Rebecca Bird

Notes:

Rebecca Bird
· 2013-05-20 22:16:10 GMT+0000 (UTC) · 0 Comments
Rebecca Bird

Rebecca Bird was born on 28 October 1838 in the little town of Yardley near Birmingham, England, the second daughter and third child of John Bird and Ann Russon. Eliza her older sister, died when she was a child of about eighteen months, a year before Rebecca was born. Walter the oldest of the family was six years older than Rebecca, and three more children joined the family ? John, Ann Elizabeth, and William Henry.
As a child Rebecca and her family belonged to the Church of England. When very young, she worked for Gillets Pen Manufacturing Company and also for the Raybolt Rule Company.
Rebecca belonged to a family who heard the gospel and responded to the sound of truth. Sometime in 1847 Walter, the oldest son, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the parents followed a couple of years later. Rebecca was twelve years old when she was baptized by Elder Bailey in the Livery Street Chapel. Walter and a friend Thomas Tew Jr., were the first to emigrate and both of their families eventually followed them. They left England on 1 January 1851 and had many trials along the way. Finally, after eight months of struggle, they arrived in Utah on 30 August 1851 and began preparations in Springville to welcome their families. This took a lot of effort on the part of those two young boys, but they finally had sufficient funds to ask for assistance from the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Thus, on borrowed money (partially), the families were granted permission to sail.
Rebecca, along with her mother, father, sister, and two brothers, ate Christmas dinner aboard the ?Helios? which was anchored at Liverpool, England. When out at sea three days, an accident occurred and the ship was tugged back into the harbor and lay there three weeks for repair. When the passengers were taken aboard again, it was on a far inferior ship, the ?Charles Buck? which sailed on 17 January 1855. The ship carried four hundred and three souls under the direction of Richard Ballantyne.
After eight weeks and three days on the open sea, Rebecca and her family landed at New Orleans, Louisiana, transferred to a river boat and sailed for St Louis, Missouri. After boarding still another boat, they made their way up the Missouri River and landed at Atchison, Missouri to join other immigrants waiting to be out fitted for the trip across the plains. There in a little settlement called ?Mormon Grove? Rebecca?s father died. He had been weakened by working in lead in Birmingham. Also the voyage had taken its toll and his life?s work was completed on 11 May 1855
Richard Ballyntine comforted the family and promised Ann, the mother, that they would be able to make the trip to the valleys of the mountains and that they would not lack for bread. The company left Mormon Grove on 1 July 1855, four hundred and two souls traveling with only forty five wagons. All who possibly could had to walk, often passing many of the graves of those in the S.M. Blair Company just ahead. In one instance they saw the spot where three persons had been buried in one grave. This must have been exceedingly depressing to follow a company afflicted with cholera. However, the Ballantyne company had only three accidental deaths on the way, two were shot and one run over by stampeding oxen. All considered, they managed to evade the buffaloes and the marauding Indians and arrived in Salt Lake on 25 September1855 after a long, and often heart breaking journey. They soon joined Walter and established a home in Springville.
On January 1856 at the age of seventeen, Rebecca married Thomas Tew Jr., a man who had seen many hardships in his twenty two years. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Aaron Johnson and the newlyweds lived in the fort which had been built to protect the settlers from the Indians. This union had the blessing of nine children, most of who lived long upon the land.
About 1865, Rebecca and Thomas took their three children- Eliza, William Thomas, and Lorinda, and moved to Paris, Bear Lake Idaho. The two oldest children drove cows most all the way barefooted, often through prickly pears until their feet were sore and bleeding. Thomas drove one team and Rebecca?s brother Will, drove the other, the trip took almost two weeks, a distance of about two hundred miles or a little more.
