Annie Hicks Free

For THEY HAD FAITH LESSON BOOKLET (December)

by Lenore M. Ruesch (a great granddaughter)

As an example of great faith, "Grandma Free" has always appealed to me as a very special, worthy person.  She was a handcart pioneer, and she met many tests of faith throughout her life.  To her dying day, at the age of 89, she was strong in faith, never wavering, "enduring to the end."

Her life has always been an inspiration to me.  I have cherished the memory of who was so strong in her convictions; and I am proud that I knew her well when I was young.  Her strength has been a guide to me especially when my own faith has not been as strong as it is now.  I have told my children so many stories about Grandma Free that they too revere her memory.

My daughter a talented artist, has made a pencil portrait of her from the only snapshot  I have of Grandma Free, and guests in our home are introduced to "grandma" via this framed artistic reproduction.  Of all my pioneer ancestors, she stands out above all the rest for her faithfulness.

My mother Gertrude Tan Rock McFarlane. wrote the following comments about her grandmother: "When I was a small child, I remember Grandma Free sewing a great deal and ladies coming to her home to be fitted.  At that time I didn't realize she was doing it to make her living, but later I did.  I knew that while she sewed I could sit beside her and she would tell me stories,, recite poetry, or tell me her own life's story.  She told me much about the Gospel and how she knew for herself that it was true, and then instructed me how I could find out for myself.  As I look back now I realize that she was very sorry for me when Winnie (Gertrude's older sister by 2 years) died, because she told me many times that Winnie was our 'binding link' to Heaven and that I would see her again.  I dearly loved to visit with Grandma and to her dying day I never missed going over there each time I went down home.

In the Old Farmers Ward Relief Society Grandma was secretary for many years and on those meeting days I waited at school and walked home with her.  She had a beautiful voice and she would sing familiar songs.  She was tall and slim and had a dignified walk.  As we came home one afternoon I was embarrassed when the Newel boys called out after her, 'There goes Mrs. Free--Walking on her dignity!' When I told her to go to their mother and tell her to punish them, she said, 'Let's rise above it.'

At her knee I learned much about the Gospel and I am thankful to her for her wonderful teaching.   Many times when she was having Sunday morning sacred hour I went to join her.  She played the organ very well and sang many songs.

Mother (Gertrude Rock McFarlane) tells in a written message which is addressed "To All my Children" the influence of her grandmother's faith on her own life.  She says:

"I was born of honorable and upright parents and through them was born under the true and everlasting covenant.  Form them and Grandma Free I was first taught 'that the Gospel was true', that it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that our Prophet Joseph had restored to the earth'.  When I was just a tiny tot I can remember Grandma telling me to get 'the stool' that I always sat on and she would tell me about her life  I seems that I can almost hear her now was she would say, and I quote, 'My father was a sea Captain and he would go away for a very long time.  I never saw him until I was four years old and then when I did see him I was afraid of him, because I thought he was a black man.' (Her mother had told her that he was a black man when she kept asking if her father was like different men she saw on the street.)  He was of very dark complexion and had a heavy beard and mustache which he always wore.

When we ate our dinner mother asked him how he enjoyed it, and this is what he said "Thank the Lord for this meal although it was but small, I could east some more if I had some more, but thank the Lord for all.' And mother said 'damn the man'.

My mother was a Wenlock; her uncle was the Earl of Wenlock.  Father went away again and Mother took me with her to the 'work house' where she earned her living.  It was there I learned to knit as I sat on a stool by Mother's side.  My life was uneventful until I heard two missionaries preaching the gospel in the streets of London.  I loved it the first time I hear it; it seemed so quiet and peaceful.  I embraced the Gospel and was baptized on January 17th, 1855 in the White chapel Branch in London, England...Shortly after my baptism and before I was confirmed my relatives sent me a terrible book against the Mormons, marking it in many places for me to read....

When I heard Grandma's testimony I knew she told the truth and I had faith in her.  She taught me that the Lord hears and answered prayers.  She always said 'the Lord is close by and will protect  you in time of danger.'

She always held a sacred hour in her home on Sunday and we Grandchildren were always welcome.  She dressed up in her best dress and then put on a white apron, then would go to her organ and play and sign religious songs.  Then she read the scriptures.  Those were wonderful experiences to us as a child and it was then I learned to love and read the Bible."

