Ann Harrocks

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Birth: Jul. 4, 1818 Aughton Lancashire, England

Death: Mar. 20, 1888 Salt Lake City Salt Lake County Utah, USA

Daughter of Peter Rutter and Ann Brighouse

Married Daniel Harrocks, 7 Sep 1840, St. Nicholas, Liverpool, Lancashire, England

Children - Jane Harrocks, Ann Harrocks, Ellen Harrocks, Elizabeth Harrocks, Peter Harrocks

Married James Prescott, 1 Mar 1862, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

History - Harrocks/Horrocks Family Comes to America - 1855

The families of Daniel and Peter Harrocks, left England and came to America in 1855. Listed on the company roster were those members of the family who were in this wagon train. The name is spelled Horrocks or Harrocks, depending upon which records you find.

The following story comes from Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel. Horrocks, Ann, 37, 4 July 1818 - 20 March 1888 (Daniel's Wife) Horrocks, Daniel, 50, 16 December 1804 - 13 June 1855 (Brother to Peter) Horrocks, Elizabeth, 4, 21 September 1851- 10 November 1934 (Daniel's daughter) Horrocks, Elizabeth Prescott, 50, 11 March 1805 - 18 May 1860 (Peter's Wife) Horrocks, Ellen, 7, 5 August 1848 - 6 December 1924 (Daniel's daughter) Horrocks, Jane, 15, 30 August 1841 - 2 July 1914 (Daniel's daughter) Horrocks, Jane, 31, April 1824 - 31 December 1868 (Peter's daughter) Horrocks, Peter, 55, 11 January 1800 - 14 May 1866 (Brother to Daniel)

The English division of Secrist's emigrant train came to America under the leadership of Elder William Glover. They sailed from Liverpool on March 31, 1855, aboard the Juventa. Among the passengers was Elder Noah T. Guymon (soon to succeed Secrist as company captain). The Juventa had a remarkably placid voyage and no one died. On May 5, the passengers landed at Philadelphia, then traveled to Pittsburgh by rail.

There, some 200 of them took the steamboat Equinox down the Ohio River to St. Louis and up the Missouri River to Atchison, arriving there on May 28. It was here that a number of the English Saints contracted cholera and died. At Mormon Grove (the Mormon outfitting point near Atchison), the Englishmen camped east of the road, while the Danes occupied the west side.

Combined, their company included 368 emigrants, 51 wagons (30 of these belonging to Danes). The party headed west on June 13 amid apprehensions caused by rumors of Indian attacks against earlier travelers. Secrist and company was 50 miles west of Mormon Grove on June 17. Note: Daniel Harrocks was one of those who died as a result of contracting cholera. He was asked to administer to one of the women in the wagon train who had cholera. As a result, he contracted cholera and died.

His widow, Ann Rutter Harrocks, and three daughters: Jane, Ellen and Elizabeth Harrocks, unpacked their wagon so his body could be taken back to Mormon Grove to be buried next to the grave of their baby and only son, Peter Harrocks, who was born and died in 1855 and been buried in Mormon Grove there earlier.

By June 24 it had become obvious to all concerned that some of the wagons were overloaded. Others were not. Owners of the latter agreed to carry excess baggage at the rate of $11.00 per 100 pounds. Together with the Livingston-Kinkead merchant train, the Danes and the English camped 8 miles west of the Big Blue River on June 26. When a government wagon train passed too close to the Mormon party, it spooked the emigrant's horses, causing them to stampede. Captain Secrist and a few companions set out to recover the runaways but during their search the captain fell victim to cholera.

Borrowing a buggy from the Blair/Stevenson emigrant company, Secrist's companions took him to their camp on Turkey Creek. The captain died July 2 at Ketchem's Creek between Forts Kearny and Leavenworth. Wishing to transport the captain's remains to Salt Lake City for interment, Secrist's friends obtained tin from a merchant and had Edward Stevenson, a tinsmith, fashion a coffin. But it soon became obvious that the casket was not airtight. Therefore, Captain Secrist's remains were laid to rest on the banks of the Little Blue River.

Meanwhile, measles had attacked the emigrant children and an elder's council had appointed Noah T. Guymon as the new captain. On July 1, members of the party helped search for a missing member of the Blair/Stevenson train, but the man was never found. Cattle belonging to the English emigrants stampeded. Six wagons overturned; one ox and an elderly woman were hurt.

Cheyenne Indians visited the camp and on the following day, the train camped for the last time on the Little Blue. Later, the company passed Fort Kearny and slowly followed the south bank of the Platte River while waiting for other trains to catch up. They felt that concentration of forces would make the travelers more formidable to hostile Indians. This precaution proved to be unnecessary. Although these travelers "saw scores of Indians, all were very civil, very much for shaking hands."

On July 15, Guymon and company passed Edward Stevenson's Texan company and, on the 20th, the Danes and Englishmen forded the South Fork of the Platte. Reaching Ash Hollow on July 21, they stopped to gather currants and cherries. In time, they arrived at Fort Laramie. As the train traversed the Black Hills, feed for the animals grew scarce and the cattle grew weak. Apparently, earlier trains had similar difficulties, for the stench of dead cattle troubled the emigrants for several days.

