The Story of Ann Fish and John Watson BellIntroduction

The intent of this story is to describe an interesting part of the life of a Kirkup family member. Ann Fish was the daughter of a Kirkup. She and her husband joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which impacted the course of their lives completely.

In the course of writing this, I have learned a lot about the history of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that the sum of my knowledge on the subject is miniscule and most assuredly flawed. For this, I ask your indulgence, and if I have unintentionally given offence, your forgiveness.

I am Canadian, and my husband is American. Neither of us recalls learning anything about the Latter Day Saints, the Missouri Conflict, the continual persecution, the Saints travels across the country, or their colonization of the west, yet according to the Mormon Migration website, approximately 90,000 converts made the journey from Europe to the west.

The Journey to America

Ann Fish was the daughter of Robert Storey Fish and Dorothy Kirkup. She was born in Elsdon, Northumberland 21 Jan 1812 and married John Watson Bell in October of 1834.

According to his granddaughter, John was a tailor by trade. They lived in Newcastle until 1841 and started their family there. At this time, no census has been independently found to corroborate this. Their daughter Ann Elizabeth was baptised in Elsdon, Northumberland, but no record has yet been located for their other two children born in England.

According to their granddaughter, John heard one of the Church elders preach. He was impressed by this and attended another service. He was baptized into the Church August 8, 1840 in Newcastle, and ordained a Priest. Ann was also baptized into the Church around this time.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Manila Camp, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers of North Utah County, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Volume II, 1958-1961, from the Biography of John Watson Bell, Sr., compiled by Myrtle Louisa Bell Labrum, his granddaughter, and submitted by Sarah Evans Adams, his great-granddaughter., pg 40-46]

On 11 April 1841, John and Ann left Newcastle and travelled to Liverpool, in the company of their children Ann Elizabeth age 5, Robert age 3 and Alice Jane age 1.

The Saints about to emigrate were organized into groups or companies, led by an Elder in the Church, who would manage the journey. Ships were hired for the purpose of transport, and sometimes held non-Mormon passengers as well. Most ships left England from Liverpool, with 3 leaving from Bristol, travelling to Quebec, likely for logistical reasons. Ships also carried Saints from Scandinavia.

On 20 April, the family boarded the packet ship Rochester, a ship run by the Emigrating Company and led by Haber C. Kimball[footnoteRef:2]. According to the journals of Brigham Young[footnoteRef:3], the ship pulled out into the River Mersey and cast anchor. They spent the rest of the day and the night there. On 21 April, they secured their goods and set sail. There was a good breeze, and nearly all passengers were sea-sick. [2: Haber C. Kimball is referenced as an Elder in some texts, and an Apostle in other texts, with both texts being from a very similar timeframe.] [3: The Journal of Brigham: Brigham Youngs Own Storey In His Own Words, Council Press, Utah, USA, 1980, pg 42]

The fare from Liverpool to New York was 3 15s.

Their 128 travelling companions included Mr. Kimball, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, George A Smith and Willard Richards, all Elders in the Church.

Journals survive by some of the elders regarding the Atlantic crossing. According to Woodruffs journal[footnoteRef:4], on their second day out to sea, a number of the company arose quite ill with sea-sickness. They were still within sight of land. The sickness began to subside after six days. [4: Journal of Wilford Woodruff, https://Mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu]

The journey had good sailing days, storms and days with no wind at all to drive them forward. Apr 27, the sails were all pulled in and the strong head winds became a tempest raging furiously, sea running mountains high.

On the 28th of April, severe winds buffeted the ship, causing the luggage and supplies to come loose from their lashings and threatening to fall on the sleeping quarters of the passengers. This continued through the day and into the night, as barrels and boxes were tumbling around in the cabin.

Woodruff describes the sails on the ship as 19 pieces of canvass spread. A jib, flying gib 8 pieces upon the foremast 5 upon the main mast & 4 upon the mizzen mast including the spanker. Brigham Young, in his journal, describes the Rochester as being about 900 tonnes, and faster than the other ships that left Liverpool at the same time. On good days, they sailed at 10 or 12 knots per hour, but on calm days, about 3 knots.

On May 5, the body of a child who died on the trip was committed to the sea on the Banks of Newfoundland, 4225N 5010'W.

