HEROINES OF MORMONDOM
NOBLE WOMEN’S LIVES SERIES
38509
A
REMARKABLE LIFE.
BY ‘HOMESPUN’
CHAPTER 1.
Many of the noblest lives have been
lived in obscurity and in poverty.
Nobility and virtue are never dependent upon surroundings. And when you have read the simple little
chronicle which I am about to relate, I think you will agree with me that even
though humble and retiring, the subject of this sketch was one of nature’s own
heroines.
In a little cottage in Bravon, Lees-Mersem, England, lived
an old lady named Harris. She was given
to study although very meagrely educated.
She was feeble and sat a great deal of her time poring over her Bible.
One day her granddaughter came to visit
her, bringing her little daughter, Mary, with her. The old lady had been reading her Bible, and
as her daughter came in she said:
“My dear, I have been reading some of
the great prophecies concerning the last days, and I feel sure that either you
or yours will live to see many of them fulfilled.”
“Not so, grandmother,” answered the
woman, whose name was Mrs Dunster, “thou wast always visionary; put by such thoughts. Our religion’s good enough for the Like of
us.”
The old lady arose, unheeding her
granddaughter’s warm reply, placing her hands on the little girl’s head, said
solemnly:
“Here’s Mary; she shall grow up and
wander away from you all and break her bread in different nations.”
The solemnity of her great-grandmother’s
manner and the peculiar spirit that accompanied the words made a vivid
impression on the little girl’s mind.
How well that strange prophecy has been fulfilled you and I, my reader,
can tell hereafter.
The little girl, whose name was Mary Dunster, and who was born in
At last she consented to be his wife on
one condition: that he would take her to
After they were married they settled
down to work and lived, William as farm labourer, in Lympne
for four years. Two children were born
to them in this place, Mary Ann, born June, 15, 1836, and Henry, born August 18th,
1838.
Four years after their marriage, at which
time the introduction of convicts into
Between the years of 1840 and 1850,
The young couple had determined to
engage a farm of shares, and so went, immediately upon their arrival
, to a country part near Botany Bay.
Here they remained a short time and then went up to
And now let me tell you something of the
character of this same Mary, ere I relate to you two strange dreams which she
had while living at Camden.
She was a medium-sized, well built
woman, with kind gray eyes and a pleasant but firm mouth. Her step was quick, and her manner was full
of warm-hearted simplicity. She it was who ruled the children,
administering with firm justice the rod of correction. Her husband contented himself by controlling
his wife, having the whole of the remainder of the domestic regimen entirely in
her hands. She was never disobeyed by
her children. But withal “father” was a
tenderer name to their large flock of girls than was “mother.” But with all her firmness, she was far too
womanly to possess one grain of obstinacy.
When it was her duty to yield she could do so gracefully. With
these qualities Mary united a sound business capacity, economy, thrift and
extreme cleanliness. She was, and
always has been, a remarkable healthy woman.
With these gifts she had something of the visionary or semi-prophetic
character of her great-grandmother Harris.
She has been a dreamer, and her dreams
have been of a prophetic character.
Most of them require no interpretation, but are simple forecasts, as it
were, of the future.
One dream, which was indelibly impressed
upon her mind, occurred to her just before the birth of her eighth daughter,
She dreamed she had to travel a long
way. At last she reaches a stately
white building, with projecting buttresses and towers. Going up the broad steps she entered a room
filled with beautiful books. Seeing a
door ajar, she walked into the adjoining room.
There sat twelve men around a large table, and each man held a pen. They were looking up as though awaiting some
message from above. She drew back, so as
not to attract attention, when a voice said distinctly to her: “You will have
to come here to be married.” The
thought passed through her mind, “I am married and why, therefore, should I
come here to be married?.
She went on out of the building and
walked through the streets of the city that were near the building. The streets were straight and clean, with
little streams of water running down under the shade-trees that bordered the
foot-paths. Everything was clean and beautiful to look upon. Footbridges spanned the litte
streams, and the houses were clean and comfortable. She saw just ahead of her a woman driving a
cow with whom she felt a desire to speak, but before she could reach her, the
woman had gone in at one of the gates.
She walked on, pleased with all she saw. Raising her eyes she saw in the distance,
coming to the city, what looked like an immense flock of sheep. But’ as they came nearer she saw they were
people, all clothed in white raiment;
They passed by and went on to the white building. “Ah!” thought Mary, “if I was there now,
that I might know what it all meant!”
But she felt compelled to go the other way. And so the dream ended.
When she awoke she related the strange
episode to her husband and told him she believed her coming confinement would
prove fatal. She thought the beautiful
place she had seen could only be in heaven, as she had never seen anything like
it upon earth. William comforted her,
but the spirit of the dream never left her.
However her little babe was born and she
resumed her household duties.
CHAPTER 11.
Two years passed away, and ere they are
passed let us stop a moment and see a little of this new country which lies
away on the opposite side of the earth from America.
Australia, as you may all see, my
readers, by getting out your geographies, is in the Pacific Ocean, down in the
tropics and lying south-east of Asia.
It is generally called a continent; but it looks very small, does it
not, compared to Asia or either of the
This region you will find marked as the
“gold region.” But gold was not
discovered until 1857, eleven years
after the Chittendens’ settled in their new
home.
The country in New South Wales is good
for farming and grazing; with the exception that it is subject to extremes of drouth and floods.
There are no high mountain ranges, and very few rivers. There is no snow there, and the Winter
season is a rainy season instead of being cold and freezing like our
Winters. There are trees in that
country which shed their bark instead of their leaves. I shall speak of these trees and the uses to
which their bark is put further on.
Then, there grows a native cherry, which has the pit on the outside, and
the fruit inside. Wouldn’t that be
queer?
There are many precious stones found in
this country, and also considerable gold; but the discovery of gold failed to
excite William Chittenden, or turn him from the even tenor of his way.