West of present-day Casper, Wyoming, the party found a new route around "the Poison Spring" (Mineral Spring). They camped at Devil's Gate. At the Green River, they found the ground covered with saleratus (either potassium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate, both used as leavening agents). The water in this river was so high that the cattle nearly drowned. In a "small valley in the mountains" members of the company "gathered a small quantity of tar that was sprung up." Because the animals had continued to fail, the company had difficulty getting over Big Mountain.

Finally, they camped in Emigration Canyon on September 6 and entered Salt Lake City the next day.

Ann Rutter Harrocks - Living in the Salt Lake Valley

This is taken from a history written by Grace Livingston Ovard, her granddaughter.

The family of Ann Rutter Harrocks and her three daughters, Jane, Ellen and Elizabeth, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on the 7th of September 1855. They camped on 2nd South and 2nd East for a few days. Peter Harrocks, her brother-in-law, had arranged to have his house built on this location before he ever left England. His wife, Betty, had brought black silk velvet with her, which she made into vests for Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. She also brought red velvet and gold braid, which was used on the pulpit of the first tabernacle, when it was built.

Ann traded her oxen and wagon for some property on 7th East, between 1st and 2nd South. On it a one-room adobe house was being built. She lived in a dugout on the property until the one-room house was completed. She moved into her little home on Christmas morning, 1855, and was as proud as a queen in a palace.

And now came the problems of earning a living. The man who had driven their wagon crossing the plains offered to take Ellen, the third daughter [the family's second daughter, Ann, had fallen into a pit and drowned when she was 7 years old in England] to his farm in Farmington, to assist his wife. When she arrived, they took off her good shoes, which her mother had provided her with, and compelled her to go barefoot.

When fall came, it was cold; and after having helped in the house, she would have to scrape beets out in the cold. Her hands were bleeding and her feet sore, when a kind neighbor got word to her mother in Salt Lake. Ann Harrocks walked to Farmington and brought Ellen home, saying she would never separate her family again.

After much searching, Ann secured work at the Chase home, situated at what is now known as Liberty Park. The flour mill there was owned by Brother Isaac Chase. Much of her work consisted in baking bread to give to people who came begging to buy flour, which the mill was not able to supply. The kind-hearted miller could not turn them away empty-handed, so gave them a small portion of bread. Flour was very scarce, and baking facilities in their homes were very poor.

The little cook stove Ann had purchased and placed in her wagon at Mormon Grove, was the only stove in the 11th Ward for some time, and the women would wait their turn to bake their bread, bringing wood to pay for the use of the stove.

Ann went early and stayed late at the Chase home, taking Ellen with her. They worked there for eleven weeks for their board and the bread and a few other necessities which were brought home to the other children.

Ann also sold her husbands black broadcloth coat to Brother Chase for $20.00. This was to be paid in flour at $6.00 a hundred and $1.00 a week. This she divided between her husband's brother and a cousin, who walked from Bountiful and back each week for his portion.

Through having this unusual opportunity of securing a little flour and white bread, Ann Harrocks was able to play the "Good Angel" to some of her neighbors. Her daughter, Ellen, went with her mother to her work at the mill, to act as nurse maid and to assist with the baking. The water had to be carried from the mill stream to the Chase home, and one morning when Ellen was getting the water, she fell into the stream. After being carried downstream about fifty feet, she caught on to a bush and pulled herself out.

In later years, she would show her children the place of this frightening experience. As she grew older, she accompanied her mother and aided materially in earning the living for the family, while the oldest daughter, Jane, took care of the house and the youngest child, Elizabeth.

The William Jennings family had been friends of the Harrocks family in England, so Ann went into their home to help with the work and the children. She was a beautiful seamstress. She was there to do anything that was needed.

When Ann was in the home, William Jennings would not begin the meal until she was seated at the table with them. She also worked in the Teasdale and Walker homes. Many times merchandise for their stores would be soiled or even torn. Ann would take these things home and renovate them.

Ann was always at home with her daughters for their evening meal, who, as they grew older, were a big help to her. They were learning to be good housekeepers. Ann Harrocks always observed the Sabbath Day. She and her daughters would put on their best clothes and go to the Bowery on Temple Square to meeting and later to the Tabernacle. She was one of the first members of the 11th Ward.

It was a happy day when her two daughters, Jane (November 29, 1861) and Ellen (October 12, 1867) married Charles Livingston. He was a real son to her, as was George Coulam, who married her youngest daughter, Elizabeth.

Her two daughters built their homes on a piece of her property, and from then on her hard, busy days were over. It was a real pleasure to see her grandchildren grow up and help with Grandma. Her home had grown into a four-room cottage with a summer kitchen and a nice porch.

Ann Rutter Harrocks died March 20, 1888 a the age of 70. She was a courageous, independent, lovable person and left her children a great heritage.

Family links:

Spouses:

• Daniel Harrocks (1804 - 1855)
• James Prescott (1813 - 1867)

Children:

• Jane Harrocks Livingston (1841 - 1914)*
• Ellen Harrocks Livingston (1848 - 1924)*
• Elizabeth Harrocks Coulam (1851 - 1934)*
• Peter Harrocks (1855 - 1855)*

Burial: Salt Lake City Cemetery Salt Lake City Salt Lake County Utah, USA Plot: J_16_2_1W