More on Mary Aikens Smith

This history was in my father, Ralph M. Smith or M. Ralph Smith’s, records when he died. I am not sure who the author is but I found it interesting since I had just recently added her bio to the blog.

Mary Aikens Smith

My third great-grandmother Mary Aikens was born on the 13th of August 1791 in Vermont. She later moved to St. Lawrence New York to teach school. She became acquainted with and married a man by the name of Silas Smith. Silas’ first wife had passed away leaving him with four children to raise. Silas and Mary had three sons of their own. Mary also helped take care of Silas’ aging parents. In 1830 Joseph Smith Sr. came to visit his family and taught them the gospel. Silas was baptized by Hyrum in 1835, but Mary decided to wait until so knew for herself that the gospel was true.
In 1836 Silas, Mary, their children, and Silas’ mother, Mary Duty Smith, moved to Kirtland Ohio to join the Saints. On July 18, 1837 Mary was baptized in the church by Hyrum Smith.
On April 13, 1838 Silas, Mary, and part of their family set out to Missouri but before they reached Far West they were turned back because of ‘the exterminating order.” They spent the winter on the west bank of the Missouri river. Mary’s son John died at the age of six. In February the crossed the river to a community called Pittsfield Ill, before they could go on to Nauvoo Silas became very ill and died of pneumonia. Mary and her two sons lived with family and friends and Mary taught school to support her family.
When Brigham Young announced that the church was going to resettle in the Rocky Mountains Mary decided quickly that she and her sons would be among the Saints to move. She was discouraged by some family members because she was a widow and little to support herself. Many suggested she wait until later to move but Mary was very determined to go West. Mary and her sons, Silas Sanford and Jesse Nathaniel, worked hard to prepare themselves to go to Winter Quarters and on to the Rocky Mountains. In September of 1847 Mary Aikens Smith and her two sons entered the Salt Lake Valley as part of the “Big Company.” Mary was fifty years old when she arrived here. Mary and her sons spent the first winter with very little and the next spring helped to battle the crickets as they ate their crops.
Mary thought that she finally had a home, however, in 1815 Brigham Young asked Mary and her two sons to help build the new settlement of Parowan. Mary spent the next 27 years of her life there.
Mary could have chosen to stay with other family members in Nauvoo, or waited to stay until they had more money save before they came West. Despite all that she had sacrificed and lost Mary had gained her own very strong testimony of the gospel and knew that she wanted to be in “Zion” with the rest of the Saints. Her Grandson gave this tribute to her.
“Mary was a courageous woman of unusual faith and strength of character. She struggled heroically to rear her two boys, Silas and Jesse, to manhood…Through her teachings and her wonderful example she helped her sons acquire, early in life, a firm testimony of the truthfulness of Mormonism. To Mary Aikens Smith and her sons the gospel of Jesus Christ was always the thing of greatest importance in their lives.”
I am grateful for the good person and example that Mary Aikens Smith is for me. I hope that when I am faced with difficulty in my life that I can be as valiant as she was and Choose the Right. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.