On the 15th of April, 1853, a
son was born to the Chittendens, who was christened
William John, but who only lived a few weeks
Some time after his death Mary dreamed that she was lying in
her bed asleep. It was, as you might
say, a dream within a dream. As she lay
sleeping two men, each carrying a satchel in one hand and a cane in the other,
came to the foot of her bed. She
dreamed then that she awoke from her dream and looked earnestly at these two
men; so earnestly that their faces were indelibly fixed upon her memory. One of them held out to her a little
book.
“What is the use of my taking the book?”
she thought within herself, “I cannot read a line, for I have never learned to
read.” Then, after a moment’s
hesitation, she thought, “Why, I can take it and my children can read it to
me.” So she took the book.
One of the men said these remarkable
words to her:
“We are clothed upon with power to
preach to the people.”
She awoke in reality then, with those
strange words thrilling her with a new power she had never felt before. She roused her husband up and related her
dream, and he replied kindly to her.
They had now been married eighteen years
and Mary had born seven girls and two boys; neither of the two boys, however,
had lived but a short time. The farm
upon which they lived had been rented, or leased, from a large land-owner named
McArthur, for twenty-one years. Thos
McArthur owned some thousands of acres of farming and grazing land in this
region, which was leased in farms of various proportions.
The Chittendens’
farm consisted of two hundred acres, and was mostly farming land. The term upon which they leased it were very
similar to others in that country. For
the first five years they paid sixpence an acre. After that it was ten shillings an acre.
William put up the house in which they
lived, and an odd house it was too.
First he took a number of poles or uprights, which he placed in the
earth at regular distances. With these
he made the framework of his house.
Between these uprights were placed smaller poles. Then he took fine willows and wove them, or
turned them round the center, or smaller pole,
resting the ends on the larger poles.
In and out went these willows, something the same way as you will see
willow fences here. Then he made a
thick mud and well covered the whole, inside and out. Next came a good plaster of lime and sand,
and finally all was whitewashed. The
roof was made with rafters laid across the top. Now came in this bark about which I told
you. Going up to the forests which were
found on the near hillsides, the bark was cut in the lengths wanted at the top
and bottom of the tree; then with a sharp knife split on two sides, upon which
it peeled off in thick, straight slabs.
It was then nailed on in place of shingles, each one overlapping the
under one. Then the floor was nailed
down with wooden pegs, “adzed” off and finally smoothed with a jack-plane.
In this manner one large sitting-room,
two bedrooms, a dairy and a kitchen, detached from the main building, were
built; to which afterwards added a long porch to the front of the house, which
faced east, the rooms all being built in
a row.
Mary cooked upon a brick oven, which was
built upon a little standard just between the kitchen and the house.
Large fire-places were built in the
kitchen and sitting-room. The one in
the kitchen, being big enough to take three immense logs, which would burn
steadily for a whole week.
The dairy was well furnished with pans,
pails, etc.
CHAPTER 111.
In 1853, William decided to take a trip
up to Sydney to sell a load of grain, bringing back with him, if he succeeded
as he wished, a load of freight for some settlement or town near his home. There was a great demand for wheat now as
many hundreds of emigrants had rushed into the great gold country. William left the farm to be managed by his
prudent little wife and started out on his hundred mile trip. How little did he dream of the result of
this journey! On his arrival in
“Oh, yes,” replied William, “I didn’t
know you had any brothers in America!”
And so arm in arm, they entered the
little room where several men sat at a table, or pulpit with a strange book in
their hands and strange words upon their lips.
Here William heard the sound of everlasting gospel for the first
time.
From the first William felt the truth
contained in the words, of the Elders although he knew little or nothing
concerning them.
On their way home Mr. Andrews explained
to him that these men were his brothers, being brothers in the covenant of
Christ.
“And Chittenden,” he added, “if any of
them go down your way, you’ll give them dinner and a bed, won’t you, for I know
you can”
“Oh, as to that,” replied William, “I
wouldn’t a beggar from my door, if he was hungry or wanted a roof to cover
him.”
William procured a load of freight for a
man in Goulburn (one hundred miles further south than Camden) and started on
his return trip. His mind was often upon the things he had
heard, and he wondered what it all meant.
The Elders to whom he had listened were Brothers Farnham, Eldredge, Graham and Fleming, Brother Farnham having
charge. They were the second company of
Elders ever sent to
After the departure of William
Chittenden, a council was held by the Elders and it was decided that Brothers
Fleming and John Eldredge should go up to Camden and
the surrounding district. At the last
moment however, Elder Fleming was desired to remain in
“What did you think of them William?”
“Well Mary if they don’s speak the truth
then I never heard it spoken.” And then
he went down to Goulburn with His freight.
One lovely day in summer two dusty,
tired, hungry men each with a satchel and a walking-cane in their hands, stopped
at the wide open door of the Chittenden farm-house. And what saw Mary, when she came to the
porch? With a queer throb, she saw in
her door the very man who came to her bedside in her dream. She even noticed the low cut vest showing
the white shirt underneath. But as he
stepped inside, and her eye fell upon his companion, she saw he was not the second one of her dream,
although he too carried a cane and satchel.
She invited them within, and the first one said,
“We are come, madam, to preach the
gospel.”
The words, almost
identical with those of her dream. Giving her their names, he whose name was Eldredge explained to her that they travelled up from
Sydney, and in all the hundred miles, they had found no one willing to give
them food and shelter.
Mary bustled around and prepared dinner
for her guests. When evening drew near,
Brother Eldredge remarked,
“Mrs Chittenden, can you let us remain
here overnight?”
“Oh,” said Mary, “I am afraid I have no
place to put you!”
“Well you can let us sit up by your
fireside, and that is better than lying on the ground as we have done so
lately!”
And then Mary assured them she would do
the best she could for them. So a bed
was spread out on the floor of the sitting-room, and here the foot-sore Elders
were glad to rest their bodies.
The principles and doctrines of these
men fell deep into Mary’s heart, and like her husband she felt they spoke the
truths of heaven.