 

Grandma Free influenced my faith too.  When I was a child I remember visiting Grandma Free often.  She always greeted us with a smile and often would tell us pioneer stories and sign with us as she played her little "foot pedal" organ.  Especially do I remember her singing the old pioneer song, whose words still echo in my memory:

"For some must push and some must pull

As we go marching up the hill,

And merrily on the way we go

Until we reach the Valley- O"

Grandma Free truly was a person of much faith even as a child she believed strongly that God would protect her.  Then she first came in the  contact with the Gospel she "loved it", and was promptly called upon to prove her faith.  Her relatives all tried to talk her out of joining the Church.  Her own story tells of this.  A marvelous manifestation came to her because of her faith in God.  She received a direct answer to prayer and she never doubted after that.  In later life when others pointed the failings of even some of those high in the Church, she didn't let that affect her faith.  She said, "People and principles!  People sometimes change, but principles never do."

Once she had joined the Church, she gave it a full lifetime devotion.  She proved her faith when she set out alone, without a relative or friend, to come to Utah from her beloved England.  She broke up with a young man she had planned to marry because he didn't approve of her joining the Church.  She was among those sturdy folks, who lacking funds for wagons, pushed handcarts all across the plains.  She belonged to the ill-fated Edward Martin Company which was the last to reach Utah in 1856.  After a rescue group  to those who still survived (out of 575 persons who started out 135 died en-route) she and the other survivors arrived in Salt Lake City on November 30th 1856.

She tells in her brief writings how she, along with others, almost froze to death on the journey. She claimed her life was saved only because a women chided her into getting some water, asking her if she was going to shirk her responsibility and let "an old women get it".  Even that experience didn't diminish her faith.

When she reached Deseret, alone and friendless, she was given a job at 75 cents a week.  She worked at that until she married my great-grandfather, Absalom Pennington Free, a patriarch of the Church and a member of Brigham Young's second company, which arrived in Utah in 1848.  He had children older than she was.  One daughter, Emeline, was the wife of Brigham Young; and two daughters married Daniel H Wells (Louisa and Hannah).  Grandfather Free was almost 61 years and Grandma Free was just 20 when they were married.

Once again her faith was tested when he had been married only a short time.  The young man who had been her sweetheart in England came across the ocean and over the plains to tell her that now he too, had joined the Church and they could be married.  When she told him she was married, both were sad.  Grandma would not even consider a divorce.  She had given her vow.  She told him to go away.  She still loved him; so the decision was hard; but once again her faith in the Church guided her in her actions.  Her vow, to her, meant what it said and could not be broken.  She had faith that all principles of the Gospel with right and she had made a decision when she was baptized to follow all of them.

Grandma Free had a hard life.  As a child, she worked at the London Work Shop at the side of her mother.  She was poor all her life, suffering  privation such as all pioneers suffered, and the extra suffering that was typical of hand-cart pioneers.  She was a polygamist wife (one of three living at the time), and was left a widow at the age of 40 with 7 children to provide for and only a small farm as her share of her husband's property.  She had to sew for a living.  Yet when wealth and power and social prestige were offered her, she proved her faith once again and rejected all those things in order that she could live in Zion, be amongst the Saints, free to practice her religion as she believed it, and to raise her children in the church.

Her mother was a Wenlock and her uncle was the earl of Wenlock.  Her mother had been disinherited by the family because she married a sea captain.  Proudly and defiantly she went to work in a work shop rather than ask her family for help when her husband was away to sea for years at a time and their money was gone.

However her brother, Earl of Wenlock, died without issue and Grandma Free received official word that she had inherited  the family estates, title and wealth, but she must come to England to claim them.  According to English la, it was also necessary that she live in England.  She would have the title of Lady, English equaivalent of European Countess.  Had she been a male, she would have been an Earl.

Grandma Free surely must have been tempted to accept this wonderful offer of wealth  and power, but she made her decision to stay in Utah and leave her estate unclaimed.  Even after she became a widow and had to sew for a living, she still did not claim her inheritance.  She was proud of her family connections in a way.  She named one of her sons Wenlock.  I have heard my mother say that Grandma Free often said, "When, oh when, will I ever  be the great lady I'm supposed to be?"

To me she was a great lady, one of the greatest I have ever been privileged to know.  Her faith made her great.

 

Memories of Grandma Free by Lenore M Ruesch

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.

 

I remember Grandma Free well. She always smilingly greeted us. She was a stately lady, tall and straight, old, yet young in spirit. She was dressed usually in grey or a small print, her dresses long, with high necks and long sleeves. Always she wore, it seems, a

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!

