Nancy Folsom

LIFE OF NANCY BROADBENT

Nancy Broadbent was born May 18, 1842, in Ashton, Lancaster, England. Her parents were William Broadbent and Mary Greenwood. She had two brothers, and four sisters. Her hair was blonde, her eyes blue, her cheeks pink and complexion exceptionally clear. She wore her hair tightly pulled back from her face. She was of short stature and slight build. Her choice of clothes was invariably plain.

When the Broadbents came to America, their boat arrived by way of New Orleans. At the dock, the Negroes, who were loading oranges in the boat, threw the girls (Grace, Elizabeth and Nancy) so many oranges they had enough to fill a clothes basket. These Negroes called to them saying, "Where did you-all get de red cheeks?" The prevailing complexion was creamy and pale, and their rosy cheeks were extraordinary.

Mary Greenwood Broadbent, Nancy's mother, had a patriarchal

blessing which promised that she would come to Zion. William. Broadbent,

Nancy's father, died November 1863, in Illinois. Her brother then brought the family on west. After they had started their journey, they lived in four states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio. They emigrated to Utah in a private company of mules and wagons, arriving in Salt Lake City in 1864.

She was the first wife of Hyrum Pierce Folsom, being married Dec. 29, 1886. She was an excellent housekeeper, an extremely good cook, and a loving mother. She was very devout in her religious beliefs, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day

Saints. She had nine children, four of whom grew to maturity and raised families to carry on her posterity. There were Hugh, Ida, Mark and Ella.

One cold wintry day while she was doing the family washing, she went out of doors to hang the clothes while still perspiring from herlabors. As a result she caught a cold which developed into pneumonia. She was not sick very long and died Jan. 11, 1889, at the early age of 46. After her death, her children were raised by Annie Lenzie, who was the second wife of Mr. Hyrum P. Folsom.

This remarkable story is told about her death: “As Sister Broadbent was getting in the carriage to go and see the remains of

Mrs. H. P. Folsom, her daughter, she received a telegram from Terra Haute, Indiana that another daughter of hers, Mrs. C. M. Daggett expired at 7:45 p.m. Thus there was only about three hours difference in the time of the death of the two daughters. It is a remarkable fact that Sister Broadbent dreamed ten days before that both her daughters were dead, and that Sister Folsom died first, and so it happened. Adding to this singular occurrence the funerals of the two sisters were conducted at the same hour although two thousand miles apart.”