Fannie Bone

These are the talks that were given at the funeral of Fanny Wagstaff Bone.

Talk given by Mary Ann Bone Clark - Fannie Wagstaff Bone was born in Caldecote, Bedfordshire, England on November 8, 1845, a daughter of John and Sarah Humberstone Wagstaff. She was the eldest child of a family of five. Her father was a tiller of soil and was interested in market gardening. She attended school until sixteen years of age, when she went to work as a dressmaker which has been a great benefit to her throughout her entire life. The family was in comfortable circumstances, but after hearing the gospel preached by the Ltter-day Saint elders, they joined the church and decided to leave their home, friends and all that was dear to them and come to Utah to make their home with the saints there. They left England May 12, 1862, crossing the ocean on the sailing vessel "William Tapscott" . After spending nearly seven weeks on the ocean they reached New York. With Captain Isaac Canfield in charge of the company they traveled eleven weeks by ox team, arriving in the Salt Lake valley in September 1862. July 26th, 1867, she was married to William Bone Jr. They made their home in Lehi, where she endured the hardships incident to pioneer life and the building of Lehi, Utah. She was the mother of eleven children, seven of whom proceeded her to the great beyond. She was active in Relief Society work being a visiting teacher for many years. She passed away December 12, 1935 with the hope of a glorious reserection, at the age of ninety years, one month and three days.

