 1849 - 1918 (69 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has no ancestors but 26 descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
Elizabeth Dianah Smith |
| Nickname |
Lizzy |
| Birth |
1 Feb 1849 |
Monroe, Iowa, United States  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
29 May 1876 |
EHOUS |
| FamilySearch ID |
KWZ6-N39 |
| Death |
13 Jun 1918 |
Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States |
| Burial |
14 Jun 1918 |
Kohlerlawn Cemetery, Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I158628 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Family |
William Jefferson Andrews, b. 23 Sep 1835, Troup, Georgia, United States d. 19 Feb 1896, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States (Age 60 years) |
| Marriage |
Abt 1867 |
Monroe, Iowa, United States |
| Children |
| | 1. Sarah Frances Andrews, b. 16 Mar 1871, Heber City, Wasatch, Utah, United States d. 20 Feb 1883, Utah, Utah, United States (Age 11 years) |
| | 2. Marietta Andrews, b. 5 Mar 1877, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 2 Apr 1879, Utah, Utah, United States (Age 2 years) |
| | 3. Louisa Margaret Andrews, b. 5 Sep 1878, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 3 Dec 1953, Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States (Age 75 years) |
| | 4. Samuel William Andrews, b. 20 Feb 1880, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 7 Oct 1961 (Age 81 years) |
| + | 5. Leonard Gilbert Andrews, b. 28 Dec 1881, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 7 Aug 1980, Glendale, Los Angeles, California, United States (Age 98 years) |
| | 6. Anna Elizabeth Andrews, b. 18 Dec 1883, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 15 Oct 1975, Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States (Age 91 years) |
| | 7. Christine Jane Andrews, b. 6 Jun 1885, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 24 Dec 1956, Layton, Davis, Utah, United States (Age 71 years) |
| | 8. Thomas John Andrews, b. 10 Jul 1888, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 8 May 1973, Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States (Age 84 years) |
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| Family ID |
F40465 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
5 May 2024 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 1 Feb 1849 - Monroe, Iowa, United States |
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| Marriage - Abt 1867 - Monroe, Iowa, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 29 May 1876 - EHOUS |
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 | Death - 13 Jun 1918 - Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States |
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 | Burial - 14 Jun 1918 - Kohlerlawn Cemetery, Nampa, Canyon, Idaho, United States |
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| Notes |
- Elizabeth (called Lizzy by family and friends) Dianah Smith was born Feb r uary 1, 1849 at Scoville, Monroe County, Iowa to John Braswell Smith a n d Frances Clark. John B. had traveled with his newly baptized mother a n d father, Richard and Dianah Smith, and his brothers and sisters to Io w a where the Mormons had gathered to prepare for the trip West. While i n I owa John B met and married Frances Clark in 1848. Elizabeth was the f irs t born child and then Mary Ellen came while they were still in Iowa . At t his time John B.'s parents gathered up their children and grandchi ldren a nd went to Utah. But for some reason John and Frances did not joi n this f amily group. They remained in Iowa and had three more babies (Ri chard Joh n, Nancy Margaret and James Abraham). They then moved to Nauvoo , Hancoc k County, Illinois where two more babies were born. When the las t baby, O ra, was born, John and Frances were ill with a fever and when O ra was tw o days old, her parents both died – one hour apart. Seven youn g childre n were left orphans. Elizabeth was fifteen and the oldest. Bab y Ora live d only four months and then died in Nauvoo. Sara, age three, w as kicked f rom pillar to post, as she expressed it, until she was seve n years old. T hen a kind family named Joe and Edith Ritter gave her a go od home and rai sed her. The rest were scattered, securing work in stores , hotels, and ba rber shops in Nauvoo.
When Elizabeth was eighteen she was baptized into the Church of Jes u s Christ of Latter Day Saints. She wanted to go to Utah so when she wa s t wenty she joined a colony of Mormons going to Utah and traveled wit h th e Andrews family. She arrived in Salt Lake Valley in 1869, the sam e yea r that the railroad was completed. Their group was one of the las t group s that traveled in a covered wagon and walked across the plains . It wa s a very hard trip for her.
