Carry On

I am incredibly inspired by my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Horace Spafford, who was severely tested in his life and endured unspeakable hardship and loss, yet remained faithful.

Horace was born in 1797 in a county neighboring the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Vermont. At age twenty-seven, he married Martha Stiles. He was a quiet, unassuming man, devoted to family, community and the prevailing religious teachings of the time. His family enjoyed comfort and security through his hard work and industry.

By 1837 six children had been born to Horace and Martha when they learned of the restored gospel and joined the church. In the next thirteen years, five more children were born as the Spaffords endured all the persecutions that Mormons suffered during that time.

Martha and Horace grieved when their oldest daughter, Caroline, married and left the church. They never heard from her again.

In the spring of 1850, unable to endure the persecutions any longer, they sold their possessions and outfitted themselves to make the trek to Zion in the west.

By this time their daughter Irinda had married Spicer Crandall who was also a member of the church and the couple, along with their infant daughter, prepared to go west with the family.

They joined the Warren Foote Company and were assigned to the 2^nd Division, 4^th Group of 10. Horace is listed in the company records as traveling with two wagons, eleven persons, and twenty-two cattle.

The wagons traversed the trail with the normal challenges of overland excursions along primitive paths and all seemed to go relatively well until they reached the Platte River in Nebraska.

One night in June, after their evening meal of biscuits made from flour and alkali dust (a common practice), many members of the family became extremely ill.

By the next morning daughter Irinda and granddaughter Josephine were dead. Within the next four days, two other daughters, Minerva and Rhoda, and two sons, Horace Jr. and Moroni, and Horace’s wife, Martha, were also dead, victims of cholera.

Alma, only ten years old, was also stricken with the dread disease. While burning with fever, he crawled to the river’s edge and dangled his feet in the water through the night. By morning his fever broke, the cold water saving his life, the only member of the family who had cholera and survived.

After the deaths of his wife, five children, and one granddaughter, Horace wrapped their bodies in a feather bed and quilts and placed them in one common grave on the edge of the Platte River. He covered the grave with large stones to discourage wolves and other wild animals from ravaging the bodies.

As Job of old, Horace’s faith was surely tested. He was fifty-three years old, had no home, owned only two wagons and a few possessions, and within the course of a few days, his family was reduced by half. But, he carried on, sustaining his surviving three sons and two daughters. With unbelievable fortitude, he squared his shoulders and once more joined the company to come west.

On September 2, 1850, the family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. That very evening the Prophet, Brigham Young, came to greet the weary people. He counted out the first eight wagons to continue south to the shores of Utah Lake to build a fort there and make their homes. Horace's wagon was one of the eight. He rested for seven days and then moved on with his family to Springville where their long journey of 1,100 miles was finally over.

The United States Census of Mortality Schedules of 1850 lists the casualties in the Spafford family:

Excepts from journals of others in the Warren Foote Company somberly record the events of the tragic deaths in the Spafford family:

From Luke William Gallup (SIC):

•  June 22^nd - 2 more of Br. [Horace] Spafford chidren dead in 2^nd division. We Started and travelled 17 miles,—encountred a Storm of wind & rain which spared us in a great measure but was severe before and behind us, delayed over one hour
• June 28^th - Thunder shower about daylight, & the wind blew down one of our tents. At 11 AM. passed Walls com[pany]. They were washing & airing their things, & sickness was in their midst—some had already died, 10 since they started, had lost.  Br. [Horace] Spaffords family had lost most of any. They called on us for medicine & we let them have some; & then went on—suffered some for want of water & the great heat.

From Elmer Taylor (SIC): 

• The thrid day cholera attacked thecamp … Half of Horace Spafford’s family, the mother [Martha Stiles] and five children who were traveling with the Taylors, also died, the father [Horace] and five children recovering … In all there were about thirty victims. Elmer [Taylor] assisted in digging th gtaves [graves] and burying the dead.