A Pioneer-by Gertrude Tan Rock McFarlane

A Pioneer
Written by Gertrude Rock McFarlane
(Father-Jacob Nephi Rock, Grandfather-Valentine Rock, Grandmother-Harriet Smith Rock)

My Father was a Pioneer

Who crossed the prairies wild
Who stood the hardships of that trip
When he was just a child

 

Wild Animals roved o'er the hills
and cruel Indians too,
Their nights were spent in anguish
Not knowing what to do

But the Lord came to their rescue

And they got here safe and sound
A peaceful place among the hills
These faithful people found
 

To Farmington they soon were sent

To help build up the town
With teams and wagons there they went
Nothing could get them down
 

Grandfather was a rock mason,

An expert in his line
He build the "Old Rock Church" up there
That stands the wear of time
 

And many houses dot the hills

Along the country side,
Which stand today as monuments
That fill our hearts with pride.
 

As they were making ready

To Dixie land to go
Death took this noble man away
For reasons we don't know
 

He left his wife and children five

to do the best they could
So Grandma, dear, she braced right up
And earned their livelihood
 

Ann "Annie" Hicks Free by Lenore McFarlane Ruesch

Annie Hicks Free

For They Had Faith Lesson Booklet (December) written by Lenore M. Ruesch

As an example of great faith, "Grandma Fee" has always appealed to me as a very special, worthy person.  She was a handcart pioneer, and she met many tests of faith throughout her life.  To her dying day, at the age of 89, she was strong in the faith, never wavering, "enduring unto the end"

Her life has always been an inspiration to me.  I have cherished the memory of one who was so strong in her convictions; and I am proud that I knew her well when I was young.  Her strength had been a guide to me specially when my own faith was not as strong as it is now.  I have told my children so many stories about Grandma Free that they too revere her memory.  My daughter (Marilyn Ruesch Schneider) a talented artist, has made a pencil portrait in our home from the only photo I have of Grandma Free, and guests in our home are introduced to Grandma via this framed artistic reproduction.  Of all my pioneer ancestors, she stands out above all the rest for her faithfulness.

Grandma Free, Annie Hicks Free, was really my great-great grandmother, mother of my mother's mother.  My grandmother Louesa Free Rock, in writing of her said "It gives me a great deal of pride of write this brief history because I was always proud of my mother."

She (Louesa Eve Free) wrote the following history:

"My mother, Annie Hicks Free, was born January 8th 1837 in Barking Essex, England, the younger daughter of Daniel Hicks and Hannah Wenlock Hicks.  Her only sister Louesa Hicks, was two years her senior.

Her father, being a sailor, was away from home much of the time.  He was captain of a ship which left England a few months before mother was born.  One of the first things that she could remember was looking forward to the return of her father,  She would say many times a day, when she saw a man that she didn't know, 'Is that my father?' 

Her mother laughingly said, ' No, be off with you, your father's a black man'.  When he came he was unshaven and very rough looking with long black hair and black beard, and mustache.

Her mother was very anxious for her to be nice but when she was her father she said, crying, 'Oh my father is a black man.  She was four years old when he returned, never having seen him before.

On his last sea voyage he became very sick and from then on was a confirmed invalid thus making it necessary for her mother to secure work in the work shop.  While yet a small child, my mother was taken to the work shop with her mother.  She was so small that she sat on a stool and learned to knit.  At a very early age she says, 'As a child I was very devout, praying and asking God for guidance and firmly believing that He would protect me from all wrong. And surly I have been saved many times from most certain evil'.

The only schools available at that time were private schools which were very expensive so her mother taught her to read and write.  However, she was very studious and learned very rapidly.

We have no record of any of her youthful experiences and amusements.

-------Missing Page 3 of the Transcript-----

Annie Hicks Free:

On the twenty-third day of May, 1856 I sailed for America on the ship Horizon, beginning my journey to Zion.  I crossed the plains with the belated Handcart Company of Edward Martin.  We underwent numerous hardships and lost many of our good and faithful band along the way.

I have been asked to relate an incident or two that might be of interest to you. One which I recall very clearly occurred as we crossed the Platte River.  The stream was very strong and the water bitter cold making it very hard to cross.  In the company was a window with her family.  Her oldest son, a fine young chap, had started across the river with his handcart but the current was so strong that he was borne downstream.  Seeing the boy's condition I ran down the bank of the river and went out into it in time to catch the boy and his hand cart.  I helped him to short but he was almost frozen.  In the evening when the company made camp the boy's mother was going out to gather chips of wood but the boy insisted upon going himself.  When he was been gone quite a long time a search was made for him and he was found frozen to death with sticks in his arms.

Lousea Eve Free:

Another incident which I well remember hearing my mother related I will give briefly;  One bitter cold day they were forced to make camp early because it was impossible to go farther without help.  A prayer meeting was called and they prayed to the Lord for relief.  Immediately when they arose from their knees a young man shouted, 'Looks: A horse-man is coming'.  The company looked off in the distance but could see no one.

