Frances Farr Mills |
She attended a Sisters School.
At the age of sixteen years, on April 17, 1832, she was married to Charles
Mills in the Parish Church of Prescott in the county of Lancaster
by G. H. Driffield, Vicar.
Mr. Mills was a soldier being a
private in the 80th regiment of Foot in the service of the King. Her early
married life was spent with the army going from place to place as the King saw
fit to move this famous army. She traveled in all of the English Colonies
including India.
She acted as a nurse in the army. She was on the battle field when the French
and the English fought the Battle of Waterloo.
She cared for the sick soldiers
while on the march and while stationed in camp she helped with the general
hospital work. Twelve of her children were born in England
and one child in Ireland.
Only 4 of whom lived to adulthood.
Charles R. Savage |
William Wilde |
She became an ardent worker and
defender of the Gospel and Church. Her home was the gathering place of the missionaries
and the Saints. She shared her food with them, did their washing and many other
things which showed her desire to serve. She had a long cape made and would
attend all of the meetings, especially the street meetings. When the mobs would
become violent, she would put this cape over the elders and lead them to a place
of safety.
She was followed many times and
every window in her home was broken by rocks, sticks, and other things which showed
her desire to serve. She acted as a missionary and distributed tracts for the
elders.
In 1857 Brigham Young asked the
Saints to fast and pray for deliverance from Johnston's Army. The Saints in the foreign
countries were requested to fast also. She and her family fasted several days
until she was so weak that she fainted while ironing clothes. In this fall she
broke all of her front teeth off.
Brigham Young advised the Saints to
come to Zion,
and if possible to bring the entire family at once. If not possible to send the
entire family, the Saints were encouraged to send as many at a time as
possible. In 1861 her eldest two children, Charles and Mary, came. In 1862
Louisa Harriett came. The youngest, Sarah, came in 1863. While she and her
husband were to come in 1864. But on May 2, 1863, her husband suffered a heart
attack and dropped dead in the park after attending the Saints farewell party.
She came to America with the
Saints arriving in Salt
Lake in the fall of 1863.
She sailed from Liverpool,
England, and landed in New
York She then traveled overland to Albany and
then to St. Joes, then up the Mississippi River to Florence. This was the
outfitting place for the saints and several weeks were spent in preparations
for the long and trying journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
She was met in Salt Lake by
her son, Charles, and taken to his home which was in a dugout on Kay's Creek,
near Kaysville, Davis
County. She lived there
until the following spring. Then she went to Enterprise,
Morgan County to keep house for Thomas Palmer,
whose wife had died and left him with four small children. They -- Thomas
Palmer and Francis Farr Mills -- were married the following February 18, 1864,
in Salt Lake City, Utah. The marriage was verified by the
Crescent Ward Records, Film 2, pg-05-869 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Their home was a log house with dirt floor and roof.
A year later, because she was past
the child-bearing age, she gave consent for Thomas to marry her daughter,
Louisa Harriett Mills. They were married in February 9, 1865, and they all
lived together until Francis’ death in 1888.
She knew every herb and their use
and each year she would gather herbs from early spring until winter each in the
season of their greatest value, relative to the sick. When called to the
bedside of the sick, she would determine the disease or condition and then make
the medicine from her store of herbs.
On August 29, 1877, at Enterprise, she received
her Patriarchal blessing under the hands of the Patriarch of the Church. Her blessing being given at the very hour
that Brigham Young died.
She had a very sweet and loving
disposition and was known throughout the state as Mother Mills. She was the mother of 13 children only 4 of
whom lived to adulthood, Charles Edmund, Mary, Sarah, and Louisa Harriett. She was a very important pioneer.
She died February 3, 1888 in Enterprise and was buried
in the family plot there.
(Aunt Rose told me how much they
all loved their grandmother. She also
told me that their Grandmother raised the children of the second wife, Francis
Starkins who died in 1863. Aunt Rose
also told me that her father, Thomas Palmer and Grandmother were very good
friends, being about the same age. She
also said that the two of them kept the rules – especially the keeping of the
word of wisdom. She had her own little
home in back of the family home where Thomas lived with his fourth wife
Harriett Louisa Mills Palmer.)
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I hope that this blog will be a resource for family and distant relatives seeking to learn more about our pioneer roots. Any additional information or pictures would be very welcome. Feel free to contact me at spanomegos@hotmail.com.