Polly Ann Barber

Polly Ann Barber Child

Polly Barber Child was born March 30, 1799, at Greenfield, New York, and, for a time before her marriage, she attended the Milton Academy in New York. She married Alfred B. Child March 18, 1817. In 1822, they moved to Morristown, New York, where they first heard the gospel. They were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints June 5, 1838, by Elder Charles Blakesly.

Milton Academy
New York, 1844

            On August 11, 1838, they left for Kirtland, Ohio, embarking on a mail steamer up the St. Lawrence River, crossing lake Ontario and landing at Lewiston, a short distance below Niagara Falls, having shipped their team and wagon. From that point they traveled with their wagon, arriving in Kirtland in September 1838. After a short stay in Kirtland, they continued their journey westward to Missouri. They arrived in Caldwell County, Missouri, in October. The family at that time were ten in number. Three of Polly’s children had died as infants.

They purchased a farm on Shoal Creek in Caldwell County, Missouri. The persecutions endured in Missouri were so intense that in February 1839, a few months after their arrival, orders came to leave the State of Missouri in 15 days. The family left their farm and went into Daviess County. The family, as well as many others, sought refuse at Adam-ondi-Ahman, which quickly became a city of tents and wagons. They were in constant fear of their lives. Polly’s son Warren writes: “During this period Mother had to devise every means to procure food for the family. Much of our little store had been exhausted and confiscated by the mob.” One of their horses had been taken by the mob.

Warren continues: “Mother got the loan of a neighbor’s horse to work with our remaining one and started for Jackson County to, if possible, get such supplies as was necessary to feed and clothe the family which had been rendered, through invasions that had been made upon them, quite destitute.”

Masssacre of Mormons at Haun's Mill

Polly states in her letter to her sister that she and son Mark went 12 miles into Far West to shop for flour, salt, toys for children, and other items. When Polly returned, Alfred and Mark were put on guard duty with the armed Mormons because the mob was burning houses in the area. The mob were on their march to Crooked River and Haun’s Mill. Polly states that they went 14 miles and pitched their tent and lived in it two weeks. The people thought that, after the battle at Crooked River and Haun’s Mill, the mob would be pacified and they could live in peace for a time so everyone went to work again building houses. Later they learned that the mobs were moving to Far West. The Mormons began a counter movement to defend themselves and all able-bodied men were called out and armed. Polly’s husband and son Mark were taken prisoners but were not harmed and were later released but their best horse was taken and also their farm.

In her letters to her mother, sister, and brothers in New York, this strength is shown forcefully. The mobs in the near distance all around her tent, her husband and son out to try to protect themselves and their families; yet, she wrote that she “had no fear, all fluttering of the heart was gone from me. I was as calm as I ever was sitting in your home, Mother.”

“When the brethren came with the word that the mob was a few miles distant and all men were needed,” she fixed her husband and son’s supper and sent them off. She and the baby, (who was my grandfather, Orville) went to bed. She was tired because she had been washing. She slept peacefully because she said, “I had no remembrance of it in the morning.”

She wrote that her feelings sometimes were melancholy, because she didn’t know “how soon her loved ones would be lost in death.”

Polly Ann's Daughter

Daughter Polly Ann writes, “All the Saints really had a hard struggle to get out of the state. A few had teams but some had to go on foot across the frozen prairie, destitute of food and clothing, with the sand burrs cutting their feet.” Polly’s husband had traded his wagon towards a piece of land and the mob had stolen his best horse. He had a little money and was able to hire a friend, a Mr. Allred, to move them out. They traded their only horse for a yoke of cattle to draw the wagon but most of the family walked, some of them barefooted, over the frozen ground and stubs.

            Polly Ann writes: “When we got to the river, the ice was running and we could not cross; consequently, we had to camp there the next three weeks before we could cross into Illinois. It was now the middle of March. We made shantys of brush and blankets and wagons were our homes. We had very little food to eat.”

During this trying time Polly’s unwavering faith and strong testimony carried her through when her nights were long, dark and cold. In a letter to her brothers and family in New York she writes: “Mother says that we have caused her great many sleepless nights…but mother, I am contented, not because I cannot come back, but because I like the country.” As she tells about the mob at Crooked River, she writes: “About 6 an express came in that the mob was a burning the houses of a few of the brothers 7 miles off. I think 15 men armed; not much damage done; got wind and fled; got back about 9; came in laid on the floor with their guns by their sides. Mark saw the army, until nine sentinels were all around town. Express came in the night; mob was at Crooked River. Army went out the next morning; two of sister Chases sons went, one wounded in the knee got well, the other put in prison. Went home and found Alfred waiting for us. It was thought advisable to go to Diamon [sic] for safety. I had even baked most of the night. Started the next morning; only 14 miles; spread our tent; lived in it two weeks and three days. The battle at Crooked River, Hauns mills and being drove at this place seemed to quell and it was generally thought that it would be peace again….We lived on the road; the parade ground was about a quarter of a mile from us as our men were chiefly there to the block house in tolerable readiness, not knowing what might take place as the mob endeavored to creep upon us in the slyest ways….The back of our tent was not more than 30 feet from the road yet we did not hear the express when they came in. Alfred just waked me before the horsement passes….Now mother, these were all fathers, husbands and brothers living peaceably, loving one another. It was the next week, Thursday, before we could learn any tidings from them.”