One evening in conversation with them,
Mary told Brother Eldredge that she had seen him
before in a dream. But, she added, you
were accompanied by another man, not Mr Graham.
“Ah well, that might have been. You may have seen Brother Fleming for he was
coming with me, but Brother Farnham altered the appointments at the last
moment!”
And it proved so. When Mary afterwards saw Brother Fleming she
recognized him as the second one of her dream.
The Elders were not idle because they
had found a comfortable resting place, but travelled about seeking to get
opportunities of spreading the gospel.
One family named
The Elders made Camden their
head-quarters, but went about through the surrounding country, meeting,
however, with very little success.
William and his wife, with their oldest daughter were ready to be
baptized, as were the
I want to stop and tell you a little
about the worldly condition of this couple, as well as mention a detail of two
more about the country they were living in before I go on with my story.
They had brought their two hundred acres
under good cultivation; they had a large fruit garden back of the house, in
which grew the most delicious peaches, plums and cherries. The country is so
adapted to fruit that peach-stones thrown out near running water would be fruit-bearing-trees
in three years. There were no apples,
but such quantities of tropical fruits. Grapes, melons, figs, lemons and
oranges were so plentiful and so cheap that William would not spend time to
grow them. A sixpence (12 cents) would
buy enough of these fruits to load a man down.
They had four horses, one wagon, a dray
and a light spring cart, six cows and many calves, plenty of pigs and droves of
chickens, turkeys and geese.
The large granary to the south of the
house groaned with its wealth of wheat, corn, barley and oats.
And while I am speaking of wheat I am
minded to give a description of the way adopted to preserve wheat in that
country. Mr McArthur, the owner of all
these thousands of acres, received from his tenants a share of the wheat
grown. This he stored up as there was
little or no sale for it until the drought years, when it commanded a good
price.
After three years of drought which
occurred there prior to 1853, William and his wife went to this mr McArthur to get wheat. He had dug a very large cellar, and this had
been well cemented, top, bottom and sides.
Here the wheat had been stored for twelve years when the Chittendens went to get theirs. The wheat was perfectly sound and
sweet. Over the vault a store-house had
been built, and the door to it was near the top of the cellar.
You can see that our kind friends were
well-to-do, and had every prospect ahead for success and prosperity.
In the Spring of ’54, the Davis family
and the Chittendens decided to be baptized. Rumors and false
reports had been rapidly spread about the Latter-day Saints and their enemies
sprang up like magic. Many sarcastic
and insulting remarks were made about the “dipping” (as the baptism was called)
of the two families. Mr. McArthur was a
bitter enemy to the new sect.
One day the Davises
were over to Chittenden’s and remarked they were
going to be baptized the following Monday in the river near their house.. William decided
to come over with his family on the same day.
So on the 24 of April 1854 William and Mary were baptized by John Eldredge in
The gospel once having been received the
spirit of “gathering” soon follows. And
with Mary, who had always wished to go to
As she sat and listened to the Elder’s
description of Zion being built up in the bleak mountains, of pretty streets
lined with shade-trees, and watered by swift-running streamlets she turned to
her husband told him that this must be the place of her dream.
William was a very quiet, determined
man, who could not be turned from the way he had chosen.
The days when through the long summer
evenings they all sat and listened to the various principles and the new and
lovely doctrines unfolded one by one, by the Elders, like the petals of a
glorious flower, were the very happiest Mary and her family ever knew. Poor Mary!
They were the light which shone over her dreary oncoming future,
sometimes brightly, sometimes faintly, but always shining over the wretched,
darksome road of the next twenty years.
One little circumstance, which will
illustrate Mary’s simple but powerful faith will perhaps be worth mentioning
and may strengthen some other one’s faith.
Just before the birth of her eighth girl, which occurred in the Fall
after their baptism, she felt low and miserable, scarely
sick enough to be in bed, but too ill to work.
One evening Bro. Eldredge was talking to her
and said that if she had any sickness or bodily ill, it was her privilege as it
was of any member of the Church, to call upon the Elders to administer to her,
and thenif she exercised faith, it would leave
her. Mary had never read a word in her
life, and so this came to her as a new and very precious truth.
“Well, Bro. Eldredge,
if I can be ministered to get well, I want it now,” said Mary.
So the ordinance was performed, and she
was indeed instantly healed. From that
day for many months she never felt one moment of illness. And she says to me today in her simple
quaint way,
“I have never been ministered to in my
life since, that I did not get better.
Ever since the arrival of the Elders,
the Chittendens had opened their house for them to
hold meetings in on Sundays. No other place
had ever been obtained, so that the meetings of the Saints, or those who were
friendly to them, were still held in Mary’s cosy sitting-room.
On the 1st Nov. 1854, Mary
had another daughter whom they named
They had eight girls now, and it would
take quite a sum of money to emigrate them all to
Utah. So thinking to increase their
means a trifle, Mary had taken a little motherless boy, about seven years old,
his father paying a certain amount a week for his board. This was money and they would never miss
his board as they raised everything which they consumed. This little boy was very troublesome and
mischievous. He was very fond of
playing out in the hired men’s bedroom which was over the granary.
On the Sunday of which I am speaking, he
was out in the men’s room, and there found some matches. He thought he’d have some rare fun then, so
out he ran, matches in hand, and made what he called a “pretty fire,” right
down close to the pig pens. He watched
it burn up, quietly at first, and then --- whew! --- here is a jolly little
breeze catches up the flame, and carries ir bravely
up right on to the roof of the pig-pen.
Then how it did sputter and crackle, and leap. The boy was old enough to see by that time,
that something more than a bit of mischief would grow out of that tiny
flame. It spread over the pens like a
living thing. Frightened now, he sped
away, down to the nearest farm house, running in and shouting to the gentleman,
Mr Root who lived there, “I didn’t set the pig-styes on fire, I struck a match
and it blowed.”
