An Over-abundance of Sunshine

My cousin, Nancy Bailey Chase, daughter of my 5^th Great Uncle and Aunt Ezra and Tirzah Chase was born January 27, 1823, in Bristol, Vermont. When she was a teenager of fifteen her family heard and truly received the restored gospel. On New Year’s Day, 1839, Nancy entered the waters of baptism and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Later that year, her father led a company of eleven wagons on an 800-mile journey westward and the family joined with others who shared their newfound faith.  

A Latter-day Saint settlement was being built on a bend of the Mississippi River. Building homes and taming the swampy terrain along the river was an arduous endeavor for the immigrants in what came to be known as Nauvoo. Hundreds of the saints, including Nancy, fell victim to disease born by the swarming hordes of mosquitoes. Although many did not survive, Nancy was blessed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and was miraculously raised from her bed of affliction and instantly healed.

In 1842, the women who called each other “sisters” formed the Nauvoo Female Relief Society under the direction of Joseph Smith and Nancy became a charter member. Along with her sister saints she tirelessly tended the sick and aided newcomers arriving by steamboat to Nauvoo.

Along with seeking the truths of the restored gospel in the Book of Mormon, Nancy was fascinated with studying languages and history.

In 1843, twenty-year-old Nancy was drawing water from a neighbor’s well when her eyes met those of a recently returned missionary, Lorin Farr. You may doubt “love at first sight”, but Lorin’s attention was instantly captured, and from that moment on, he adored her “smiling eyes, with modestly lowered lids peeking under her ruffled sunbonnet”. Perhaps her attraction was not so immediate, because they had a surprisingly long courtship for the time and were married January 1, 1845, by Brigham Young and given a powerful blessing for a large posterity.

Lorin was a schoolteacher. Records show that numbered among his students were the children of the Prophet Joseph Smith and other church leaders, including the children of Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor. Much is written about him and his fervent testimony of and loyalty to the Prophet.

The original Farr home which is no longer standing.

Also talented as a carpenter, Nancy’s husband built them a one-story red brick home on Durphy Street in Nauvoo just north of his father's home and south of the Wilford Woodruff residence.

Their marriage was sealed for time and all eternity in the Nauvoo Temple on December 15, 1845, two weeks before their first son, Enoch, was born.

It’s hard to imagine the trauma which soon followed for the fledgling family as mob violence forced the couple and the rest of the saints from their homes in early 1846. Despite this, Nancy later downplayed these events, stating that although she had experienced difficulties and trials, her life had been “one round of joy and happiness”. In like manner, she described the journey west as “one of the most enjoyable periods” of her life.

The Chase’s traveled west with 175 other Latter-day Saints in the Daniel Spencer and Ira Eldredge Company. Seventy-six wagons carried their belongings and supplies. Lorin’s older brother Aaron and his family were also in the company. They departed from Elkhorn, Nebraska, June 17th, 1847, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 22, 1847.

A second child, a daughter named Julia, was born the following spring in Salt Lake City. Everything changed for Nancy shortly after Julia’s third birthday, when tragedy struck. The tiny girl fell into the mill chase and drowned. Lorin retrieved her limp body and brought her into their humble home. Nancy was inconsolable. Her good friend, the well-known pioneer poetess, Eliza R. Snow, composed these words of comfort for her:

Eliza R. Snow's poem #289 To Sister Nancy Farr

That gem of life and beauty

Has gone—it did not die

It left this vale of sorrow

For shining courts on high.

God sent that lovely jewel

Endow’d with sinless charms

To win a father’s fondness—

To bless a mother’s arms.

She fill’d her earthly mission—

She’s gone where all is pure—

Where life and love and beauty

Eternally endure.

She’s safe from earth’s corruption—

Secure from sin and pain

The time is fast approaching

When you will meet again.

Histories state that although she carried on in faith and service, Nancy was never the same. She kept the tiny clothing of her beloved Julia throughout her life. 

Nevertheless, she courageously endured life on the frontier, including calls with her husband to settle other areas, including Ogden. In a faith I do not understand, she approved her husband’s choice of five polygamous wives. 

It is said that Nancy loved the Indians in their frontier territory without fear. She would allow them to sleep on her kitchen floor, and not even lock her adjoining bedroom door. At times as many as a dozen Indians could be seen sleeping in her yard between the house and the big barn. The Indians felt and returned her love and trusted her. 

Often left alone to head her household, Nancy had great strength and endurance and brought into the world 11 children. Her devotion to them was endless; she would sacrifice anything for their welfare. 

 At her passing, these words of tribute were written of Nancy:

“One of the noblest women who has ever graced the footstool of God has departed this life.

Many are the burdens of sorrow she has borne for others, and many are the words of cheer and comfort she has given to the afflicted and downtrodden. 

Gifted with an over-abundance of sunshine and good feeling toward her fellow-workers on this great field of action, she has never hesitated to divide those divine gifts with her less fortunate neighbors and thousands are the hearts she was gladdened and made excessively light thereby.”