Agnes Muir Findley Richards ~ Index
On a glorious afternoon of November 25th, 1919, surrounded by her loving children and friends, Agnes Muir Findley Richards, my mother, obeyed the last summons and gently as a little child falling asleep, went to her eternal rest. Whilst tender watchers in the camber of death wept and mourned for the loved mother taken from our midst, in vision beautiful, one might behold those loved ones gone before, waiting with extended hands and expectant faces, to clasp her in a fond embrace, and lead her to the glorious mansion prepared for her coming.
She was a true steadfast woman, who has laid up for herself "Treasures in Heaven", for her life through all the long years was an unceasing toil in the service of the Master. She went about doing good, carrying burdens for those less strong, comforting the widow, the orphan, the childless, the hearts of those that mourn, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving sympathy, kindness and cheer to the lonely, the erring and the afflicted.
Mother's life was not all sunshine. Like others she had her share of adversity. She was born in Crofthead, Linlithgowshire, Scotland and when quite a little girl her parents joined the Latter-day Saints Church and immigrated to Utah. It was here she met my father (having buried her first husband, and giving birth to one little girl) and to whom she plighted her troth and was married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
A pioneer child, she bravely endured the hardships and stinted living of those days. As years rolled by, she watched and noted the growth and development of the new land, from desert to fruitful and blossoming fields and gardens. She saw the homes change from log, dirt-roofed huts to better dwellings. She participated in the educational and social advancement of the people and enjoyed the spiritual growth and privileges of God's Temples, and reared an honored family. Her success as a mother, her untiring and unselfish devotion to her children was rewarded in the closing years of her life by a like devotion from them to her.
Agnes Muir Findlay Richards was born January 26th, 1853 in Crofthead, Linlithgow, Scotland. Her parental and maternal ancestors, as far as we know, had lived in Scotland. Her father, Walter Muir, was a doctor and was born in 1805 at Crofthead. Her mother, Mary Bell Ross Muir, was a nurse and was born May 9th, 1815 in Bankhead, Scotland. She married Walter Muir in 1835 in Scotland. Besides my mother there were seven girls and three boys.
Agnes Muir, with her parents and the rest of the family, joined the Latter-day Saints Church in 1859 in Scotland. Being desirous of rearing her family in the fear of the Lord, my grandmother left her comfortable home and her many friends and set sail from Liverpool on the sailing ship Artwright, May 26th, 1866. She brought with her three boys and two girls, three of her family having died and were buried in Scotland and two daughters having preceded her to America.
Although only a child at the time, my mother relates the following incident which occurred while they were on the ocean. The sea was very calm, so calm in fact, that the boat had been at a standstill in mid-ocean for nearly a week. The provisions were getting low, and the water was bad. The captain of the boat was worried, and knowing of the faith of the Saints, went to the leader of the company, Elder Folsom and told him of existing conditions. This was the eleventh company of Saints that Captain Calkin had brought across the ocean. He desired to travel with the Saints because of their belief in God.
Elder Folsom requested all Saints to go without supper and also without breakfast the next morning. At nine o'clock the following morning a meeting was called on deck and a prayer was offered to God for assistance. Immediately after the first prayer a wind came up and the boat began to move and sailed directly into New York Harbor, arriving there July 6th, 1866. The next day, July 7th, this company went by train to Albany, New York. Being just at the close of the Civil War, means of travel were very difficult so they were forced to cross a river in a downpour of rain in an open cattle boat, only a flat surface with a chain around the sides.
This landed them in New Haven, Connecticut. Here they boarded a train which carried them to Montreal, Cannada. Still traveling by train, they reached the banks of the Missouri River on July 22nd. It was while here they were visited by a band of five-hundred Pawnee Indian warriors. The Indians told them if they would give them flour, meat, etc., they could travel over their land unmolested. They could use their wood for fires and their oxen could feed on their grass. Two or three of their best oxen had to be given up to meet this request.
The rest of the journey across the plains was by ox-team. They started out on July 25th, 1866, on the long journey. They walked nearly all the way, fording rivers and arrived in Great Salt Lake City, Utah on October 9th, 1866. They remained here but a few days and then traveled northward, reaching Mendon where mother resided until the time of her death.
During her early girlhood, mother had many adventures, as all other early settlers in that barren country experienced. The main source of anxiety was the Indians. They were sly and suspicious and oft times they ventured into the settlement, curious as to the ways of the white people, much to the annoyance of the women and children. At one time, a band of Indians camped just across the creek from where mother lived. Grandmother and the little ones were very frightened. They lived in a log house and between the chinks in the logs they kept a constant lookout. The old Indian chief, who happened to be Pocatello, would come every day and press his face to the opening in the log begging for flour or meat. You may be sure grandmother always had something for him. The children were terrified.