Mr Root hitched up his horse to his
water-budge, a cask on wheels which he carried water from a lake near the Chittendens’ house and started on the run for the scene of
the boy’s wickedness. The Chittendens saw him pass their door running to the lagoon
or lake. “I’ll declare,” said Mary, “is
Mr. Root going for water on Sunday? I
never knew him to do such a thing before!”
Just thenEliza
ran in and said, “Father, the shed is full of smoke.” She had been down to gather eggs from the
shed. The barn, pig-styes, cow sheds,
granary, poultry houses and stacks were all at the back of the house and about
six rods away.
At last William got up to go down to the
shed to see what was the matter.
When he looked out of the back door,
what a sight met his eyes --- the whole yard in flames! Others had seen the fire, for the farm-house
faced the public road, and people were all passing there on their road to
Chapel. But no one except Mr. Root ever
offered a hand of help.
“Oh,” said they, “its those d—d Mormons, let them burn up and go to
h----.”
The whole family rushed down to the fire
and tried to stop its progress but all to no avail. The pigs could not be driven out, and were
literally roasted alive. The barn,
sheds, pens and every combustible thing went down before the relentless
flames. Farm implements of every
description, even the grain to the amount of hundreds of bushels, were burned. The flames swept towards the house. Then how they worked. Everything movable was got out, and the roof
was town off; and the men commenced pouring water on the walls to save them.
“Alas for the rarity
of Christian charity.” If a few brave men had given help when the
fire was first discovered, much might have been saved. But when it was all over, and Bro. Eldredge and William had thrown themselves on the ground
completely exhausted, and the only Christian who had helped them, Mr. Root, had gone home in
the same condition, Mary sat out doors with a few of her household goods broken
and scattered around her, her two wekks’ old babe
wailing in her arms, and all that was left of their comfortable home, the
empty, blackened, smoking walls of the house looming up in the twilight fast
falling around her! Hundreds of cart
loads of burnt grain were carted away for the next few days and buried. How many bright hopes and happy plans were
buried at the same time, only the future could tell! The roof was speedily put on again, and thngs inside made as comfortable as might be.
Bro. Eldredge
still advised going out to
Mary urged all she dared, for she knew
the Elders were about to leave for home.
It was no use. The only answer
she got was, “not now, Mary, not now.”
He found an opportunity about that time
of going into the country a hundred miles with some freight. While he was away a gentleman came to the
farm-house and wished to buy the good will of the farm.
You will remember that William had
rented it for twenty-one years. About
fourteen years of the lease had expired.
The improvements, etc, always went with the lease. So when this gentleman offered pay three
hundred pounds ($1,400) for the remainder of the lease, or the “good-will,” as
it is termed in that country, Mary thought it a fortunate thing.
The loss by the fire had exceeded three
hundred and fifty pounds, or about sixteen or seventeen hundred dollars of our
money; and Mary thought if she could sell the lease of the farm, then they
could sell what stock and personal property was left them, that making perhaps
another two hundred pounds, which might get them all to America. So she sold it; knowing, however, that the
bargain would not be legal unless ratified by her husband. She hoped though, that he would see things
as she did. When William reached home
Mary told him what she had done.
“Humph; I suppose you know it’s of no
use unless I give my word, too?’
“Oh, yes,” said Mary, sorry to know her
husband was so annoyed, “you can, of coarse, upset it all.”
Then she explained all her hopes and
plans to him. How they could raise five
hundred and fifty pounds, and then they could surely get to
“And reach there,” objected William,
“with a big family of little children, and not a shilling to buy ‘em bread
with. Nice plan, that!”
In vain she argued and plead. William was
not to be moved. No one could blame him
for not being guided by his wife’s advice.
Albeit she was a prudent, far-seeing, wise little woman, whose advice
had always been proved to be of the best; still the man leads the woman, not
woman the man.
But when Brothers Eldredge
and Graham counselled him to return with them, it was quite a different
matter. They were over him in the
Priesthood and had a right to his obedience, even as he exacted obedience from
his wife and family. However he still
refused, simply saying, “I don’t see how I can go just now, Brother Eldredge!”
And so the time passed on, and the
Elders left Australia without the Chittendens. The
Here then was the grand mistake of
William’s life. He did not see it then,
nor for years after, but the time came when he wished in the agony of his soul
that he had gone to
It is not a grand lesson for our young
Elders? How easy it is to fancy that
our own wisdom, especially about our private affairs, is better than any one’s
else! But when the voice of God speaks
through His servants and says, “Do thou so!” woe to the man who turns from that
and works out his own will in direct opposition. Let this sink deep into your hearts, my
young readers, and remember always, God knoweth best!
CHAPTER 1V.
Although William was annoyed at the step
his wife had taken, he concluded to let matters go as they were. However, much to Mary’s chagrin, he took a
farm close by, and tried to make another start. Nothing seemed to go right.
On the 24th of July,1856, Mary gave birth to another daughter, to whom they
gave the name of Rachel. The next year
another company of Elders came down from
When he got back to the Chittendens, he walked wearily in, and Mary’s daughter,
Jane, bustled around to get him something to eat. “No,” said he, “don’t cook me a thing. I want nothing but a piece of bread and a
drink of water.”
She hastily set what he required before
him, and after he had eaten he said, “Sister Jane, you shall receive the
blessing for this. I have not broken my
fast since I left your house until now.
I have had to sleep out under the forest trees. I am now fully satisfied there is no place
to be had to hold meetings. I thought
as I was leaving the city, shall I shake the dust off my feet as a testimony
against this people? No no; I will leave it all in the hands of God!”
The bitter prejudice of people around
Before leaving
With what earnest prayers did Mary seek
to persuade her husband to go along too!
And the Elders counselled him to return with them. But no, he could not feel to go with his
helpless family and have little or nothing to support them when he arrived in
William was like his wife, unable to
read one word, and all that he knew of this gospel had been taught him orally
by the missionaries. He was also very
young in the faith, and had not learned the great lesson of obedience nor
dreamed its mighty weight in this Church.