The young man persisted and in a short time they could all see a speck in the distances.  They watched patiently as he came nearer and nearer.  When he arrived he brought the good news that relief was near...

Mother reached the Valley on the last day of November with not one friend to meet her.  She was taken to the home of a brother Ellerbeck where she did housework for which she was paid 75 cents per week.  She also did their knitting, sewing and embroidery work.

On March 5th 1857 she was married to my father, Absalom Pennington Free, who was a Patriarch of the Church.  She was the mother of seven children, all whom grew to man and womanhood, and survived her.

Mother was a women of rare ability.  She was possessed of a power of discernment that she could foretell things to come.  She was a great lover of good books, Charles Dickens being her favorite writer,  She could remember so many places that he wrote about in England and she knew well that he did not exaggerate.  His descriptions were so clear.

She was a gifted writer and wrote many beautiful poems.  For many years she was secretary of the Farmers Ward Relief Society and her records were kept beautifully.

Mother was a dignified women who was noticed wherever she went.  Her later life was devoted to reading and needle work.  She lived very comfortably on her income from the farm where she lived by fifty-six years.  Her death came at the age of eighty-nine years and seven months, dying on August 27, 1926 at her home, 370 East 21st South, Salt Lake City, Utah."

My Mother, Gertrude Tan Rock McFarlane, wrote the following comments about her grandmother:

"When I was a small child, I remember Grandmother Free sewing a great deal and ladies coming to her home to be fitted.  At that time I didn't realize she was doing it to make her living, but later I did.  I knew that while she sewed I could sit beside her and she would tell me stories, recite poetry, or tell me her own life's story.  She told me much about the Gospel and how she knew for herself that it was true, and then instructed me how I could find out for myself.  As I look back now I realize that she was very sorry for me when Winnie (Gertrude's older sister) died because she told me many times that Winnie was our binding link to Heaven and that I would see her again.  I dearly loved to visit with Grandma and to her dying day I ever missed going over there each time I went home.

In the Old Farmers Ward Relief Society Grandma was a secretary of many years and on those meeting days I waited at school and walked home with her .  We had no sidewalks but walked right down the middle of the road.  She had a beautiful voice and she would sing familiar songs.  She was tall and slim and had a dignified walk.  As we came home one afternoon I was embarrassed when the Nowel  boys called out after her, "there goes Mrs. Free--walking on her dignity!".  When I told her to go to their mother and tell her to punish them, she said, "Let's rise above it."

At her knee I learned much about the Gospel and I am thankful to her for her wonderful teaching.  Many times when she was having Sunday morning sacred hour I went to join her.  She played the organ very well and sang many songs.

Mother (Gertrude Tan Rock McFarlane) in her written message which was addressed "To my Children" talked of the influence of her grandmother's faith on her own life, she says:

"I was born of honorable and upright parents and through them was born under the true and everlasting covenant.  From them and Grandma Free I was first taught 'that the Gospel was true', that it was the 'Gospel of Jesus Christ, that our Prophet Joseph has restored to the earth'.  When I was just a tiny tot, I can remember Grandma telling me to 'get the stool' that I always sat on and she would tell me about her life.  It seems that I can almost hear her now as she would say, and I quote, " My Father was a Sea Captain and would be away for a very long time.  I never saw him until I was four years old and then when I did see him I was afraid of him, because I thought he was a black man' (Her mother had told her that he was a black man when she kept asking if her father was like different men she saw on the street).  He was of a very dark complexion and had a heavy beard and mustache which he always wore.

When we ate our dinner they asked him how he enjoyed it, and this is what he said " thank the Lord for this meal although it was but small, I could eat some more if I had some more, but thank the Lord for all'.  And mother said blame the man'.

My mother was a Wenlock; her uncle was the Earl of Wenlock.  Father went away again and Mother took me with her to the 'work house' where she earned her living.  It was there I learned to knit as I sat on the stool by Mother's side.  My life was uneventful until I heard two missionaries preaching the Gospel in the streets of London.  I loved it the first time I hear it; it seemed so quiet and peaceful.  I embraced the Gospel and was baptized on January 17, 1855 in the White Chapel Branch in London England.. shortly after my baptism and before I was confirmed by relatives sent me a terrible book against the Mormons, marking it in many places for me to read...."

When I heard Grandma's testimony I knew she told the truth and I had faith in her.  She taught me that the Lord heard and answered prayers.  She always said the Lord is close by and will protect you in time of danger.