Sketch of our Journey From Our Native Land by Fannie Wagstaff Bone. "With our father and mother and a family of three children we left England on the 12th day of May 1862. Our first days jouney brought us to Liverpool and in the evening we went abouard the ship "William Tapscott". It was not a very pleasant night we spent piled with our luggage and everything upside down. We hadn't been assigned our berths yet so we had to make the best of it. "The next day the tug took us out to sea and we soon began to feed the fish. Everybody began casting up accounts. We surely had lots of ups and downs. We had lots of time as we were on the sea nearly nine weeks. I was seasick most of the time. Father wasn't very sick at all. He said he didn't have time to be sick. And he surely didn't, for he had all the rest of us besides three other girls he had charge of that came with us." "It sure was a rough jouney part of the time and sometimes we had good times when the sea was smooth. We had a crew of half black and half white sailors. The blacks were very kind to us. Sometimes we encountered rough storms, sometimes our heads were up and sometimes our feet. I remember especially one Sunday. It was a fierce storm, thunder and lightening and rain in torrents. We sat on our baggage and clung to the beams of the ship most of the day. We didn't get anything to eat all day. It was sure rough. But the next few days we got along all right until we came to the banks of Newfoundland, and it was sure awful there, rough wind blowing us about all the time and fog so thick we couldn't see anything. Horns were blowing night and day until we were past there. We were all hungry for breakfast, we had nothing but hard sea biscuts and what we were allowed as sea passengers. It sure was a long tiresome journey. We were very glad to reach New York and get our feet on land once more." "We landed at Castle Gardens. Father's brother-in-law (our uncle) met us and took us to his home and we stayed there two days with them. We were pleased to see them and they were pleased to see us, but we soon found we had lots of comany there. We couldn't get much rest. The bed bugs were so thick we couldnt lie down to sleep, so we sat up most of the time. Next day we went back to Castle Gardens where our baggage was and prered for continuing our journey through the state. When our baggage was loaded and the company ready to start we left New York. I don't remember how far we traveled but a good many miles over very rought roads. Then we came to where we changed trains, and that took a long time to load and unload baggage. While the men folks were helping with that, some of our company would take a stroll and you can guess there were all kinds of remarks passed about Mormons going to Utah " "When everthing was in readiness we were loaded into some cattle cars and started on our journey over more rough roads for many miles, which was not very pleasant. But we had to change trains a number of times, sometimes in decent cars and sometimes not. but when we came to Niagara Falls the train stopped for us to see the falls. It was a pretty sight, but it was a hard journey. I used to feel so sorry for mother as her health was so poor. After we left the train we were taken across the Mississippi River in a ferry boat and arrived in st. Joseph on the 4th of July." "I don't remeber just where we went from there but we were loaded on a ferry boat on the Missouri River in the evening and traveled all night and next day in the heat of the July sun. The muddy rolling water of the Missouri River was terribly sicikening and many were sick. In the evening we landed at Florance Nebraska. Mother was awfully sick and the rain was coming down in torrents. But we were taken to an old shack and father and I fixed a bed on the floor. The rain was pouring through the roof, but we fixed her up as best we could. Her life was despaired for some time and it was by faith and prayers of the saints and the blessings of our Heavenly Father that her life was preserved and she was restored to her health." "We stayed at Florence three weeks and I worked, sometimes helping make tents and wagon covers and preparing or our 1000 mile journey across the plains. We came with an independent company. Our train consisted of 32 wagons, some of them loaded with merchandise, which was owned by our captin and his bother-in law, William Neil. Our captain was Isaac Canfield, from Odgen. He was a fine man, so good and kind to everybody all through the journey which occupied 11 weeks." "We started from Florence about the first of August with three yoke of oxen and two cows which gave us mild for a short time. We traveled several days over a lovely country, long grass, green trees, wild fruit etc. There were lots of food and water for our cattle and good camping places. But as we came nearer the rockies, it was much more dry and hot and dusty and harder for man and beast. Some days we had to go many miles before we could get to food and water and we were so very tired when we camped. Often we had a hard time to get a fire to cook supper, but we often had a good time around the campfire after supper singing the songs of Zion etc. Father was a good marksman so we often had some game. One night when we were camped on the Platte River he caught a fish that weighed 16 pounds so we had enough fish to feed the whole camp." "We had to ford the rivers and strams so many times which sometimes looked almost impossible as the water was so high that year, and sometimes quicksand would fill in right back of the wheels,, making it very dangerous. As we traveled along the prairies we came to where we saw the Indians. One day a band came to our camp. Our captain had warned us they were coming and told us to feed them and they would not hurt us. So we were kind and after staying a while they left. But we often saw more of them and places where they had camped. Day after day we went on our journey, once in a while passing a ranch or a mail station. "I'll never forget the night we camped at Chimney Rock. It was September and it sure was a fierce night, snowing and blowing like the dead of winter. One of our oxen lay down and died, so our team was crippled. We were glad to get away from there in the morning with what we had and get along the best we could. But the Lord did not forsake us. When we came to Kimball;s Ranch at the head of Parley's Canyon we camped and we had a great feast. Then we went down through the canyon and on the 16th day of October had the pleasure of lookng over the Salt Lake Valley which sure was a source of joy to all. When we went to the city and camped on the Eighth Ward Square where the City and County bulding now stands." "My fathers brother, William Wagstaff, met us there and took us to his ome in the Third Ward where we visited for a week. from there we went to Lehi in the fall of 1862. Here my brother Albert was born the 11th day of June, 1865." "In the winter of 1862 my father had to work for others to get the means of sustenance for the family. In the spring and summer of 1865, he farmed on shares for William Ball and Samuel Briggs, and he also worked helping to make ditches a dams. He also went to the canyon getting poles for fencing and logs for building purposes. In the fall he took military training. This threw all the cares of the family on my mother and not being a very strong person, it was quite hard on her, but I never heard her complain." "(I do not know exactly what year my father joined the church but I remember I was about 10 years oldwhen I attended the branch at Upper Caldicote Branch, Bedfordshire Sunday School. Mother did not join the church until some time after father did. She was a staunch memver, the only one to join the church from her family who were very much opposed to Mormonism). "I will say that Sister Bone woked in the Relief Society with me for many years as a teacher and as long as her health permitted, she never failed going on her district. Every month of her life you could see her wending her way around the district taking cheer and comfort into the homes of those unable to get out and attend our meetings and gather the spiritual food that they get at Relief Society and other meetings. She was a ember of our quilting committee for many years, along with Sister Knutsen and Sister Cox. and they were failthful, they were not afraid of work - always on the job and never tired of making quilts for the Relief Society and also for those who were in need." Read by Mina Webb at her Fannie's Funeral.

Told by Florence Ross Dauncey - I truly don't knw of anything particular to tell you about Grandma Bone. I did stay with her but the memories are rather trivial, although pleasant. I likedher independence, and still admire it after all these years. I remember her 80's in an old dress working in her vegitable garden with a hoe in her hand, water from the irrigation ditch running down the rows. I'll always remember our cream of wheat breakfasts. We had to eat it so slowly and I was hungry and wanted toeat fast and twice as much cereal as I got. Our lunches were always sharp cheese and sliced tomatoes covered in vinegar when tomatoes were inn season. I loved those lunches. I'm sure all of her grandchildren remember those shily dimes she would put into our hands on our birthdays. Kids now would sneer at such a puny amount, but it meant a lot to us, I remember. Also I remember once each year I would be priviliged to wash all the pretty dishes in her upper cupboards. She knew I was careful and she trusted me wih this chore. For this she promiswed me a cut glass bowl that I washed each year. Of course you all remember that marvelous feather mattress that was so warm those cold winter nights.