On May 7th, Woodruff describes a vicious storm the worst yet. He says, The heavens gathered blackness, the sea rolled into mountains, & the captain looked wild.

On the 21st day of sailing May 12th the Captain advised that land was in sight. It was Cape Sables, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Until then, they had thought themselves near Long Island.

On May 17th, the ship came in sight of Long Island and took on a pilot to guide them in. On the 19th they came into the harbour. From leaving Liverpool, they had been 29 days.

The Rochester arrived in New York 20 May 1841. The passengers and their luggage were taken off the ship, passengers doing their own loading and unloading. At customs, they unloaded their luggage for inspection, and the re-loaded it for travel to New York, where they again unloaded their belongings and packed them onto drays for transport in town.

The Fish family stayed in New York City for 4 days, then boarded a boat up the Hudson River to Albany, and then took another boat on the Erie Canal to Hartland, Niagara County, New York. Their second son, John Watson Bell, Jr. was born there, 23 June 1842.

New York to Utah

The journey from New York City to Albany was usually taken by steamboat. It was a 12-hour journey that could take 36 hours on poor boats, of which there were many. The distance is listed as 160 miles. The cost to travellers was $0.50 for transport and if the journey took 36 hours, $1.50 for board. If the boat did the 12-hour journey, the cost was $1.50.

No mention is made in Myrtles records of they type or name of the boat that took the family through the Erie Canal. Woodruff later made the same journal, however, and advises that he arranged the trip to Buffalo on the New York & Buffalo Line, Erie Transportation Company, on a boat named the C.M. Reed. The cost was $2.50 each, allowing 100 lbs baggage, and $0.45 for each 100 lbs. overage.

The trip from Albany to Lockport took six days. Woodruff and his family took a train from there to Niagara Falls and spent some time sight-seeing, including a walk under the falls, before taking the railway to Buffalo. Their luggage arrived the next day.

The distance from Albany to Buffalo is 365 miles.

Hartland is about 10 miles north east of Lockport, where Woodruff advises he disembarked the canal boat. It is also not directly on the Erie Canal. It is likely they all removed from the canal boat at Lockport, and the Bells made their own way to Hartland.

They stayed in Hartland until 1 September 1843, although a census has not been located as evidence of this. The family then travelled to Nuavoo, Illinois, where daughter Dorothy Emma was born, 18 March 1844.

According to Wikipedia, Nuavoo was formerly a town known as Commerce. In 1939 the Mormons escaping persecution in Missouri in the Mormon War or Missouri War[footnoteRef:5], bought the town and renamed it Nuavoo, said to be a Hebrew word meaning beautiful place or city beautiful. [5: https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Missouri_Conflict]

On 4 October 1843, John was ordained Senior President by Elder Joseph Young. According to his grand-daughter Myrtle Louise Bell Labrum, while at Nuavoo, John worked as a tailor and in the course of his work, made suits for the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Persecution of the Mormons continued, even in Nuavoo and, on 27 June 1844, a mob shot and killed Joseph Smith and his brother. While the Saints made preparations to move en mass to Salt Lake City, they continued work on the temple in Nuavoo. Finally, between February and September of 1846, most of the Mormons left Nuavoo and headed west[footnoteRef:6]. [6: https://history.lds.org/article/trek/nauvoo-city-beautiful?lang=eng]

On May 1, 1846, as part of what is known as the Mormon Exodus[footnoteRef:7], the family moved again, from Nuavoo to Farmington, Iowa, on the Des Moines River. There, on Oct 6, 1846, son Joseph Alma was born. [7: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/07/the-trail-of-hope-exodus-from-nauvoo?lang=eng]

In 1848 the family moved to Indian Town, Iowa, where they lived in bark houses that had been built by Indians and later deserted, according to their granddaughter. It was bitter cold and deep snow. Daughter Mary Francis Bell was born there on 25 December 1848. Indian Town was a settlement established by the Mormons in 1846. It was the first white settlement the Missouri River between Des Moines and Traders Point (Kanesville). The settlement did not last, but is near the town of Council Bluffs.