 From Mary Ann Weston Maughn (SIC): 

• Friday 21st - We were called this morning to bury two of our company who died of cholera, there aremore [are more] sick in camp. We have been in sight of the Platte River all day. Camped on Salt creek. Some of the camp came up with another child dead they burried it on the bank of the creek at twilight. I makes us feel sad to bury our friends thus by the way.
• Saturday June 22d - This morning before starting, we were called to Bury 3 more children. they all belonged to one family. we started late and before all had cross the creek it comenced to rain very hard[.] we were detained till noon. traveled 9 miles[.] camped on the paria [prarie] with [no] wood or water or some that is very poor. this is the worst time we have had since we crossed the Mis[s]ouri river[.] everything wet and several sick in camp. very little fire.
• Sunday 23d - We have Buried 3 more this evening[.] traveled 8 miles[.] very rainy and warm.
• Monday 24th - This morning is so wet and uncomfortable it was thought best to remain in camp. some are washing and baking[.] all are busy. about noon it cleared up, and we had Public Meetting in camp, some have fasted and all humbled themselves before the Lord and Prayed that he would remove disease from us. Brother [Spicer Wells] Crandle [Crandall] said in four days five had been takein from their midst, and requested the Brethren to pray that their family may be speared [spared].
• Tuesday 25^th - Started early this morning, the weather cool and windy. At two o'clock it commenced to rain very hard thunder and lightning, some of the brethren had to stand in front of their cattle as they would not face the wind and rain. The mother of the five children spoken of yesterday died this forenoon, she will be buried this evening. We have passed five fresh graves today. The road is good but crooked, following the ridges. We are camped on a creek which is called Pleasant Point. We have buried Sister Spafford, the mother of nine children, there are no more sick in camp and we hope the worst is over.

Later, further along on the journey, another near tragedy occurred in the Spafford family as recorded in journals (SIC):

From Gilbert Belnap (SIC):

• While in camp a few miles above Larney (Laramie) we come very near loosing a very useful member of our company, a man by the name of Spafford, who came nearly being drowned. He had lost his mother three sisters and one brother the result of the colora [cholera]. Through the infatiguable energy of Thomas Robinson and John Chitesten [Chidester] he was saved from a watery grave.

 From Elmer Taylor (SIC):

• Eight miles above Fort Laramie, Mattison [Madison] Welsh [Welch] and Nelson Spafford narrowly escaped drowning while swimming the Platte river, driving stock to feed.

Belle S. Spafford

I've been told that doing mental puzzles is healthy for the mind. I use this rumor to justify indulging in our daily newspaper's Sudoku. However, today my mental calisthenics were accomplished with a different kind of puzzle.

According to Wikipedia, a cousin is a relative with whom you share a common ancestor; if only it were that easy. Beyond that simple definition, there is a system of "degrees" and "removals" to describe the exact relationships between cousins. The list of possible types of cousins is extensive: first cousins, second cousins, etc., cousins once, twice, or three times removed, double cousins, half-cousins, step-cousins, cousins-in-law, maternal cousins, paternal cousins ...

Belle with two of her brothers

Nevertheless, when I saw the name Spafford on my family tree, I simply had to establish a connection to a cousin I greatly admire, Belle S. Spafford. After mapping out our common ancestry, I was very tempted to simply state that we are "distant cousins". If you are not satisfied with that general term, she is my second cousin-in-law, three times removed. Distant cousin sounds better, don't you agree? We're related! I claim her as my cousin.

Maybe, if you are in the younger set, you wondering who this is and why proving that the branches of our family trees are entwined is so enticing. My mom adored this woman; her name was spoken with reverence in our home. Probably every Mormon woman in the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's loved Belle Spafford!  Read on to know why.

Marion Isabelle Sims Smith was the seventh child born to Hester Sims and John Gibson Smith. Her father, however, had died suddenly seven months before she was born, leaving Hester to raise seven children, the youngest of which was known simply as Belle.