Elizabeth's grandparents (Richard and Dianah Smith) and some of her a u nts and uncles were living in Heber City, Utah. She apparently went t o He ber City to be near them. Elizabeth married a Mr. Stillman and the y had o ne child, Sarah Frances, born March 16, 1872 in Heber and died Fe b 20, 18 83 in Provo, Utah. In 1872 Elizabeth left and divorced Mr. Still man becau se of mistreatment. Her grandson, Amos Stephens, said that sh e worked a s a school teacher during this time. She was a divorced mothe r of a bab y girl. Her grandfather, Richard Smith, was living in Provo i n 1876 and s he was living there also. They were a loving, close and con cerned famil y so I'm sure that they were helping each other.
On May 29, 1876, Elizabeth was married, endowed and sealed to Willi a m Jefferson Andrews. He was the eldest son of the Andrews family that s h e had traveled to Utah with. Sarah Frances, now four years old, was sea le d to them also. William and Elizabeth were happy together and became t h e parents of seven more children. They were Marietta (died at 2 year s o f age), Louisa (Lyde), Samuel, Leonard, Anna, Jane and Thomas .
In the meantime, Elizabeth's brothers and sisters back in Nauvoo deci d ed to save their money and come to Utah where she was. They got as fa r a s Wahoo, Nebraska and ran out of funds so they secured employment a t a we althy farmers home. The girls working in the house and the boys wo rking a s farm hands. Here was where the journey ended for these young pe ople. Na ncy married the wealthy farmer, Leonard Gilchrist. Mary Ellen ma rried a M r. Smith, Sarah married a farm hand, Christopher Saunders fro m Illinois . Richard married a neighbor's daughter, Emma Danes. James rem ained singl e and eventually did travel to Provo where he lived with hi s sister, Eliz abeth until she moved to Nampa, Idaho. James then moved t o Cedar City whe re he met and married a lovely lady and raised a famil y of three. He an d his wife, Maria Alice Sherrett lived, died and were b uried in Cedar Cit y, Utah.
Now to return to Elizabeth in 1876. She received a letter from her un c le, T.B. Smith in Heber City, Utah wanting to know how she and France s we re. Also he wanted to hear from his father and James. He says to tel l fat her 'I will do the best I can with his beef I will salt it and tak e car e of it the best I can'.
Lola Giles Treglown (a granddaughter) wrote, “William and Elizabeth l i ved on a farm in Provo Canyon. She took care of her parents-in-laws a s we ll as her own growing family. Her in-laws, who were from the South , wer e used to having servants all their life and needed a lot of attent ion. E lizabeth got milk leg after the birth of one of her children and s he ha d to use a crutch while she did all of her work. At this particula r tim e one of her children became very ill and they were in a terrible p light . A strange woman came to their house and administered to them an d rubbe d their crippled limbs and gave them some medicine and ointment t o rub o n their legs. She was so sweet and kind and told them what to d o for th e baby. Soon they were all well and strong and even William's le g never b othered him again.”
When Sarah Frances was 10 and just about 11 years old, she died. Th i s must have been very hard on this young family. She died on February 2 0 , 1883.
Lola also wrote, “William had periods of blackouts. Elizabeth would d r eam of a pool of water with green moss and sometimes a frog in the poo l a lways previous to his spells. She would watch very closely and also h av e the children near when he was working and warn them to watch him. Dr eam ing of one pool meant one blackout – two pools meant two blackout s – usua lly close together. One time he fell into an irrigation ditch an d one o f the boys, Sam, held his head up while Len ran for help. In a sh ort tim e he fell again. If it had not been for these warning dreams he w ould hav e lost his life sooner. She had warning dreams all the time sh e was raisi ng her family and as the last was married, she quit having th e dreams.”
Anna says of her mother, “Our mother was a fast and hard worker. Sh e m ade our clothes and they were always pretty, and she took great prid e i n what we wore. I remember I always had one very pretty dress tha t I jus t wore to Sunday School. We always had a cellar full of canned fr uit. I c an never remember when we didn't have plenty to set a good table . We ha d a good mother.”
