosley and Eleanor Pack his wife, were with us. She is my husband’s sister. He was in the Crooked River Battle when David Patten was killed. The mob was after all who were in that battle to take them prisoners.


“William came to my husband saying: “I can never get away unless you help me.” They started out, got past the guard and went to Huntsville. My husband was gone two weeks. During his absence we got out of flour. We had a log set on end with a mortar in the top to hold the grain, a spring pole with a wedge in the end to grind the corn. Of this we made bread. During these two weeks, Rufus’ wife was taken sick. I went to Parley Pratt’s home, a small room he had put up for his stable in which the family was living, and asked permission of his wife who was in her bed sick with one of her children by her side, to bring our sister there for her confinement. There was a small place at the foot of her bed where I made a bed for our sister. She was lying in this bed when Parley Pratt came to bid his wife and family goodbye before going to prison, he being guarded by two men while doing so.
“There came a severe snowstorm, after our men had given up their firearms and signed a paper at the point of a bayonet to give up all of their property to pay the expense of driving us out of the state which we had to leave before the last of April 1838 or be exterminated. After the mob went home, we moved out on Log Creek six miles from Far West. My mother, Lucy Ives, was with us. We stayed there until the 8th of February 1839. My mother joined teams with William Huntington and moved out of Missouri with his family, crossed the river at Ouincy, Illinois, where she reamained until fall. The same year she moved to Nauvoo, lived with the family of Brother Huntington until his wife died. She then went to Stephen Markham’s and lived there until she died 20 October 1839. She was completely worn out by the mobbing and hardships.


“We crossed the Mississippi River at Atlas and settled four miles from Perry, Pike County, Illinois. (While they were living here, her husband pen formed a number of short missions, leaving his wife Julia to care for the family, which she was happy to do.)


“We moved to Nauvoo, in April 1840. November 6, 1840, our second son, George Caleb, was born. (They lived in the Mansion House, taking care of it for three years.) We were acquainted with Joseph and Hyrum Smith and have often listened to their teachings.
“In August 1843, I was sealed to .John Pack for time and eternity by Hyrum Smith. Our third son John Pack was born October 5, 1843. June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were slain in Carthage jail by a mob, and John Taylor was wounded four times, one bullet striking his watch which saved his life. The dead bodies were brought to Nauvoo, a sorrowful sight to behold. I saw them after they were placed in the Nauvoo Mansion where thousands gazed upon them in silent grief


“October 5, 1845, our second daughter, Julia was born. December 1845, we received our ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple and our second anointings, Parley Pratt officiating. My husband and I worked in the Temple some time after. On the 8th of February 1846 we left Nauvoo, crossed the Mississippi River and camped on Sugar Creek with many of our brothers and sisters who had left Nauvoo about that time. We had no shelter but our wagons in the dead of winter. We stayed there until the first day of March.


“The company being organizaed in hundreds, fifties and tens, we started on that day for the Rocky Mountains. I drove a horse team most of the way. We arrived at Cutler’s Park the first day of August 1846. There our little Julia die, August 30. (The casket was made of the luimber from a chest in which Julia had carried her treasures.) We buried her on a mound near by. On September 1st, we moved down with the camp to Winter Quarters. In the spring of 1847 my husband was called to be one of the pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. They were led by the twelve, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. They were organized in a military organization, the officers of which were as follows: B. Young, Lieutenant-General; Jesse C. Little, Adjutant; Stephen Markham, Colonel; John Pack and Shadrach Rounds, Majors; Thomas Tanner, Capta:in of Artillery. They started on the journey the forepart of April 1847. During the absence of his father, our fourth son, Don Carlos was born August 22, 1847, in Winter Quarters. The pioneers returned the fall of 1847. On April 1, 1848, we left Winter Quarters and started for Salt

Kimball’s company. We reached the Valley in September of 1848. (John obtained a lot in the city plot, located on the present corner of First North and the West Temple Streets. He and their son, Ward Eaton, proceeded at once to get timbers from City Creek Canyon. The timbers were hauled to what is now Liberty Park and then sawed into lumber. They build an adobe house, thirty feet wide and sixty feet long which faced north, on this lot. This home had one large room, which was used later for the first classes of the University of Deseret. The University of Deseret later became the University of Utah.)


