Hannah Jones Story

Hannah Jones was the youngest child of James and Mary Jones. She was born at Birchwood, between Alfrick and Cradley, Herefordshire, England on July 14, 1831. She was nearly twelve when the family left England for the United States in the early days of 1844. Whilst crossing the Atlantic, like many other children she caught the measles. She soon recovered, but whilst still at sea saw her mother taken sick and die. The children were told by the captain that the body of their mother would not be disturbed by sharks as the weight attached to it would take it to the bottom of the ocean at once.
Following their long journey up the Mississippi the family arrived at Nauvoo where thousands of Mormons had made their home. It wasn’t long before she bade goodbye to her brothers, John and Herbert, who became dissatisfied at Nauvoo; and saw them leave by river boat for New Orleans to obtain money to pay their way back to England. It was not long before they returned, very ill with fever. They never recovered, a few weeks later both were dead.

She also witnessed the violence of the mobs who continued to persecute the Mormons, and she realized that they must leave Nauvoo with the saints. When her father died on the Plains of Iowa, she was about 15 and a very small girl for her age. She felt so very much alone in the world there on the plains that she could hardly be consoled. A very kind man, Willard Richards, one of the twelve Apostles, finally persuaded her to go with him and his wife, Amelia, and continue west with them. They reached Salt Lake City in 1847.

The older sister Mary, who was 19, came with the Russells and became the wife of Leonard S. Harrington, the first Bishop in American Fork, Utah. Peter was 27; he now had charge of his father’s outfit, and came on bringing his stepmother and her family. Peter later made his home in Santaquin, Utah. But for a time he lived in Salt Lake City where he conducted a shoe making business.

In Salt Lake Hannah gleaned wheat in the fields after the harvest had been gathered. She obtained ten bushels of grain which brought her $10.00. This “fortune” was spent for clothing for herself. Hannah never forgot this lesson in thrift. Her father had given her a calf before he died and she now had two calves. The stories of Hannah: her marriage to Theodore Rogers, their going to Provo then on to Fillmore, the home in the fort, the Cedar Log House, industry and prosperity, and the new brick house, are all told in her husband’s life history.

Her Children

She had been so well treated by her foster parents that she named her first child Theodore Willard -her husband’s and her foster father’s names. Her second son was John after her brother who died at New Orleans. Her first daughter was Mary Amelia – her mother and foster mother. The next daughter was Hannah Lucretia for herself, and the third daughter was named for the child’s father —Theodocia. James Noah was given the names of his two grandfathers.

Tragic Death

Before Theodocia was three; she was rocking by the fireplace when her light cotton dress was ignited. All the adults were out milking. The child ran towards them, a flaming torch. Before the blaze could be put out it had burned the child so badly that she died that night in agony.

Pioneer Life

Hannah Jones Rogers experienced all the hardships of pioneer life; leaving home and loved ones, sickness on board ship, losing her mother at sea, reaching Nauvoo, being reduced to poverty, seeing her brothers start back and die, driven from home by mobs, seeing her father buried in the bark of a tree by the side of the road, coming on to Utah, gleaning grain to obtain clothing and raising her family. She knew what it was to be short of food and have very little to eat.

During the first seven years of her married life, she baked all the bread her family had in a bake skillet over an open fire. A kettle, frying pan and bake skillet were the utensils of cooking. She carded bats and did some spinning. She knit stockings, mittens, and caps for her children. She pieced quilt covers into geometric designs from cast-off clothing and used wool bats to make the bedding needed for the family. The old spinning wheel and bake skillet may be seen among the relics in the old State House in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers exhibit at Fillmore.

Closing Scenes

When past sixty her health failed. The strenuous work, caring for her family and cooking for the men folks in the harvest season, was telling on her vitality. She became ill of dropsy. The family did everything they knew for her relief, but she suffered for nearly two years. Sister Erickson from the Relief Society came to help that last night. It was the 27th of January, 1892, at Deseret, that she passed away. The body was taken to Fillmore for interment. In those days a funeral cortege moved very slowly. The horses were never allowed to go faster than a walk (It was thought to be sacrilegious to hurry a funeral.) The thirty-five miles, under these conditions, took from dawn until after dark to reach Fillmore.

The Bishop, Brother Thomas Callister, and others of the brethren, came on horseback to meet the procession. The body was taken to the old home where several members of the family kept an all night vigil, as was the custom. Hannah was laid away in her temple robes. Hannah Jones Rogers was a kind, patient, loving, little woman who bore her trials with little complaint. Sometimes she spoke longingly of England and those she loved across the sea.

Her faith, many times, had been sorely tried. As a child she had seen her mother buried at sea. She knew her older brothers had not gone through such hardships as had been given her to stand. She had seen her father reduced to poverty. She had seen her brothers become dissatisfied and die at New Orleans, in an attempt to get back to England. She had seen her sister grossly mistreated.

Then in her own personal family she had seen the United Order take from her family the products of their labors. She had seen her little daughter burned to death and her sons become very critical of the Church. She had been required to labor to provide comforts for hordes of passersby on their way to Conference. All this was most too much for her faith. Yet how fortunate it was that the gospel had come to her and that she had been able to endure the hardships it entailed; that she had held out to the end. Her portrait still hangs in the Pioneer’s gallery in the State House Museum in Fillmore.