William died on February 19, 1896 and Elizabeth became a widow with s i x children between the ages of nine and eighteen. Elizabeth came to th e T reasure Valley between 1896 and 1899. Her daughter, Lyde, had previou sl y moved to Nampa with her husband and must have told her about all o f th e land to be had for homesteading. They traveled to Nampa in a railr oad b oxcar with their household goods in one end and their livestock i n the ot her end. “Perhaps she wanted a bigger place and a better chanc e for her f amily. I think grandma was the adventuresome type.” says Ji m Stephens, he r grandson.
Amos Stephens Jr. said, ”Grandma wanted to have a home for everyon e o f the kids so that when each of them grew up they would have a home . An d also they would have something to make a living with. So she decid ed o n her own to go from Provo on further out West. They were homesteadi n g a lot of land in Idaho when the Boise Valley was just beginning to de ve lop. She homesteaded 160 acres of sage brush land on Indian Creek, clo s e to Callope Siding, six miles southeast of Nampa. The one hundred six t y acres was all prairie land, sagebrush and weeds. No one had settled a ro und there. You couldn't see a house from where she was and there was n oth ing but a wagon trail from Nampa. They built three homes. The boys we re o ld enough to build and they knew a little about it, so they built th ree h omes. Tom's, Len's and our own (Anna's) and then divided the one hu ndre d sixty acres between her six kids.”
Amos Stephens continues: “She worked and worked very hard and raise d s ome good boys. The boys would work in the city (they were plasterers , sto ne cutters and builders). They put the marble on the front of the I daho S tate Capital building. At the time Len was 19 and when they quit w orkin g in the city, they would come home to chop sage brush and clear of f th e land to make it so that she could cultivate it. Its a story of unb eliev able hardships, unbelievable courage and ambition. I think that non e of u s really know much about her and that's the reason I want to tel l you. Wi th an inheritance like that, we ought to be pretty proud.”
Amos Stephens Jr. continues: “My mother (Anna) left Provo when she w a s 15 and had never been back to Provo since that time. I thought it wou l d be nice to take her and two of her brothers (Len and Tom) back on a m em ory trip and so we did. The old house was still standing there. Thos e thr ee sat down in front of the house and Len said, 'You know, I though t tha t the creek was a mile from here and its just down over the edge. W e use d to have to carry water from there all the time. Every night we wo uld ar gue over who was going to carry water.' The old house had been qui te a go od house in its time. It was a brick house and it was the only ol d hous e that was left among a lot of new homes. Mom saw that and it real ly brou ght on the sentiment to her. Mom said, 'Amos take me around in ba ck of th e house, where I used to look out the window' and so she saw th e same win dow that she had seen when she was a kid. It was in good shap e except fo r all the weeds growing around it. Shortly after that they de molished th e place and that is where the Provo Temple is now.”
Life was hard on the new land. The sage brush was grubbed by hand, ab o ut five acres was cleared the first year. They planted a garden and fe e d for the livestock, but jack rabbits got most of it the first few year s . Anna remembered helping her mother a lot and said “She was a hard wor ke r and a good homemaker”. Anna admired her mother very much. They mad e sev eral trips back to their old home in Provo in a horse and buggy t o brin g fruit trees, grapevines and other possessions to their new home . They w ould stop at farm houses along the way where they were fed and g iven a be d for the night. It took over a week to go one way. Elizabeth' s childre n worked out of the home when they could and contributed to th e family in come. Anna worked as a waitress at the old Idanha Cafe in Boi se. She woul d bring home clothes and shoes that the guests at the hote l had discarded . These were put to good use by her family.
Amos says, “Sagebrush only gets so big but you can chop it pretty ea s y and it burns real fast and you were either chopping sagebrush or carr yi ng it in all of the time. That's the only way we had to cook and to ea t . We had no electricity, no telephones, no indoor toilets nor any plumb in g, nor the many things that we all take for granted now. All we had w a s a garden, some cows and a lot of hard work. Mom and grandma Andrews w ou ld carry water for about one half a mile for drinking, washing and coo kin g. We carried water for a bath once a week whether we needed it or no t.”