For this reason God was merciful to him, and did not deprive him of the
light of the gospel, but taught him the painful but necessary lesson through
much and long tribulation. And his
children, although scattered and living most of them in
After the Elders had been recalled, Mary
commenced to feel a great brooding darkness settle down over her. In the day she could not throw it off, but
when night closed her labours and laid her at rest, the darkness would fold
around her like a garment. She was
anything but a nervous, Imaginative woman, and this terrible darkness grew into
something tangible to her husband as well as to herself. At last he listened to her and decided to
once more sell out and get away.
Two more girls were born to Mary before
leaving Camden vicinity. One, Caroline,
was born May 10, 1858, the other Louisa, was born June 25, 1860. Mary had then eleven girls, her two sons
having died in infancy. The older girls
were very much disappointed that neither of the last two were boys. Especially was this the case when Louisa was
born; their chagrin being expressed so loudly that it reached their mother’s
ears. She was a trifle disappointed
herself, but when she heard their comments she was really sad and cast
down. The feeling could not be shaken
off until the next day; when as she lay dozing, a voice plainly said to her:
“You shall have a son, and he shall grow up and be a great comfort to you in
your old age.” As usual she related the
circumstances to her husband and he fully believed in it. He thought he would try “sluicing” for gold
in some of the mining camps. The
process called “sluicing gold,” or washing it, is as follows:A
box about a foot wide and two feet long, is fitted with several little boards
or slats, about an inch high, across the bottom. This is to make the water ripple over. Into this box the sand is shoveled, and the water washes away the dirt leaving tiny
nuggets of gold in the bottom of the box.
This is of course in the regions where gold is found plentifully. Rocks are broken up and shoveled
in, and often are richer than the sand.
But this “sluicing” process is a slow one, so much of the finer portions
of gold being washed away. If
quicksilver was used to gather the tiny shining metal, it would prove much more
profitable, but quicksilver itself is expensive.
So William sold out, and they started up
to a place called Lemon Flat in the early Spring of
’61. All of a sudden severe rains set
in; the country was flooded and the soft soil became actually impassive. Insomuch so that the family were obliged to
relinquish the idea of going to Lemon Flat and turned aside to go to another
mining camp called Gunderoo.
While going to Gunderoo
the day they reached the outskirts of the town, was a very tiresome one for
all. Mary had a light, one-seated
carriage, a great deal like the one horse delivery carts in
Mary, walking near the cart, began to
feel a curious weakness creep over her.
No pain, only a weakness in every
joint. Alarmed at the long absence of
their mother, two of the oldest girls hurried back, and found her seated by the
roadside unable to proceed another step.
They assisted her to rise, and half carried her up the hill to the
tents. She whispered to them to put her
in bed in the cart where she always slept.
They did so. But she grew weaker
and weaker. She would faint entirely
away, then slowly come back, and wonder feebly what was the matter, and why
they all stood around so. Then faint
away again and so on all night. At last
Jane remembered her mother had a little consecrated oil packed away, and she
searched among the boxes till she found it.
They administered to her then, and she revived some. But begged to be taken away from that
place.
Her husband felt she might die if he did
not comply with her wish, so they started immediately for Yass river. They were
travelling along, when Mary’s horse gave out.
She was obliged then to wait for her husband to return, and get
her. She felt much better, and thought
she could get out and walk about a little.
So she directed the young man who drove her cart to let down the
shafts. She got out, but the moment she
went to rest her feet on the ground, she fell to the
earth. The young man assisted her into
the cart again, and then for three months she never stood upon her feet. There was no pain whatever, only an extreme
weakness.
While camping on the Yass river the next evening Mary had a dream which when related
sounds like the history of her life for the following twenty years, so true is
it in every particular.
She dreamed that she saw herself and her
family travelling, struggling and trying to get a start again. Everything seemed to go against her
husband. Sickness came, and she saw
herself the only one able to be out of bed.
Deadly sickness too, but she was promised that there should be no
death. Things seemed to grow blacker
and blacker. At last, starvation
approached and she saw them all without a morsel of food to eat; everything
sold for food, even their clothes. Then
when the last remnant of property had been taken from them, the tide
turned. She was told they should at last
go to Goulburn, where they would break land and prosperity should once more
visit them, and that they should finally reach
“I would rather,” she added, “have my
head severed from my body
this minute, then go through what I have dreamed this night.”
“Well, wife,” answered William, “let us
hope it is nothing but a dream.”
She related to him, but he felt too
confident in his own strength to believe such a dream as that. It gradually faded from Mary’s mind as such
things will do, but now and then some circumstances would recall it to her mind
with all the vividness of reality.
While camping on the Yass, a stranger
came to William and asked him for his daughter Maria, who was then only
fourteen years old. William replied
that Maria was nothing but a child, and he was an utter stranger, so he could
not for a moment think of consenting.
Three nights after this, the man stole the girl away, and when morning
came and the father discovered the loss, he was almost frantic with grief. He was a most devoted and affectionate
father, and he was fairly beside himself with his daughter’s
disappearance. He spent money like
water. Advertised, went from place to
place, searched and hired others to search with him, for the missing girl. It was of no use. She was never found.
While searching for
her four of his horses wandered away, and only one ever returned. Then, finally
giving up in despair, he hired horses and went to Yass city. Arriving there William obtained work for a
man named Gallager, at putting up a barn.
They had been settled but a short time
when the baby was prostrated with colonial fever. Mary did all she could, but the child grew
worse. Four months went by and still
there was no improvement. At last Mary
persuaded her husband to get a doctor.
The doctor came and told the mother there was one chance in a hundred of
the baby’s life. No signs of life
seemed left in the little body, but he ordered her to put a strong mustard
poultice over the stomach. “If it
raises a blister,” said he, “she will live.
If not, she is dead.”
Into Mary’s mind there suddenly flashed
her dream. “Sickness, but no
death.” Well, then her baby should
live.
A short time after the doctor’s
departure, Mrs. Gallager, a neighbour, came into the
tent, and said, “Mrs Chittenden, let me hold the child.”