            "Polly writes, “After we got into Illinois, my father rented a farm. Mother and I took in washing to help maintain the family. Father put up a little log house but before the house was finished, he and my two eldest brothers had to go and find work to get food to eat. Our house had just a body of the house and a few slabs hewn out of logs on top for a roof. We had no floor. We build a fire on the ground as we had no chimney. My mother took in washings, and I worked out for 75 cents a week."  They had a difficult time in an unfinished house until spring. Her husband and two sons had to stop work on the house to find work to get food to eat.

They remained in Quincy for about eight months to recuperate from their journey. From there they went to Lee County, Iowa, across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo in the fall of 1839 where they remained about seven years.

Alfred was able to put in a garden and by 1841 the house was finished and a good crop secured from the garden. Polly and her daughter spun cloth from the flax raised in 1841 and in 1842 which was made into clothing--pants and shirts for the boys and dresses for the girls. They also made sheets and pillow cases.

In September 1842 Alfred was appointed Post Master of Spring Prairie, Lee County, Iowa. He held that office about six years and, as he was away from home a great deal, Polly frequently had charge of the office and a small store which they operated. They lived here in Iowa for seven years. During this time, Polly’s oldest daughter Polly Ann was married and son Mark enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Missouri. He was with General Kearney’s staff in Mexico. Polly was never to see this son again and it was not until three years later that she learned that he had been killed by Indians in Upper California where he had been engaged in the ranching business.

Warren G. Child

Polly’s son Warren recalls the day the news reached them of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. “Mother was engaged in making soft soap in the yard as was her custom to do, often making up a barrel at one time for a neighbor. Lye leached from the ashes of the fireplace was used instead of the concentrated lye of today. The party bringing the sad news rode up on horseback and asked if we had heard the news. Mother said after that a thrilling shock went through her whole frame before replying. She had not heard of anything new but, from the expression of the stranger, she could see that there was something more than usual to induce a stranger to ask such a question….Father went immediately to Nauvoo as further trouble might need his presence.”

When the exodus from Nauvoo began in February 1846, the main body crossed the river on the ice, making their first encampment on Big Sugar Creek near the Child farm. The snow on the ground was a foot deep and the weather cold. Warren Child states that they “had about 60 bushes of corn in the cribs which they (Saints) were permitted to take without price which served the camp for a short time. They remained here some three weeks before the weather had so modified that they could start out in safety.” The Child family closed up their home and business and followed on June 10, 1846, with two wagons drawn by one yoke of oxen each.

Warren writes further: “In descending Soap Creek hill, a very steep one, the chain lock to the wagon that I was driving gave way and the wagon pressed onto the oxen so they were unable to hold it. Mother, who was sitting in the front with her feet on the outside of the box, was thrown out, lighting on her feet between the cattle which, in their efforts to hold the wagon, were crowding her body back against the end board. Bracing herself back, she managed to keep her feet until the bottom of the hill was reached. Using the butt of my whip stalk, the team was stopped until she could extricate herself from a perilous position without any serious results. Her presence of mind only saved her from being thrown under the wheels and crushed to death.”

Myron Barber Child

Polly and her family settled on Little Pigeon Creek in Pottawattami County, Iowa, while the main body of the Church settled on the west banks of the river in Winter Quarters. They remained here in what is now called Council Bluffs, Iowa, from 1846 until the summer of 1852. During this period, Polly’s husband returned to Nauvoo on numerous occasions to assist the lingering saints as well as those arriving from foreign countries. On July 1, 1852, the Child family left for the Salt Lake Valley with two wagons, and 2 yoke cattle and 1 yoke cows to each wagon. They arrived in Salt Lake October 2, 1852 and settled in Ogden where their son Myron had settled the year before.

At last, in Utah, even after she safely arrived here on October 1, 1852, her faith and testimony was further tested, in the death of her beloved husband, Alfred, just two months later, on 22 December 1852. She had her seven children and several grandchildren around her for comfort, in a strange and barren land, not much of a home, and prospects were dim for a livelihood for any of them. I’m thinking about how she felt that first Christmas Day.

She had buried her first three children as infants, two sons and a daughter, and a seven-year-old son, Asa Thomas Child died in Iowa, just before they were driven out. He son, Mark, who was in the U.S. Army, was killed in California by Indians. The Lord had taken her mother Annie Drake Barber, who died 23 December, 1851, her brother Lonson died 4 days after her husband 26 December 1852 and now her life’s companion.

Most of her surviving children were now married, and her two un-married sons, Warren and Orville would lend their support as much as possible. They were old enough, 18 and 15 years respectively, to help themselves. She knew the Lord would continue to bless and sustain them all, and He did! They were faithful children.