When this little party reached the Bear River, The wagons were put on a raft. This was a terrifying experience as it was in the spring of the year and the water was very high. The children were convinced that only the prayers of the parents kept the wagons afloat.
Winters in Bear River were hard, with frost every month of the year and deep snow in the winter. Thomas sometimes had to dig steps for the children to get out of the house and go to school. Grain was so frozen that the bread was black and sticky, but spring brought wild strawberries and other wild fruits.
Rebecca and the children delighted in watching Aunt Polly take her lovely things out of her trunk and tell stories about England and her ocean voyage. Eliza learned to knit and made garters for her mother about a yard long, Rebecca would wrap them around her legs, she knitted stockings, candle-making, dying yarn, hand sewing clothing, etc. which occupied most of the time for the mother and her children. Home-made flannel and linen dresses were worn all year round. Rebecca had a good spinning wheel and her daughter Eliza, became an expert operator. Often she would go to spinning bees and carry the wheel on her hip, spinning four skeins in a day.
At school all sizes and grades were in one room. The school house was built of logs, with slabs for seats, holes were bored through and legs put through them. Books and slates were limited, usually one to a student. Many times bone was burned until it turned white to use for slate pencils. The children did not realize that times were hard, and they were happy.
Thomas made snow shoes and when spring came he made his way over the mountain to Richmond, Cache County, Utah to secure work. Then he returned in the fall with food for the family. After three and one half years of this sort of endeavor Thomas moved his family to Richmond, having added four more children, Julia, Anna Belle, John Henry and Cora. This proved to be a good move, as the family lived on a farm and Thomas worked at his trade, a mason.
Indians were numerous and troublesome, a village of them living about a mile away. Many times quite a band of them would go through town, singing and dancing and expecting people to feed them. If they were ignored the first time, they would make a second trip through the town, some with painted face. On one occasion a little girl, Annie Thurston, was stolen. Her parents and friends hunted for her for years, but never found her.
One day Thomas and Rebecca left the children at home, cautioning them to watch out for Jim, an Indian, one who had brought fear into the hearts of the women in the area. Well, Jim came over the hill and the children locked the doors, pulled the blinds down and huddled quietly together. Jim knocked on the doors and windows, determined to enter the house. Hearing nothing on the inside, he finally went back over the hill. The children breathed again.
In 1872 Thomas and Rebecca moved back to Springville. Rebecca had made a large chicken pie with two chickens in it for the trip. Well, when the family reached the far side of town, someone remembered the pie back in the cellar cooling. Being a bit superstitious, Thomas and Rebecca would not turn back, so the new owners of the home enjoyed the chicken pie. Possibly they thought it a good will gesture.
The first winter back in Springville was spent in the home of Thomas Tew Sr. a family of nine living in one front room. Soon Thomas and Rebecca purchased seven acres of land in exchange for a yoke of oxen and a team of horses. Thomas made the adobes himself for their new home. He tramped the clay with his feet, as there was no machinery available at that time. This was a long and tedious process, as the adobes had to be dried before using. He undoubtedly had help from the children along the way. Although Thomas had only two weeks of schooling in his life, he knew just how many adobes to make to complete a home. He learned the trade when he first move to Utah, and he helped build the old meeting house in Springville which was erected in 1854.
Thomas studied hard and learned to read, write and figure. Rebecca was never able to read or write, having had no education, but she cherished the poems written by her husband, a natural poet.
In 1882-1884 Rebecca consented to allow her husband to serve a mission in England, leaving her with eight unmarried children. Her oldest son William Thomas, supported his father, and married before his return. Two of the poem which Rebecca received from her husband during his absence follows:

