History
of
ANNIE
HICKS FREE
HANDCART
PIONEER IN EDWARD MARTIN COMPANY IN UTAH NOV
30,
1856
written
by Lenore M. Ruesch
Story Key:
Grandma Free-Annie Hicks Free
Grandma Rock-Louesa Eve Free Rock
Mother-Gertrude Rock McFarlane
Things I remember about Grandma Free
Grandma
Free lived right through the lot from Grandma Rock on 21st South Street in Salt
Lake City, and we always went to see her when we went to Grandma Rock's. Just
before it was time for us to go home from our weekly visit to our grandmother's
house, my mother would get all of us children together, see that our hands and
face were clean and our hair neatly combed; and then we would walk Single file
on the narrow path through the field to see Grandma Free.
Crisply
starched white apron---which made her look "clean as a pin". I remember that the fine leather black kid
shoes she wore were always well polished. They were shoes not slippers, tightly
laced over thin ankles.
Grandma
Free had a gentle old face with finely chiseled cheek bones that sort of showed
through. Her hands fascinated me with their raised blue veins. I remember her
saying, "Well, Gertie, my girl, how are you? My
Mother
was her oldest living granddaughter, and there was a close, warm feeling
between them.
All of
us children, my sister and three brothers and I, liked Grandma Free, too, and
we were delighted when she would pump her little old organ and play and sing
the Handcart Pioneer song. In my memory, I can still hear the words: "For
some must push and some must pull, as we go marching up the hill, for merrily
on the way we go until we reach the valley—O! We enjoyed playing the organ ourselves, too.
That was lots of fun!
Grandma
Free was a special person in our lives, and we were very proud of her. She had
left all of her people in England when she was only 19 years old, walked across
the plains pushing a handcart and arrived in Salt Lake City without a single
soul to meet her ---all because she had heard the Gospel and believed it.
Then she had married in polygamy a man old enough -to be her grandfather.
He was 60 years old, she 20. Never did she call him anything but "Mr.
Free.
He was
a Patriarch in the Church, had come to Utah in Brigham Young’s second company
in 1848, and had many children older than Grandma Free, among them Emeline Free
Young, long a favorite wife of Brigham Young, and Louisa Fee Wells, wife of
Daniel H. Wells.
Grandma
Free's life was not without romance. A young man who
had asked her to marry him before she left England came all the way to Utah to
claim her as his wife, but she was already married to Grandpa Free and
steadfastly refused to divorce him. It was against her religion to even
consider divorce. Her lover, as she called him, went back to England but always
remained a cherished memory.
Grandma
Free was a hard-working pioneer woman, yet there was a quality of refinement
and dignity about her that set her apart.
Her mother had been a member of the English nobility, but had been disinherited
by her family because she married a sea-captain. Her
mother's
brother, the Earl of Wenlock died without heirs, though, and Grandma Free was
advised (long after she came to Utah) that the family title and property were
hers and all she would need to do would be to go to England to claim the title
and fortune. She never went, but often said, "When, oh when will I ever be
the great lady I'm supposed to be?”
The
feminine title equivalent to Earl is "Lady". It is the same rank as
the European "Countess". And Earl ranks next below a Marquis and
above a Viscount. He is the governor of a county or shire. Had my
great-grandmother accepted the title and responsibility and money that went
with it, she would have indeed been a great lady in the eyes of the world---Lady
Ann of Wenlock. Instead she stayed in Utah, raised seven children and was true
to her Church. It was quite a choice to
make! Truly she was a great lady even though she didn’t hold the title!
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