Jim says, “Grandma Andrews used to feed all of the hobos that came o f f the railroad track. It seemed funny to me that those hobos would wa l k a mile and a half (straight to grandma's house) to bum a meal, but th e y did.” Amos says, “I put a hay fork into the haystack one morning to f ee d the stock, and a guy with a bald head stuck his head out of there. H e w as about a foot from that pitchfork. She never turned any of them dow n an d didn't make them work for their food. She always had something t o fee d them.
In 1912 Elizabeth received a letter from her brother, Richard and h e m entioned that she was ill and had to have someone write her letters f or h er because of her sickness. He also talks about her nice home. So i t mus t have been about this time that Elizabeth started having her sympt oms o f paralysis. In 1915 he wrote her a letter saying that he was sorr y to he ar about her bad health. He told her to buy a gallon of olive oi l and tak e two tablespoons full before each meal and before going to bed . He write s 'it makes a new person of you and it penetrates all threw th e sistom an d bilds new blood sells and loosens the joints and drives rhu matism out o f the sistom'. In a letter from Richard's wife, she mention s Elizabeth st udying Christian Science and hopes that it will help her . It seems that a ll of her family were very worried and concerned for he r.
Amos said, “Before her death she had about 10 years of being an inval i d and I used to look after her a lot. Unfortunately grandma was doing w or k with her team and wagon and the horses ran away with her and broke t h e wagon all up, broke her back and so she was an invalid from then on u nt il she passed away. During that time she would stay with one of the ch ild ren and then another and then another and each one of us would take c ar e of her for three or four months. Remember there were no electric lig hts , no indoor plumbing and we used sage brush for wood. I still remembe r he r as being one of the nicest person that I ever knew. She would rea d a bo ok and she would tell me when to turn the page so I would turn th e page a nd there were lots of flies and I would take the newspaper and s wat them . Grandma Andrews had a disease that she could not talk in the l ater year s and it got so that she could just blink her eyes. She was ver y sick bef ore she died and she would get a little bit worse all of the t ime. The da y before she left Jim and I went through the field to see he r and, of cou rse, we were feeling pretty sad. She couldn't talk or mov e her face, bu t she could move her hand just a little bit. Well, she hea rd us come in t he door and she held her hand like that for us. She wante d us to come ove r and hold her hand. She was very alert and she knew wha t was going on al l of the time.”
Jim Stephens said, “she was awfully good to us kids. I never saw he r w alk and she was in a chair for years. They didn't have wheel chairs . Sh e would sit in the chair and she would blink her eyes. That was th e onl y way she could talk. Mom would get right down close to her and the y ha d some kind of a way they could communicate back and forth. I used t o dri nk milk out of a bucket and it would leave me with a big white must ache . Then I would get in front of her and I thought I looked kind of fu nny a nd she would blink her eyes at me. All she could do was blink her e yes! G randma always wanted to stay at mom's place. She was very comforta ble wit h mom. She didn't mind asking for anything, but she was very relu ctant t o ask too much. She was very easy to take care of. She never dema nded any thing. When grandma died they kept her home, in the kitchen, o n an ironin g board and they put pennies over her eyes. I remember just a s plain as d ay. It impressed me awfully strong.”
Amos says, “I have often thought that if grandmother would have be e n a man she would have been in the history books. I don't know of anybo d y that I have ever known who had the strength that she did. Can you ima gi ne a widow with 6 kids getting her horses, her cows and all of her bel ong ings and putting them onto a freight train and sending them up to Ida ho b y Union Pacific to move onto 600 acres that didn't have so much a s a roa d into it – all on her own. Like I said with the inheritance of h er unbel ievable courage and ambition, we ought to be very proud.
Elizabeth died June 13, 1918 at Nampa, Idaho and was buried at Kohler l awn Cemetery in Nampa. She has earned the title of a Pioneer Mother.
All of these stories were obtained from her grandchildren, Amos Stephe n s Jr., Jim Stephens, Noma Stephens Reynolds, Lola Giles Treglown, and , o f course, her own daughter, Anna Stephens (my grandmother). Compile d by K athy Stephens Gannuscio
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Submit Photo / Document
Has no ancestors but 26 descendants in this family tree.
English