“Mother never allowed us to feel that we were without a father,” Belle said. “She would often say to us, ‘You have a father. He’s not with us, but he is taking care of us, I’m sure. And you have a Heavenly Father, and you have the father of the ward who is the bishop.’”

Grandma Sims

Her Grandmother, Isabella M. Sims, for whom she was named, was very involved during Belle's youth. She loved the beautiful gold watch that her grandmother wore pinned to her black silk dress, and one day asked her, “When you die, will you will me your gold watch?” Isabella gently replied that the watch was of “small worth, but I’ll will you something else that I brought all the way from Scotland that will serve you into the eternities; I’ll leave you my testimony of the gospel.”

Belle met Willis Earl Spafford at BYU shortly after he returned from World War I. A handsome and athletic basketball player, he swept her off her feet and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Belle was a wonderful mother to her two children, Mary and Earl, who described her as, “a warm and affectionate woman who always seemed to have time for the little things."

She was known for her good humor and had the unique ability to tell the same old joke over and over again and get a laugh every time. She laughed in 1926 when her bishop called her to be a counselor in the Relief Society presidency, responding, “That organization is for my mother, not for me.”

She obediently accepted the call, but she didn’t like it and after three weeks she told her bishop that she wasn’t comfortable there, but he asked her to “try a little longer.”

So the complaining stopped because she believed that “if a thing is worth doing, I want to put all I’ve got into it.” This decision carried through decades of service in the Relief Society.

During the Great Depression Belle and her Relief Society sisters would pick up the windfall peaches and apples that were left in the orchards after harvest. Then they would gather at the church, bringing their pressure cookers and canning jars, which they would spend the day filling and processing. When the canning was done, even before the bottles were cool, people from the ward would be standing in line, waiting to receive what they had produced. 

This service converted Belle to Relief Society; she liked it! Her vision of it grew as she served on the Relief Society General Board from 1935 to 1942, as second counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency from 1942 to 1945, and as the ninth Relief Society General President for nearly thirty years, from 1945 to 1974. As you can see, she followed the counsel of her bishop to “try a little longer”.

When Belle was sustained in the April, 1945, general conference, she had no idea that she would work under the leadership of six Presidents of the Church. The organization would evolve under her leadership.

In 1945, women paid annual dues to join Relief Society. Visiting teachers visited sisters with the goal of gathering money for charity. Relief Society had their own budget and raised money for it, including homemaking bazaars. The Relief Society produced its own church magazine containing poems, stories, and pictures of Relief Society activities, as well as lessons. The auxiliary functioned quite independently.

Belle was asked to reached out to the world in her calling, which she did through her involvement with the National Council of Women (NCW), where she definitely made her influence felt, even serving as president for a two-year term.

One of her well known church projects was the construction of the Relief Society Building in Salt Lake City, east of the temple, built from the $500,000 donations collected from Relief Society sisters who were each asked to give $5.00.

By the time Belle was released, much had changed. Sisters no longer paid dues or raised money. Visiting teachers were directed to go to the sisters’ homes as friendly visitors and help build the spirit of the home; they were to give service instead of gather money. The Relief Society magazine had been replaced by a combined publication for all church adults, “The Ensign”.

Overshadowing her decades of service, the legacy Belle would want us to remember is her testimony of the value of the gospel and Relief Society in the home. She understood the challenges faced by women. She had learned from her widowed mother’s example while raising seven children. In her own life, Belle learned empathy for others from her personal losses. In 1963 her beloved husband, Earl, died of a heart attack, and within a year her daughter, Mary, also died. Yet these enormous losses didn't diminish her dedication and unfaltering service or erase her smile.

It is important to me to know that Marion Isabelle Sims Smith Spafford is my second cousin-in-law, three times removed. The cousin designation may be distant, but she is near to my heart.