“No, Mrs Gallagher, thank you, I would
rather hold her.”
The woman bustled about and got a
tea-kettle of water upon the stove.
“What are you doing,” asked Mary.
“Getting a bit of hot
water. The child is dead, so we will want some
water hot.”
“She will not die, Mrs Gallager. She is
going to live.”
“Why, woman, she is dead now! Her finger nails are black!”
“No, she is not dead,” persisted the
mother. Who knows the great power and
faith of a mother.
Within a few hours the child’s breathing
became audible. Her recovery was very
slow. And while she still lay weak and
ill, William was stricken down by the same complaint. He grew rapidly worse. He too lay ill for several months. He was in a very critical condition, but
whenever able to speak he would tell Mary not to bring a doctor, for he should
recover without one. The turn for the
better came at last, and as soon as he was able to get about a little, they
determined to go to Lemon Flat. Heir
first idea in going to Lemon Flat had been to homestead, or “free select” land,
as it is called in
And thus one year
dragged heavily by. While here Jane was married to John Carter,
and Ellen to a Grecian man named Nicolas Carco. Also, just as they were leaving Lemon Flat,
Eliza married a Mr. Griffin.
Now they determined to go once more to Gunderoo to try what could be done there. The reason why William wished to go to Gunderoo was, that no matter what came or went, wages could
be made by a man in “sluicing gold.”
Now the family were almost destitute.
After their arrival in Lemon, and for months, most of the children lay
sick with the colonial fever.
CHAPTER V.
Between three or four years had passed
since they left Camden (over eight years since the last missionary left
Australia), and the Chittendens were much poorer than
they were when they left.
For many years Mary had been in the
habit of going about to her neighbours, nursing them during confinement. This was a necessity of the country, one
woman going to another, as there were no regular nurses to be had. She became acquainted in her labours with a
Doctor Haley, the best physician in Goulburn.
He always, after the first time when she nursed under him, sent for
her. This practice put many an odd
pound into her pocket. He husband was
far from idle, however. With his
disposition he could never be so. He
took charge of the estate of a gentleman named Massy, who was absent in
As soon as he was released from this
situation, where he had earned some money and a good portion of grain, he
rented a farm. With anxious hope and
honest labor he seeded down twenty acres with the
grain he had on hand.
He who sendeth the rains, withholdeth them at His pleasure! For two years there was a complete drouth visited the country. William walked over his field and could not,
at the end of the season, pluck one single armful of grain.
While living in this place the promised
son was born to Mary, and once again her prophetic dream was realized. He was born May 28, 1865, and William named
him Hyrum. When the baby was two years
old, little
Alice came home, quite sick at her
stomach, and her mother felt alarmed at once, for her children were regularly
and simply fed, and when anything of the kind happened to them she knew it was
of an uncommon and serious nature.
Jane had returned to her mother’s house,
while her husband was up the country on a mining expedition. She had a young baby eleven months old.
When the doctor came next day he
pronounced Alice’s case one of the most violent scarlet fever. Next day Jane and Rachel came down, and the
next day Louisa and Caroline fell ill with the dreadful disease. Jane had the fever so violent that Mary was
obliged to wean the baby, Everyone in
the family was now ill but herself, and she with a baby two weeks old. For eleven long weeks the anxious mother
never had her clothes off, but to change them.
The disease was of such a violent type that not one human being had
courage or had humanity enough to enter the door. Alone and utterly unaided she went from one
bedside to another administering food and medicine. The physician was the only one who ever
visited her, and at the times when he came (twice a day) to attend to them, she
would sit down long enough to take up her infant and give it the breast.
Three months of sickness, toil and
suffering, then the fever spent itself, and Mary could begin to realize their
condition financially. Something must
be done, for funds were very, very low.
There was a sudden excitement about this
time at a place called Mack’s Reef, which was three miles from Gunderoo. Gold was
found in quartz, and was very rich indeed, at this new camp. William decided to go. So investing their last cent to purchase a
simple crushing-mill, and to take themselves out, the Chittendens
went to Mack’s Reef.
Misfortune was too well acquainted with
them now to be driven away, so she curled herself up in the crushing-mill, and
behold it failed to do its work. It
lost both the gold and the quicksilver.
Matters were no getting desperate. Food was wanted. Strain and economize as she might, Mary
could not make things hold out much longer.
The pennies followed the shillings, until when the last half-penny had
to be taken for flour, William looked at Mary and said, “Mary, what are we
coming to? Must our children starve?”
“No, William, please God! But do you remember my dream? You may not believe it, but I know it was a
true dream. Oh, William, why did we not
go to
And so it went. Garment followed garment, and yet there
seemed no chance of earning a penny.
Finally, there was no more clothes; everything was sold.
Then William took his gun, and went to
the woods. But after a very short time
that, too, failed and they were starving.
That night, when the little children
were put hungry to bed, William walked the floor in the agony of his mind. “My God!” groaned the wretched man, “must my
children starve before my very eyes? In
my pride I fancied my family would be better in my hands than in the hands of
their Almighty Father! Oh, that I had
listened to counsel! Now my family are
fast leaving my roof, and we that are left are starving. Starving in a land of plenty!”
God listened to the prayers of His
humbled son, and he was enabled to get a little something to eat. But the lesson was not over yet.
Mary had obtained a situation as nurse
and this helped them. William thought
he would go up to Goulburn, a large island town, where he felt sure he would
find some employment. Accordingly he
left the family with Mary, but of course in very wretched circumstances. It was the best that he could do, so Mary
was satisfied to be left.
The trip to Goulburn was made in the old
spring cart, which had been left of the wreck of their comfortable travelling
outfit. The horse, which William had
just found previous to starting, was one of the four he had lost on the Yass
river. The poor thing had been so
abused that it was almost worthless. In
fact, it had no money value, for in that country where good stock was comparatively
cheap he had tried again and again before leaving Mack’s Reef to sell the horse
and the cart, or either alone in order to get flour for his starving family,
but no purchaser could be found.