“On August 22, 1849, our third daughter, Eleanor Philotte, was born. My husband was called on a mission to France with John Taylor and Curtis E. Botton at the conference held October 6, 1849. He was gone three years. There were 12 of us in the family, and we worked hard and supported ourselves while he was gone. The family consisted of my husband’s mother, myself and six children: Nancy Booth and child and Ruth Mosher and child. These women are my husband’s wives. My son, Ward Eaton, was our main help, he being only fifteen years and six months old. We raised our bread, fought crickets and went through all hardships in common with our brothers and sisters. The Lord blessed us and gave us comfort under all our hardships. We made most of our clothing and took wool on shares, bought a loom, learned to weave and made our own cloth, and were comfortably dressed. (Julia, with the help of her sons, Ward Eaton, age, 15 years, George Caleb, age, 10 years, and daughter, Lucy Amelia, age, 12 years, fenced and cultivated a small farm in West Bountiful, Davis County, and raised grain and vegetables. In the year, 1852, increasing the acreage of cultivated land they harvested by hand 750 bushels of wheat, 250 bushels of oats, 150 bushels of corn, and plenty of vegetables. John Pack who came home in the fall, was well pleased to find his family so prosperous.)


“Our fifth, son, Erastus Frederick was born June 17, 1853. In the spring of 1856 my husband was called on a mission to Carson Valley to help settle that valley. That was the year of the famine. People went short on food and had to dig roots to help out their provisioms. We lived on rations and divided our flour with those who had none. When our wheat was harvested after the scarcity, we had twenty-two bushels. Myself and the children gleaned from the harvest field, gathered heads of wheat, put them on a wagon cover, beat them with sticks and held it up to the wind to blow out the chaff: It made fine flour. Merrit Newton, our sixth son, was born May 1, 1856. I placed him in his cradle under the willows while I gleaned wheat.


“In the spring of 1858, Johnston’s Army was expected in Salt Lake Valley and it was feared that they would be hostile and make war on the people so we were counseled to move south. My son Ward’s wife, Elizabeth Still, was so very sick that I could not go when the rest of the family went. I stayed and took care of her until the morning of May 19 when she died. The next day, May 20, our fourth daughter, Sedenia Tamson, was born. When my baby was two weeks and two days old we started south. The same day the army came into town but they were peaceable. We came back to our homes in a few weeks, which we were very glad to do. September 9, 1860, Joel Ives, our 7th son, was born. He lived to be almost 11 years old. He died from the kick of a horse. He was a fine little fellow.


“Philotte Pack my husband’s mother, died January 6, 1866, firm in the faith in her ninety-sixth year. She and I were both members of the Relief Society at Nauvoo, being admitted at the sixth meeting which was held in the Lodge Room April 28, 1842. A Relief Society was organized in the 17th Ward (Salt Lake City, Utah) with Miranda Hyde as president, July 19, 1868. The officers and visiting committees of Relief Societies met at Josephine Haywood’s. At that meeting I was appointed president of the visiting committee of the 17th Ward Relief Society. I held that position until Sister Hyde died. After her death, the Relief Society (of the 17th Ward) was re-organixed with Bathsheba Smith as president. She chose me as her 1st counselor, which position I hold at the present time, August 15, 1894. On August 16, 1894, the society was reorganized with Bathsheba Smith president; Julia Ives Pack 1st vice president and Sophia Nuttal second vice president. I held this place until May 10, 1896, when I moved to Kamas and Joined the Society there.”
CF-IVSI817B-061395-VRH

Sources of Information

  1. Pack, Julia Ives, John and Julia Ives Pack Temple Records, Baptism, Endowment and Sealing Records for the Dead, p. 10, 56. Copy in possession of Veldon R. Hodgson, 1588 S. 150 W St., Orem, Utah 84058.
  2. Gardner, Mariel Pack, The John Pack Family Association Data Files, GS Microfilms 0451848 & 0451844 Item 12, P.IFRO12, & Item 13. PJF12013, US/CAN, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Nauvo Temple Records.) (Hodgson, Veldon R., Compiled by, Rough Index to these two microfilms.)
  3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Relief Society, Seventeenth Ward; Historical Records and Minute. 1856–1895, Church Historians Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, Item: Microfilm, Call # : LR 8240 11-20, Access No 17323-LUN7-91 ( 11), Series 14.
  4. Ure, Myrtle Pack, Sketch of the Life of Julia Ives Pack Utah Pioneer of 1847(1848), Prepared by her grandaughter, Myrtle de Pack Ure, April, 1931, For Camp 10, Salt Lake County, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
  5. Black, Susan Easton, Compiled by, Membership of The Curch ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume XXXII, OAK – PAR. Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, US/CAN 289. 3 Ea85m, Family History Library) Salt Lake City, Utah.
  6. Sidfrid, Dorothy Kintigh, Alexander Stewart, His Scots Ancestry and American Descendants with Forty-Eight Allie and Related Families, pp. 286–325. KNI, Inc., 1330 S. State College Blevd., Anaheim, California 92806, pub., 1979, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
  7. Carter, Kate B., Comp. by, Treasures of Pioneer History, US/CAN 979.2 H2ca V. 9, p. 447–452, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
  8. Bitton, Davis, The Redoubtable John Pack, Pioneer Proselyter, Patriarch, The John Pack Family Association, 1982; Eden Hill, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.