History Written by Emma Billings Holt

History Written by Emma Billings Holt

I was born in Outwell, Norfolk, England, 8 May 1849. My parents are William Billings and Emily Chesson Billings. My mother died when I was 2 years old and my father died a year later. I had two sisters and a brother. They died before I was born, of scarlet fever. My grandmother, my mother's mother, took me and raised me. Later my aunt took me, for she didn't have any children of her own. I lived with her till I was 13 years old. I went back to my Grandma Chesson because my uncle and aunt went to Holland.

One day a missionary came to Grandma's home. He was hungry, weary, and barefoot. Grandma fed him and gave him a pair of shoes and socks and money. He left her some tracts to read and when he returned she was ready for baptism. There was no Latter-day Saints in that part of the country. Being a lone woman, she suffered lots of persecution. Some of her own children turned against her. Her son ordered the Elders out of her home. She told them to sit down. Her son did not pay her rent. So he left and never spoke to her again for a long time.

Grandma Chesson was a noble woman. a consistent Latter-day Saint. When she was convinced of the truth, nothing daunted her.

When she was 64 years of age, she undertook the journey with 2 grandchildren to come to Utah in 1864. She went to London leaving myself, 15 and my cousin 14, to follow after. Her son sought to stop her. He took us to the country for a visit and kept our destination a secret. She was so upset for the ship was to sail in about two weeks. So one morning while in bed she was wondering what she could do to find out where we was, for she would not go and leave us, when she heard a voice say, "Mrs Trower's" That was the name of the lady's where we was staying. She arose and wrote a letter to me. I received it and we went to my aunt's in Lynn and from there to London and when we arrived the ship was still under repairs. So we still had to stay longer. Then her son got some of the other children to come to London to try and persuade her to stay for another year. She wanted to get a cabin passage. There was only one left and that was for the Elders, so she made up her mind to stay. So she rented a shop in London and sent for an invoice of goods. But she could not rest. She would walk the floor nights and wring her hands. So she gave that up and said if the rest could come in the hold of the ship, she could. So we started on the ship "Hudson" and was 8 weeks on the sea.

I remember we had a bad storm. We was locked in the hold. No one but sailors allowed on deck. It was awful to hear the men shouting their orders amid the roaring of the waters. It was a close call. The Captain said he always felt safe when he had Mormons aboard.

Elder Robert Neslen was one of the returning missionaries. He was a good friend of ours. He secured a man that wanted to work his passage through the states and plains. So he took care of us on the cars (the train). We had to travel in cattle trucks and the guerrillas burnt the bridge. (This was during the Civil War). We had to camp in a hollow till they could get another train, and bring it to the other side. When we arrived at Wyoming, Nebraska, we had to camp there to get our wagon and oxen and supplies to cross the plains with. We had our own wagon and oxen. Grandma was took very sick and Brother Rich and Neslen had to get things and make the necessary arrangements. Brother Neslen and Parley P. Pratt administered to Grandma and through the blessings of the Lord she was able to start on her journey still in bed. The sick and the needy knew where to come to, for we was well supplied with medicine and nursing things. She never turned any away empty handed.

Brother Neslen and Rich, our teamsters, slept on a feather bed under the wagon. They used to pin blankets on the wheels so they had it cozy. We crossed the plains as part of an independent train which followed close to Captain Hyde's train for protection. Sometimes we had to travel 25 miles a day when in the Indian Country and the two trains used to camp about a mile apart. One night we was traveling late. We could hardly see the wagons ahead. The bolt that held the wagon tongue on, came out and left us in the dark. Brother Neslen was riding with us and he and Brother Rich tied the oxen to the wheel and took the bolt-it was bent- and followed the train and got the bolt straightened and got the heal of a boot for a nut. We had to stay in the dark all night. Brother Neslen said we might be scalped if we had a light. It was morning when they got back so we had to drive right on to catch the train. Captains Hyde said if we carried our wood and water he would not help us if we got in trouble. There was 10 independent wagons in the train.

When we got to Bitter Creek, our wheel ox got lame. So did one of the others. So we all stayed and rested two days and Capt. Hyde's train left us. So we had to part with Brother Neslen. We bathed the ox's foot with wild sage. On the second day we found a ox and a cow in the bushes, so we yoked up the cow and the Stickleys took the ox. So we traveled on till we got to Green River when a man claimed them-they was government property. But by that time our ox was able to travel. So the Lord surely helped us out of that trouble.