She always held a sacred hour in her home on Sunday and we Grandchildren were always welcome.  She dressed up in her best dress and then put on a white apron, then would go to the organ and play and sing religious songs.  Then she read the scriptures.  Those were wonderful experiences to me as a child and it was then I learned to love and read the Bible."

Lenore McFarlane Ruesch:

Grandma Free influenced my faith too.  When I was a child I remember  visiting Grandma Free often.  She always greeted us with a smile and often would tell us pioneer stories and sing with us as she played her little foot pedal organ.  Especially do I remember her singing the old pioneer song, whose word still echo in my memory:

For some must push and some must pull

As we go marching up the hill,

And merrily on the way we go

Until we reach the Valley- "O"

Grandma Free was truly a person of much faith.  Even as a Child she believed strongly that God would protect her.  When she first came in contact with the gospel she "loved it", and was promptly called upon to prove her faith.  Her relatives all tried to talk her out of joining the church.  Her own story tells of this.  A marvelous manifestation came to her because of her faith in God.  She received a direct answer to prayer and she never doubted after that.  In later life when others pointed the failings of even some of those high in the Church, she didn't let that affect her faith.  She said "People and principles; People sometimes change, but principles never do."

Once she had joined the Church, she gave it a full lifetime devotion.  She proved her faith when she set out along without a relative or friend to come to Utah from her beloved England.  She broke up with a young man she had planned to marry because he didn't approve of her joining the Church.  She was among those sturdy folks , who, lacking funds for wagons, pushed handcarts all across the plains.  She belonged to the ill-fated Edward Martin Company which was the last to reach Utah in 1856.  After a rescue group out to food to those who survived (of the 575 persons who started out 135 died en-route) she and the other survivors arrived in Salt Lake City on November 30th 1856.

She tells in her brief writings how she along with others almost froze to death on the journey.  She claimed her life was saved only because a women chided her into getting some water, asking her if she was going to shirk her responsibility and let "an old women get it".  Even that experience didn't diminish her faith.

When she reached Deseret, alone and friendless, she was given a job at 75 cents a week.  She worked at that until she married by great-grandfather, Absalom Pennington Free, a patriarch of the Church and a member of Brigham Young's second company, which arrived in Utah in 1848.  He had children older than she was.  One daughter Emeline, was the wife of Brigham Young; and two daughters married Daniel H Wells (Louisa and Hannah).  Grandfather Free was almost 61 years and grandma Free just 20 when they were married.

Once again her faith was tested when she had been married only a short time. The young man who had been her sweetheart in England came across the ocean and over the plains to tell her that now he too, had joined the Church and they could be married.  When she told him she was married, both were sad.  Grandma would not even consider a divorce.  She had given her vow.  She told him to go away.  She still loved him; so the decision was hard; but once again her faith in the Church guided her in her actions.  Her vow, to her, meant what it said and could not be broken.  She had faith that all principles of the Gospel were right, and had had made a decision when she was baptized to follow all of them.

Grandma Fee had a hard life. As a child, she worked at the London Work Shop at the side of her mother.  She was poor all her life, suffering the  privation such as all pioneers suffered, and the extra suffering that was typical of handcart pioneers.  She was a polygamist wife (one of 3 living at the time) and was left a widow at the age of 40 with seven children to provide for and only a small farm as her share of her husband's property.  She had to sew for a living. Yet when wealth and power and social prestige were offered her, she proved her faith once again and rejected all those things in order that she could live in Zion, be among the Saints, free to practice her religion as she believed it and to raise her children in the Church.

Her mother was a Wenlock and her Uncle was the Earl of Wenlock.  Her mother had been disinherited by the family because she married a sea captain.  Proudly and defiantly she went to work in a work shop rather than ask her family for help when her husband was away for years at a time and their money was gone.

However, her brother, Earl of Wenlock, died without issue and Grandma Free received official word that she was inherited the family estates, title and wealth, but she must come to England to claim it.  According to English law, it was also necessary that she also live in England.  She would have the title of Lady, English equivalent of the European Countess.  Had she been a male, she would have been an Earl.

Grandma Free surely must have been tempted to accept this wonderful offer of wealth and power, but made her decision to stay in Utah and leave her estate unclaimed.  Seven after she became a widow and had to sew for a living, she still did not claim her inheritance.  She was proud of her family connections in a way.  She named one of her sons Wenlock.  I have heard my mother say that Granma Free often said, "When, oh when will I ever be the great lady I'm supposed to be?"

To me she was a great lady, one of the greatest I have ever been privileged to know.  Her faith made her great.