Ida Smedley

IMMIGRATION

First Name: Ida Last Name: Buck Ethnicity: England Last Place of Residence: Date of Arrival: Jun 01, 1896 Age at Arrival: 30 y Gender: F Marital Status: Ship of Travel: City of Rome Port of Departure: Glasgow, Scotland Manifest Line Number: 0545 ---- From EllisIsland.org

History

The following is a self written history by Ida:

Faith Promoting Incidents in the Life of Ida Buck Smedley

I was born at Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire, England, July 18, 1868. I was one of a family of ten. All of our family joined the church and came to America excepting my father who died before he received knowledge of the Gospel.

When I was very young, only three weeks old, I was very ill. A minister of the Church of England was called in to sprinkle me. When I was six weeks old I was vaccinated. This law was strictly adhered to by everyone. One lady I knew, did not desire her baby to be vaccinated so she moved from place to place, avoiding the authorities. She did this for two years and nearly traveled over the entire country of England. After two years she was found and the baby was then vaccinated.

In the month of March, the year I became twelve years of age, I was again sprinkled, and at fifteen I was confirmed into the Church of England by the bishop of Southwell.

Just before I reached fifteen, my parents with all their children, moved to Arnold. We had lived here seven years when my father became very ill. He died on the 31st day of March, 1891.

Just after my father's death, a *Bro. Holmes from West Weber came to England to see my mother and the family. I remember the first time I ever saw Bro. Holmes. When I returned home from work one night, I found a man sitting before the fireplace with his feet on the guard, making himself at home. This man was Bro. Holmes, a Mormon Elder. The next time Brother Holmes called to see us he brought with him another Mormon Elder, Bro. Robinson.

We spent the first part of the evening chatting, sewing and also served tea. At nine o'clock, our usual hour to retire, we took up the Bible to read a few verses before retiring for the night, a practice we had always done all long as I can remember. This opened the way for Bro. Robinson to talk to us on the Mormon Religion. I remember we talked until midnight that night and that my sister, Flora, said, "They can all be Mormons like that, but I am not going to be one." Bro. Robinson then said that he bet she would be the first one in our family to join the church.

I was baptized into our church in the month of July, the ninth day in the year 1892, by S. J. Robinson, and was confirmed on the same day. I was baptized at Matlock Baths, and confirmed on the water's edge.

I will never forget the wonderful feeling I had when I was confirmed in the church. It was so different from the confirmations of the Church of England. When I was confirmed into the Church of England the services were so sad I cried. The whole atmosphere was one of sadness. I was greatly impressed by one song they sang and have always remembered it.

"Oh, Jesus I have promised to serve Thee to the end Be Thou forever near me, my Savior and my friend. I will not fear the battle if Thou art by my side. Be Thou forever near, My Savior and my Guide”

I was confirmed by Bro. Robinson. There seemed to be such a "warm glow" everywhere, when Bro. Robinson said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

We had many missionaries stay at our home, especially at conference time. Bro. Moses Thatcher of Logan, Bro. Holmes and Robinson of West Weber and Bro. William Hunter are a few of the missionaries who spent a lot of time in our home. On Thursday night we usually had cottage meeting, on Wednesday, a Book of Mormon class, and out-of-door classes on Tuesday.

Frequently after the meetings were over, we would dance. I remember the first dance we had. We used our living room for the dance hall. We danced so long and hard that we wore out the rug. After that dance, my mother told us we could dance out in the back yard. This we did, and many a good time was had by all.

While we were investigating the gospel we lost the friendship of many people and were bitterly ridiculed. When we held out-of-door classes, passers-by would shout, "When are you going to America to be one of Brigham Young's forty-five wives?" They would slur the prophet and ridicule everything about the Gospel.

A Mr. Ward, manager of the warehouse where we worked, used to treat our family royally. He said one time he thought as much of my sisters and me as he did of his own children. After we joined the Church he would pass by us on the way to work and neither look at us or speak. You can imagine how this hurt, to have a friend we loved and respected treat us in such a manner.

The Mormon meetings we attended were certainly wonderful. There was such an intense feeling of faith among the members. When I went to a meeting I would feel as though I never wanted to leave. Every Saturday night we would walk five miles to 49 Salenia Street, Nottingham City, to attend Mutual, then five miles back home after meeting.

Whenever we could we would go to the outside meetings the Mormons were holding because if there were a few people gathered together singing hymns, it would greatly aid in drawing a crowd.

Before I joined the Mormon faith I was a Sunday school teacher in the Church of England for nearly five years. I still have some books which were presented to me for faithfully attending my duties. I have a Bible presented to me in 1891, two other books which were given to me in 1886 and 1888.

Many years before I joined the church, I was a member of a Girls Friendly Society, in the Church of England. This society was organized to help growing girls to become wholesome, clean women. After joining the Church, I taught Sunday school in the LDS church for three years. On December 31, 1894, I was given a "Pearl of Great Price" for faithfully attending my duties in the Sunday school.

In the year 1896, Brother Smedley was serving a short term mission in England. He asked me to return to Paris with him and become his wife. We landed in New York on Decoration Day.

All the time I was on the water, I was very seasick and was very glad to reach New York. While on our way to America, our ship stopped. At this point there were three hundred Irish girls joined us in our trip to America. They were coming to America to find work.

Bro. Thomas Smedley and I were united in marriage in the Logan Temple, June 25, 1896. We were blessed with six children, Calvin, Lillian, Irva, Ella, Gertrude and Arnold. In conclusion I will tell of an incident which has given me a firm testimony of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

One night a few years ago, I walked out of the front gate of my place to clear the path of playthings left there by the children; I picked up a little wagon and carried it around to the back of the house. I carried the wagon because I did not want the noise of the wagon to waken my children.

When I reached the back of the lot, I bumped against a tree and fell. The wagon was still in my arms and the fall hurt me severely. I bruised my chest badly and my left arm became very swollen. I did not go to the doctor at the time. The pain gradually grew worse and worse. The pain went all up my arm and even became severe in my head. With such a pain in my head, I was afraid I would lose my mind. I went to the Doctor and found I had partly misplaced my shoulder.

The Doctor said he could do nothing for me now because I had let it go too long before going to him. On the next morning, I wrote to the president of the Logan Temple telling him of my condition and I asked him to remember me in their prayer circle. I told him that I desired to finish my temple work and that I wanted my mind preserved until after this work was done. The Sunday after I wrote to Bro. Shepherd the misplaced bone popped back into place. This incident has been a wonderful testimony to me.

signed: Ida Buck Smedley