We got in the Valley 2 days behind the train (Capt. Hyde's) It was late in on the 29th day of October 1864. We camped where the City and County Building now stands. That night it snowed about 5 inches. We was alone. The rest had gone to their friends. We didn't have any only Brother Neslen and he didn't know we was so close behind him.

One day a man named Fenn asked us to drive in his yard. He lived in the 10th Ward. He wanted to trade his dugout and a 1/2 acre of land for our oxen and wagon, so we traded the wagon and one yoke of oxen and the other yoke she turned over to Bishop Hunter to send back and help fetch poor immigrants. A few days later Brother Neslen hunted us up. He said we got cheated, but we was thankful to get some kind of shelter. We had only a dirt floor, but it was warm and comfortable. We had to saw wood at night to burn the next day. Grandma would saw a stick and then Bill and I would take our turns, until we had enough.

On March 10th 1865 I married Edward David Holt, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. We are the parents of 14 children: Emma Maryann, born 13 May 1866; Mary Ellen(Nellie) born 5 June 1867; Edward David, born 15 Aug 1868; Annie Jane, born 26 Aug 1870; Robert Newman, born 8 December 1871; Elizabeth Abigail, born 27 Feb 1873; William Billings, born 20 Feb 1874; Alma Mathew, born 11 Nov 1875, and died 6 Mar 1878; Albert John, born 3 Feb 1878, and died 20 Mar 1878; Jesse Henry, born 10 July 1879; Olive Blanch, 16 Jan 1884, and died 16 July 1889; Rosa Alberta, born 14 Aug 1885, and died 25 Mar 1886; Joseph Hyrum, born 29 Jan 1887; and Victor Chesson, born 14 April 1894.

In April 1871 we moved to South Jordan with three children and settled on a dry piece of land. No water but what was pumped from a well, which was 80 feet deep and it took two of us to pump the water, as it was so hard to do. We had so much snow and the drifts were so deep the children could not attend school. We moved back to Salt Lake City, about 1896, with those of our children still at home. We engaged in the hay business, The Continental Hay Market. The market also afforded a parking place for buggies and white tops of friends coming to town for conference or business.

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(The following has been copied from The roots from which we sprang)

Grandfather Holt died 24 October 1900, and was buried in South Jordan Cemetery.

The years following Grandfather's death were very difficult for Grandmother Holt. Victor and Joseph were still young and needed a home. She lived with Ann Chapman, her Aunt and at times with the families of some of her children.

Later she married Joseph Powell, an old friend of the family. After his death she spent much of her time with her son, William and his family in California. She died there 16 June 1930, at the age of 81 years, and was buried by the side of Grandfather Holt in South Jordan.

I wish I could give you a picture of Grandmother and Grandfather Holt, as I remember them. Grandmother was always neat and clean. I can never remember her otherwise. Her hair was always combed and she dressed becomingly. She was a good seamstress and an expert dressmaker, lovely handwork, beads, etc. I prize very highly a christening dress of all lace and tucks which she made for my first baby. She was a good cook, her puddings par excellence. I loved to go down into the cool, clean cellar in South Jordan with her when she got the start of yeast from a big brown crock that Mother had sent me to get. I also remember the mincemeat she kept in another crock-no mincemeat pies have ever tasted so good to me as Grandmother's pies.

Their home showed refinement and comfort. Grandfather liked nice things. He always bought good things, meat of high quality, etc. Grandfather loved children. I remember sitting on his lap with as many others as could hang on, and he would sing and play games with us--"Elijah went to Heaven in a chariot of Fire." "The farmer's horse eats hay, the gentleman's horse eats oats, but the poor man's horse eats straw and goes sober, sober, and falls right down in the mud." We would all fall off.

They had high ideals and lived up to them to the best of their ability. I remember a statement my husband made at Grandmother's funeral. "She had a strict moral code for herself, but she had a sympathetic tolerance for others' weaknesses."

They left us a rich heritage- their faith in the Gospel endured to the End. They did their part in building our commonwealth, and they left a worthy posterity.

Author unknown. Edited by Jeanne Davis Cutler Great Grand daughter, 1993.