Polly’s children speak lovingly of their mother with praise of her skills as a midwife and her expertise as a horseman. Son Warren writes of the sugar that was made from a sugar bush while living in Indian country. The sugar was also used “in preparing in a more palatable shape our little stock of medicine which was always laid in during the summer which consisted in the main of lobelia and boneset, wild turnip and jingshan and pills made of butnut bark which was manufactured by my mother.

            She was the physician of the family and was considered to be a very good one. As the country became settled up, she was usually sent for, sometimes to go distances ranging from one to ten miles distant to prescribe and wait on the sick. Her more special practice was that of midwife, a profession she followed for a period of 43 years. She was quite an expert in horseback riding, often riding a distance of twenty miles on strange horses, frequently in night time and dark and sometimes storming. No kind of weather would deter her from responding in an urgent call of this kind. She willingly went where ever and whenever needed, day or night. No wonder they spoke of her, at her funeral, “as a ministering angel, fulfilling her mission with love, intelligence, integrity, and an unwavering faith in God.” She was usually very successful and considered one of the best of her day, seldom ever losing a case.”

Thus, alone and undaunted by severe adversity thus far in her life, she set out to do all she could to help and relieve the suffering and distress of others in her community.  Polly B. had a God-given ability for relieving pain and suffering. She was always willing to help anyone, and rendered her service freely. As a nurse and mid-wife, she brought hundreds of babies into the world, and dressed over 2,000 infants, during her 43 years of practice. She delivered many of her own grandchildren. She made thousands of warm hearted friends and as was observed at her funeral, her name was a household word among the people of early days in Ogden.

In her Patriarchal Blessing, she was promised wisdom and knowledge, and this promise was fulfilled. She was blessed when she needed some remedy, and her faith-grounded initiation prompted her to use a certain herb, oil or plant for medicine. No drug stores for medicine then.  She had such tremendous faith, and relied upon the Lord constantly for help and guidance, in her ministrations to her patients.

            Polly was to make one more trip across country when she returned to New York at the age of 70 in company with her son Warren G. Child to visit her brother and sister, the only survivors of her father’s family whom she parted with nearly 30 years previously. This time it was a pleasant journey of about six days by rail and a short distance by stage. They remained there for 19 days before making the long trip back to Ogden.

 The summit of Polly’s suffering was reached when about five years before she died, she suffered a stroke which left her partially paralyzed, physically, but not spiritually or mentally.

After her stroke, Polly’s pathetic struggle during these last years of life was made more endurable by her many friends and relatives who visited her and attended her. She died peacefully, relieved of all of her burdens, on the 4th of February 1883, in Ogden, Utah, and was buried by the side of her dear Alfred in the Ogden Cemetery. She lived to be 84 years old.

Polly Ann Barber Childs' 1st Head Stone

The following article was printed in the Ogden, Standard Examiner, February 8, 1883:

A Mother in Israel Gone to Rest - Funeral Services & Biographical Sketch of Polly Barber Child.

The funeral services over the remains of the much respected and long to be remembered Mother In Israel, Polly B. Child, was held in the Ogden Second Ward Meetinghouse, on Wednesday, February 7th 1883, and was conducted by Bishop Robert McQuarrie. In addition to the Bishop and his Counsel, there were present Presidency of the Stake, Bishop G.W. Bramwell, Patriarch Joseph Taylor, Elders L.J. Herrick, Lorin Farr, and many others. The choir sang for the opening hymn, "Creation speaks with awful voice." The opening prayer was made by Elder F. A. Brown. The choir then sang "The morning flowers display their sweets, etc."

Elder Lorin Farr first addressed the meeting. He knew no person who more fully answered and had better title to the name of Sister, Mother, or Saint than she whose remains were then lying before them. While he sympathized with those who had been bereaved of her society, for a short time, still he had not come there to mourn and grieve on account of the condition of Mother Child. He sympathized with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who will feel the loss of her society; but he rejoiced to know that she had gone to a place of peace, joy and happiness; where she will be forever free from sickness, pain, and sorrow, where she will meet with her husband who had preceded her to the spirit world. She would also meet with many of her former friends with whom she had held sweet and holy converse on earth.

The speaker has known Mother Child as well as all the family for very many years. She had always been firm in the faith, and true to the Kingdom of God, under all the persecutions and trying circumstances in which she had been placed. She has now gone to rest, she sleeps the sleep of the righteous, her memory is blessed and will ever live in the recollections of the just.

Elder Lester J. Herrick next addressed the meeting. He said if there were any better women living than Mother Child has always been, he did not know where they are. In this community she has been as kind as a Ministering Angel among the people in their afflictions. She was a lady of intelligence and large experience. Her mission here was one of love and kindness and she fulfilled that mission most faithfully. He had known her many years; she had been a great sufferer for a long time, but she endured in patience. She has fought the good fight, she has kept the faith, she died in the Lord, she rests from her labors and her works follow her.

After a few remarks by Bishop McQuarrie, in which he endorsed all that has been advanced by the other speakers, the choir sang "Farwell all earthly honors."

The services closed by benediction from Patriarch Joseph Taylor. The large cortege then took up its march to the cemetery, and the remains were laid away to repose.

Alfred & Polly's 2nd Headstone

Alfred & Polly's 3rd Headstone