Another instance mother related was seeing an Indian war dance. This took place on the hill just above Mendon. She related how terrified they were when the whooping and dancing began, with a human scalp on a long pole, used for a banner. They did not know to whom the scalp belonged.
At another time some of the men went down to the Muddy River (Littlr Bear River), just east of Mendon, to cut some willows. When one of the men (Thomas B. Graham) walked into the willows a huge bear attacked him and dragged him off. The remaining men grabbed their rifles and ran after the bear, but by the time they found him the bear and two cubs had eaten part of the man. They killed the mother bear and one of the cubs. The other one ran off and disappeared in the mountains.
Since these events, the settlement has grown and developed. Where Indians, deer, antelope, wolves and coyotes once ranged is found the city of Mendon. On the mountains and in the valley are found sheep, cattle and horses. Faith teaches us that God blesses the labors of His servants and handmaidens in the building up of Zion.
When mother was sixteen years old she married William Findley, December 14th, 1868. After being married only five months, her husband died on May 15th, 1869. On October 4th, 1869, she gave birth to a baby girl, Mary Elizabeth Findley. Inside of one year she became a bride, a widow and a mother.
After the death of her husband, she taught school and milked cows on the Hansen Ranch to support her child and her widowed mother. Thus she labored for seven years.
She met and married my father, Hyrum Thomas Richards, on April 10th, 1878 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Soon after their marriage she and father took up a homestead just a little way north and west of what is now Mendon. This was a lonely life. Father, being a busy man, was away from home a great deal of the time. Her sister, Jane Muir, was living a few miles from her, also on a lonely prairie. They communicated with each other by means of a piece of red flannel attached to a stick and fastened to the wall. If mother observed the approach of Indians, or if she wanted help with her quilting, or needed any other assistance, she hoisted the red flannel flag and aunt Jane came running to her rescue. Such were the early years of her married life.
When father began to gather things around him and grew prosperous, he became a business man and was therefore never idle. Mother worked side by side with him always, working in the store, the meat market, the post office. Being very healthy and strong, she could carry a sack of sugar to the barrel and empty it, cut up a beef or do any of the chores that are done by men today.
My mother enjoyed handwork of all kinds. Although she created many knitted and crocheted articles, her favorite pastime was quilting.
She was a generous, warm person, always anxious to help someone in need. Contrary to the saying that all Scottish people are stingy, mother was one of the most liberal-hearted women I have ever known. While serving in the store, the children would always come to buy candy. She gave them as much for one egg as you could buy for twenty-five cents. I can hear them now, rushing into the store calling, "Have you any books or empty boxes?" The books consisted of old almanacs and advertisements. They never went away empty handed. The scales were not watched too closely. It was usually an extra piece put in instead of taken out.
For six years she nursed my paternal grandfather (John K. Richards), whose health had been greatly impaired by a severe beating at the hands of the mobs in Nauvoo and the strain of the arduous journey to Utah. He was bedridden and needed constant care until his death.
Besides all these manual labors, mother was always active in church. She served as a relief society officer and teacher for many years. She taught the first parents class organized in the Sunday school and enjoyed singing in the choir.
She was the mother of ten children, eight girls and two boys. Two of the girls, Rebecca and Bertha Viola, preceded her in death. All the rest of the family, except one, are married and have fine families. After my father passed away on October 18th, 1915, my mother carried on his business with the help of her children.
She has triumphantly finished her earth work by fighting a good fight and remaining faithful to the end. To her family and friends she has left a rich heritage. Her life work will point the way for many struggling ones. All who knew her were better for associating with her. She has filled a place in the history of this people that time cannot efface.
My mother, with the others who resisted unfavorable elements of nature, Indians and isolation alike, by honest goodness and faith, has laid a strong foundation for the present culture and progressiveness of this people and carved for herself an enduring fame.
Notes…
Emma J. Richards (she went by Jennie) was the only living child in her family not to marry, as noted above. She lived south across the street from the yellow brick schoolhouse and taught school there for many years. She was an extra aunt too many of the children of Mendon. Her headstone is at the top of the Mendon cemetery near the far north, and was for so many years tended to and flowers placed upon it, by those students whom she effected with her loving warm personality. She was a warm, kind and wonderful woman, loved by those she taught in the elementary school.