So he went up to Goulburn and took odd
jobs as he could get them. When he had
been gone some few months, a company of prospecters
brought in a new machine to crush the quartz.
This fanned the dead embers of
hope in every one’s breast, and even Mary thought if she could get William to
come down and try his quartz in this new mill, they would succeed at last.
But how to get word to
him? He was at Goulburn, eighteen miles
away. There was no mail, and she had
not a vestige of anything to pay for sending a word to him. She was very weak too from lack of
food. But everyone around her was so
confident of the grand success about to be made, that she resolved to try and
walk up to Goulburn. Accordingly, she
set out leaving the baby at home with the girls, and walked feebly towards
Goulburn. She was half-way there when
she came to a river. This was forded by
teams, but across it had been thrown a plank, and a poor one it was, too. Mary looked at the foaming water, and then at
the rotten plank, and felt it would be an impossibility almost to go across. Still, she must get over, so she started;
but she had only got a little way out before her head began to reel, she was
weak and faint, and about to fall, when she had a sense remaining to lay flat
down on the plank, and wait for strength.
As she prayed for strength and help she heard a horse’s hoofs behind
her, and a gentleman on horseback dashed into the stream. He rode up to her and said,
“Madam, permit me to help you. Let me take your hand and I will ride close
by the board, and thus get you across all right.”
“Oh sir, you are very kind,” answered
Mary as she arose thanking God that He had heard her
prayer.
“Where are you going, madam? Pardon me, I do not ask from idle
curiosity.”
“To Goulburn, sir to
my husband.”
“I was wondering as I came along, to see
a woman on this lonely road. You surely
do not expect to reach Goulburn to-night?”
“I thought sir,
I would go as far as I could, then lie down and rest until I could go further.”
“Well my poor woman, good-bye! And
success attend you on your journey.”
“Many thanks, kind sir, may God reward
your kind act.” And so he rode on.
Mary went on some distance, and began to
feel that she could go no farther.
Suddenly she saw a woman approach her.
Wondering, the two women met, and the stranger said to Mary, “Are you
the woman a gentleman on horseback assisted across the river?’
“Yes ma’am.”
“Then you are to come with me. He has paid us for your supper and lodging
to-night. Also, he paid me to come out
and meet you and show you the way.”
“Thank God! I am almost worn out. What was the gentleman’s name, please?”
“That I can’t tell. But here’s
our house. Come, get your supper, it is
waiting.”
And thus was her humble prayer answered,
and a friend raised up to her sore need.
The next day Mary reached Goulburn, and
she and her husband returned the following day in the cart, to Mack’s
Reef. But after reaching the Reef,
William found it would require quite a sum of money to do anything with his
quartz, so at last abandoning everything, he left the Reef in disgust. The poor old horse died shortly after that,
and thus they only had the cart remaining.
The harvest time was approaching, and William had the rent to pay on the
farm he had taken, and which had failed so dismally. So he went to the owner and offered to
harvest out the amount. The offer was
accepted, and he went harvesting the remainder of the season.
Meantime, Mary had been sent for, to
nurse a lady who lived a few miles out from Gunderoo. So, not liking to lose so good an
opportunity of making a bit of money, she weaned her ten month’s old baby, and
left him at home with the girls. She
was engaged for a month, receiving a pound a week, about twenty dollars a
month, for her services.
When she returned, she found he husband
at home. “You know, William, I told you
my dream would surely be fulfilled. Are
you not willing to admit that so far it has come true every word?”
“Well yes, Mary, but what then?”
“Then in my dream we were to lose
everything before the turn would come, and we should commence to prosper. We’ve nothing left now but the spring
cart. Give that, as it is too poor to
sell, to Isaac Norris. Then let us go
to Goulburn, and once more try farming.
You know we must break land there.”
“Thou art like a woman. If we part with the cart, how, pray, shall
we get to Goulburn.” “Why, William,
have I not brought home four pounds?
That will move us to Goulburn.
Come husband, let us get away from here.” At length William consented; the spring cart
was given to their son-in-law, Isaac Norris, and the whole family moved up to
Goulburn. Their daughter
About five years after their coming to
Goulburn, Mary had another dream. A
personage came to her and began talking to her of her affairs. This personage said to her among other
things:
“You shall take a farm, on the opposite
side of the road to where you now live.
And, after, you shall prosper exceedingly. Then you shall take money, constantly, from
this side of the road, and you shall soon go to
“Mary how can you
think of such a thing? What could I do with a farm? I haven’t a tool nor an animal to use. It is impossible. So don’t talk of it.”
But Mary was far from satisfied. However, she knew her husband to well to
urge the matter, when he spoke as he had done.
And further, in a very short time after the farm was vacated, it was
re-let to another person. Mary was thus
forced to give it up. A month or so
slipped by, and one night Mary dreamed the same dream in relation to the farm
across the road. She thought, however,
she would not mention it to her husband.
In a week or so, they again heard the farm was to let, as the family was
dissatisfied. Then Mary made bold to
tell her husband of the repetition of the dream, and beg him to try and take
it.
“Why do you keep urging me about that
farm, Mary? I have not one thing to do
with. I tell you it is impossible.”
And again disappointed, Mary thought she
would say no more about the matter.
That day she was going up to spend a week at Mrs. Day’s assisting her in
her housework and cleaning. After she
arrived there, she prepared breakfast, and she and Mrs. Day sat down to
eat. As they were talking, Mrs. Day
said, “Why doesn’t Mr. Chittenden take that farm of Gibson’s? I hear it is again vacant. He is a good farmer, and could easily attend
to that as well as look after mine.”
“He would like to do so, no doubt, but
he thinks he could not account of having nothing to do with, no teams nor
machines, nor in fact anything.”
“Well, if that’s where the trouble lies,
I’ll tell you what I’ll do. He shall
have the use of my horses and plows and all the farm
machines for nothing, and I will furnish him seed grain for the first year. And
he can let me have it back after he gets a start.
“Oh Mrs. Day, you are too good to us.”
“Not a bit of it. I would do more than that to keep you in the
country. You know that I could not
possibly live without your help.” replied the lady laughingly’
Mary could hardly contain herself for
joy. And when night came, she begged to
be allowed to go home that night, as she could not wait a whole week before
telling her husband the good news.
Accordingly she hurried home that night
and told her husband what Mrs. Day had said.
“Mary,” said William, “if Mrs. Day tells
me the same as she tells you. I’ll take
Gibson’s farm.”
So early the next
morning they started on their errand. The farm house opposite them was vacant, and
as they passed Mary asked herself, tremblingly, if they should be sufficiently
blessed to live there. Mrs. Day greeted
them very kindly and told them they were just in time tor breakfast.
“Thank you Mrs. Day; but Mary has been
telling me you spoke to her about our taking Gibson’s Farm.”
“So I did Chittenden; and I tell you if
you’ll take the farm, keeping mine too, mind, you shall have the use of my
team, wagon and farm implements.
Besides, I will lend you your seed grain for the first year and you can
return it afterwards.”
“Well, Mrs. Day, if you are so kind as that, all I can do is to thank you and accept the
offer. I will go right on to Mr. Gibson
at once and make the bargain.”
Mr. Gibson was quite pleased to have
William take the farm. That same week
the family moved across the road, and Mary felt like a new woman.
During all these fifteen years you may
be sure Mary and William had often talked or the religion that was so dear to
both. Their daughters although they had
perforce, married those outside the Church, were staunch “Mormons,” and are to
this day.
One day William met Mr. Gibson who said,
“I have been thinking, William, you can open a gate on the other side of the
road, opposite your own door, and make a bit of a road to the woods, and you
can take toll from the gate. You know
you live on the public turnpike from Goulburn, and this toll road would be a
good thing to the Goulburn people.”
“How much could you allow me, sir?”
“Five shillings from
every pound. Then your children could attend the gate.”
“Very well, I shall do so, and I am very
grateful to you for the privilege.”
“Well, mother,” said William soon after,
as he entered the house, “your money is coming from the otherside
of the road.”
And when he had laughingly told her how,
she said she felt more like crying than laughing, she was so grateful to God.
CHAPTER V1.
The story of prosperity is so much
easier to tell, and in truth is so much shorter than the tale of adversity and
suffering, that we may well hasten over the remaining five years of their
waiting in that far distant land.
Everything prospered. But about the second year William’s health
commenced to break down. Gradually he
became more and more incapable of work, until at last, one day, he came in and
throwing himself down, he exclaimed, “Mary, I have done my last day’s
work.” It was even so. But God did not fail them.
In 1875, two men came up to the door,
and asked for food and shelter. When
they announced themselves Elders from
The Elders were Jacob Miller of
Farmington, and David Cluff of Provo, since
dead. A month or two afterwards, Elder
Charles Burton and John M. Young of
William’s illness was Bright’s disease of the kidneys and he was slowly dying.
They left Sydney on the 7th
of April, 1877 for Utah, six souls in all, William and Mary, their children,
Caroline, Louise and Hyrum, with one grandchild, Lavinia.
On their arrival they went at once to
Provo. William had much more to bear of
poverty and suffering, than any could have dreamed, even after their arrival
here. Mary went out washing to eke out
their store, (they had barely ten dollars left,) and the two girls got positions
in the factory.
Within a year, Caroline married Eleazer Jones, and Louisa married Abraham Wilde. The last named couple live near their mother
now.
Caroline has moved with he husband to
Arizona. Mary’s eldest daughter, Mary
Ann Mayberry, also came with her husband and family to
I would not linger if I could on the
severe suffering, and painful death of /William, just twelve month from the day
they left home.
When the sad day came on which he left
them all, in spite of his awful agony, he called his only son, who was then
thirteen years old, and stretching out the thin, wasted hands he blessed him
fervently, and said, “You are going to be a good boy to your mother, I think?”
“Yes father, I will,” answered the lad,
manfully.
“My boy, I can do nothing, no work in
the Temple for her, nor for myself; I have got to go.”
“If you have got to go, father,”
tremblingly said the boy, “I will do all that lies in my power.”
“Remember mother, Hyrum, she has been
good to us, and worked hard for us all our days.” Then again he blessed him, and soon the
peaceful end came, and the poor aching frame was at rest.
A year or two of hard, constant work at
the wash tub passed away, and one night the personage who had visited Mary
before came to her in a dream and said:
“Mary, the time is now come for you to
go and do the work for yourself and your husband. If you will go, you shall soon have a home
afterwards.”
Here was a command and a promise. Hyrum had shot up and was a tall,
quiet-mannered young man, and had gone out on a surveying expedition, carrying
chains for the men, to earn some money.
His great ambition was to get a home for his mother.
On his return from the surveying
expedition he put nearly $100.00 into his mother’s hands. A day or two after he said, “Mother I would
like to go down to St. George and do father’s work; you know I promised him to
do it as soon as I could, and this is the first money I have ever had. I am sixteen years old, and if the Bishop
thinks I am worthy, I would like to go.”
Mary quickly told he dream, which she
had hesitated mentioning, fearing he would not like it, but he believed it.
“Mother, I will go this very night,” he
said when she had concluded her story, “and see what the Bishop says.”
So down he went, and Bishop Booth very
willingly told him to go, and he felt pleased to give the necessary recommends.
They went and had a most glorious time,
and on he return Mary went to washing again.
But mark! In less than one year
from that time they had bargained for a place, and got two little rooms built
upon it.
If you come to
She meditatively pushes aside her neat,
black lace cap from her ear, with her finger, as I ask what to say to you in
farewell, and with a mild but tearful
eyes, says;
Tell them for me, always to be obedient
to the counsel of those who are over them; and obey the whisperings of God,
trusting to Him for the result1 And
then, God bless them all! Amen.”