I do not promise thee page to wait Holy, free, and unpolluted
Nor maiden to bend the knee Will this land forever remain
I do not promise thee robes of state Let us seek the Holy Spirit
Nor gilded canopy And forever praise His name
I may not lead thee to Lordly dome
Where pride and proud ones be Jesus Christ is my Redeemer
But I?ll share with thee in our future home He for us a ransom paid
What Kind Providence wills it to be. Let me try and praise the giver
For the gift that He has made

Zion is by walls surrounded
Blessed are the Saints of God
If they are faithful to the message
Of the Servants of the Lord

Oh may we all be reunited
With the Saints who dwell above
Ever keep our vows we?ve plighted
With the Lord who doth us love

The last of Rebecca?s children were born in Springville, Melvina and Erma. Her husband passed away on 6 August 1904, she was a widow for almost eighteen years, Rebecca was always cheerful, sunny disposition, always looking on the bright side. She was a good mother, full of faith, true to the gospel to the end. In her later years she lived with her daughter Melvina Smith, at 862 East 6 south in Salt Lake City. Here she died on 10 March 1922 at the age of eighty three years, four months and thirteen days. Six of her nine children were living at the time, along with fifty four grandchildren and one hundred and twelve great-grandchildren.
(Much of this information was taken from accounts written by daughters, Melvina Tew Smith and Eliza Tew Mendenhall)

Rebecca married Thomas Tew, Jr 22 Jan 1856, Springville, Utah, Utah, United States. Thomas (son of Thomas Tew and Hannah Smith) was born 27 Jun 1833, Hen Rowe, Camphill, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; was christened 9 Aug 1835, Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom; died 6 Aug 1904, Springville, Utah, Utah, United States; was buried 8 Aug 1904, Evergreen Cemetery, Springville, Utah, Utah, United States. [Group Sheet]

1. Eliza Rebecca Tew was born 23 Mar 1857.
2. William Thomas Tew was born 2 Feb 1859.
3. Lorinda Ann Tew was born 11 Jul 1861.
4. Julia Adelade Tew was born 24 Mar 1864; died Abt 1865.
5. Anna Belle Tew was born 24 Jul 1865.
6. John Henry Tew was born 11 May 1868.
7. Cora Ellen Tew was born 22 Feb 1871.
8. Melvina Tew was born 14 Feb 1874.
9. Erma Dell Tew was born 24 Sep 1880.

Other Events:

• Immigration: 1855, New Orleans, Louisiana

Notes:

England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
about John Bird

Name: John Bird

Gender: Male

Baptism Date: 12 Jan 1806

Baptism Place: Solihull,Warwick,England

Father: John Bird

Mother: Elizh.

FHL Film Number: 0234507-508, 234505



Died:
John Bird Autobiography (1841-1932)--son of John Bird (1806-1855)
"We arrived in New Orleans, sailing up the Mississippi River, and up the Missouri River to a little landing place that we called Atchinson. My father died of cholera here at Atchinson. He had worked in the lead works while in Birmingham, and perhaps due to the strain of the trip, the poison worked on him, causing his death."

John married Ann Russen 10 May 1830, St. Martin, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. Ann (daughter of Thomas Russon and Sarah Tongue) was born 15 Apr 1808, Overbury, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; was christened 31 Jul 1808, Dodderhill, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; died 24 Mar 1871, Paris, Bear Lake, Idaho, United States; was buried , Paris, Bear Lake, Idaho, United States. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Misc: 1855; Richard Ballantyne Company Departure: 1-2 July 1855 Arrival in Salt Lake Valley: 25 September 1855 Company Information: 402 individuals and 45 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Mormon Grove, Kansas (Near Atchison)

John married Elizabeth Pittaway 15 Oct 1799, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. Elizabeth (daughter of Edward Pittaway and Jane Smith) was born 1780, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; was christened 7 Jan 1780, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; died 7 Nov 1860, All Saints, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried 9 Nov 1860, All Saints, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet]

Thomas married Sarah Tongue 26 Oct 1796, Dodderhill, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. Sarah (daughter of William Tongue and Mary Griffin) was christened 9 Apr 1775, Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; died 8 Nov 1862, Handsworth, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England. [Group Sheet]

John married Mary Bates 10 Feb 1756, Bickenhill, Warwickshire, England. Mary (daughter of Joseph Bates) was born Abt 1738. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Died:
From Pedigree

Edward married Jane Smith 25 Nov 1777, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. Jane (daughter of John Smith and Margaret) was born 1758; was christened 4 Mar 1759, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; died 2 Oct 1811, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried 5 Oct 1811, Solihull, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet]

Adam married Sarah Danby 23 Apr 1764, Upton Warren, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. Sarah (daughter of Solomon Danby and Anne Cutler) was born 1739, Belbroughton, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; was christened 16 Feb 1739, Belbroughton, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; was buried 3 Nov 1811, Dodderhill, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet]

William married Mary Griffin 1 Oct 1758, Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. Mary (daughter of Thomas Griffin and Ann) was christened 4 Feb 1740, Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet]