Lucy Amelia Pack Kimball Baker ~ Index
Lucy Amelia Pack Kimball was born 22 June 1837 in Kirtland, Ohio. She was the daughter of John and Julia Ives Pack. She grew up to be a beautiful maiden and came with her parents to Great Salt Lake City in 1847. She was married to General William H. Kimball, son of Heber Chase Kimball in 1857. From that union a little daughter was born whose name was Julia Aline Kimball.
After some time trouble arose and they were separated, after which she married Judge Joseph Baker, son of Simon Baker, a pioneer of 1847. They were married 10 July 1859. A little son, Joseph Lindon Baker was born to her at Great Salt Lake on 22 March 1860, after which they moved to West Bountiful and were pioneers of that place.
They then moved to Mendon and were among the first settlers here. After coming to Mendon, a second son, Jesse Merritt Baker was born 11 November 1861. At the time of his birth they were living in a dugout and it rained seven days and seven nights. While Lucy was being delivered, Aunt Maria held an umbrella over her, and her husband was at the steps bailing out water to keep them from being drowned. This proves that she was blessed of the Lord. She got through all right and never got along better. Her third son, Simon Pack Baker was born 3 June 1864, after they moved from the dugout onto their city lot.
This was the year of the crickets, when they destroyed the grain. Her fourth son, John Rupert Baker was born 29 November 1865. Her first daughter, Lucy Amelia Baker was born 22 October 1867. Her second daughter Charlotte Eleanor was born 16 June 1869. Her third daughter, Tameson Luella Baker was born 23 February 1871. Her fifth son, Ward Eaton Baker was born 15 June 1873. The sixth son, George Caleb Baker was born 10 April 1874. Lucy had a very sweet, lovable disposition and was also very industrious. She was a spinner and weaver, making entirely her own carpets. She made straw hats and gloves for the men working in the fields. She was a beautiful sewer and knitter and understood well the many duties of women of that day.
Her sweet winning ways brought all who knew her close around her, she being a great favorite among the young people. She was a beautiful looking woman and made rather a picturesque looking figure in the saddle, the sport of riding horses being one of her favorite amusements. She was also a graceful dancer, as well as a sweet singer. She was brought to sorrow in parting with one of her small children, her son Ward Eaton Baker. This sorrow finally bringing her to her last sickness, which was childbirth. (She died seven days after her last child, George Caleb Baker was born. George only lived for a day or less.)
Lucy was a very patient sufferer for nearly a year, those who assisted mentioning many times her loving ways and cheerfulness under all conditions. She was a faithful Latter-day Saint to the end, which came 16 April 1874. Her son Joseph Linden Baker was killed between the age of eighteen and nineteen on the Utah Northern Railroad, north of Mendon. Her son Simon Pack Baker was a pioneer of the Snake River country and was drowned in the Teton River, leaving a wife and two small children. These are only a few of the many things which go to show the strong, noble character of one more of our great and wonderful band of ancestors called The Pioneers.
Life Sketch
Lucy Amelia Pack, born on 24 June 1837, Kirtland, Geauga (Lake), Ohio, was the daughter of John and Julia (Ives) Pack. Her father was one of the scouts that came into the Salt Lake Valley on 22 July 1847, just ahead of the original company of Pioneers to search out a place to make camp. He returned to Winter Quarters that same year with Brigham Young and brought his family to the valley in 1848.
The Bakers and Packs lived just across the street from each other in Salt Lake City, at the corners of 1st North and West Temple Streets. Lucy Amelia Pack married first, in 1857, William Henry Kimball, a son of Heber Chase and Vilate (Murray) Kimball. To this union one child was born, Julia Aline Kimball, born 9 March 1858, at Salt Lake City, Utah. She later became a part of the Baker household. When trouble arose Lucy Amelia was divorced from her husband and later married, 10 July 1859, Joseph Baker, son of Simon and Mercy (Young) Baker. They were married by President Brigham Young in his office and later, 22 February 1862, they were sealed again in the Endowment House. On August 14th, 1925 their son Jesse Merritt Baker took his father to the Logan Temple and with his sister Julia Aline Wood standing for his mother had himself and his brother, Joseph Lindon, sealed to their parents.
Lucy Amelia had a sweet lovable disposition, which brought all who knew her close around her, she being a great favorite with the young people. She was a graceful dance and a sweet singer. Riding horses was one of her favorite amusements. As a wife and mother she was dutiful and industrious. She made her own and the children's clothing, also her carpets and rugs, as well as straw hats and gloves for the men working in the fields. She understood and performed well the many tasks and duties of a mother in Zion.
She was the mother of six sons and four daughters. Her first son, Joseph Lindon, was killed by a snow plow on the Utah Northern Railroad, 10 January 1880, her 3rd son Simon Pack, was drowned in the Snake River, leaving a wife and two children. Her two youngest sons died young, but all of the others lived to be old and had families, leaving quite a posterity. Her daughter Julia Aline Kimball, married 8 November 1874, Joseph Turner Wood and has a posterity of eighty-two souls. (June 1961) She died 20 January 1935.
Lucy Amelia was never well after she lost her little son Ward Eaton by death, 10 August 1873, at seven months of age. She had another son, George Caleb, born 10 August 1874, which lived only two hours. She passed away, 16 August 1874 at Mendon and was buried there. A young woman not yet thirty-seven years of age, she was mourned by family and friend alike. During her short life she endeared herself to all. Those who attended her during her illness bear record of her patience and cheerfulness under all conditions. She left for her descendants an example of a strong noble character, a true Latter-day Saint.
Her descendants presently number two-hundred seventy-eight persons in June of 1961.