During the course of the winter of 1848/1849, the family along with six other families, used up their flour[footnoteRef:8]. The closes source was in Council Bluffs, 50 miles away on snowshoes. They held a prayer circle and asked for Gods help and shortly after, found a cache of corn that had been hidden and left behind by the Indians. They ground this up and had enough to last until spring. [8: Manila Camp, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers of North Utah County, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Volume II, 1958-1961, from the Biography of John Watson Bell, Sr., compiled by Myrtle Louisa Bell Labrum, his granddaughter, and submitted by Sarah Evans Adams, his great-granddaughter., pg 40-46]

In spring of 1849, the family moved to Kanesville, Iowa and rented a farm. It is now part of Council Bluffs, but in 1849 was a separate Mormon community. They remained there for 4 years. For the birth of their next child, Ann travelled to Council Bluffs. The child was born 4 august 1852, but died 11 months later in July 1853. Her name was Sarah Emily Bell.

John suffered sunstroke in the summer of 1853 and, when his illness persisted, was encouraged to leave his family and go west. John took the advice, and travelled with the Benjamin Clapp Company, arriving in Deseret on 7 September 1853. It is assumed this means his arrival in Salt Lake City. Ann and the children followed John the following year.

According to Wikipedia, Deseret was the name of the proposed state/or territory for which Brigham Young had petitioned the United States government, as a home for the Mormons. It encompassed land from the Mexican cession. The proposal would have encompassed nearly all of present-day Utah and Nevada, large portions of California and Arizona, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon, and was sparsely populated. The proposal did not pass.

A summary of account of Anns trip to Salt Lake City, accompanied by her children, condensed from the biography of John Watson Bell, Sr.:

Before setting out, Ann had arranged to travel with a company of other Saints. She had purchased one yoke of cows, two yoke of oxen and two wagons. Within days of leaving, the cattle disappeared in the night, whether by mischief or Indians was unknown. The captain leading the company did not want to wait while the cattle were found, and left without her, advising that she wait for the next company to come along.

At the time, the childrens ages were:

Ann Elizabeth, age 19

Robert, age 17

Alice Jane, age 15

John Watson Jr., age 13

Emma Dorothy, age 11

Joseph Alma, age 9

Mary Francis, age 6.

According to the family record, Ann was able to find the cattle and continue on about two weeks later, thinking another company would surely overtake them along the way. They reached a ferry across the Missouri River and one of Anns wagons was not properly secured to cross. It rolled off into the river. While the wagon was recovered, provisions and clothing were not. Nonetheless, Ann continued on. The boys and Ann took turns walking.

About two weeks into their trip, they were indeed overtaken, but by a government freight train of twenty-five men with mule teams and wagons. They were headed for Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and ran under the leadership of their captain Mr. Truckey. He offered that Ann could travel with them, if she was able to keep up. With her wagon loads lessened, and Truckeys heavy-laden, she was indeed able to keep up and travelled with them.

Ann and her family were approached and surrounded by Indians several times during the trip, but nothing further developed. They stayed with Truckeys group until Fort Laramie. There, Ann and the family joined another freight company bound for Salt Lake City. After a few days, they overtook the Mormon company that had left her behind in Kanesville, at the time her cattle went missing. The company invited her to join them the rest of the journey, but she thought she could make better time, and went on, reaching the city before them.

John and Ann lived in Salt Lake City for the next 4 years with John working as a tailor. They moved next to Provo where they lived until 1857. Brigham Young then asked that they help colonize Mona, Utah, where they lived the rest of their lives.

In 1872, John and Ann were living with their daughter Alice Jane Bascom at Mona, Utah. Ann became ill and passed away age 60. John then made his home with son John Watson Jr. and his family, who were also living at Mona. He had his own room in his son's house, in which he slept and worked as a tailor. His room is described this way[footnoteRef:9]: [9: Manila Camp, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers of North Utah County, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Volume II, 1958-1961, from the Biography of John Watson Bell, Sr., compiled by Myrtle Louisa Bell Labrum, his granddaughter, and submitted by Sarah Evans Adams, his great-granddaughter., pg 40-46]

Across one side of this room was a large box or chest which he used as a table for cutting out suits and storing his cloth, scissors, rule, thread, needles, etc. On the opposide side of the room on the floor was his bed consisting of a straw-filled mattress with a lovely feathered bed, or mattress on top. There was a large canvass on the floor underneath the bed extending out about two feet to keep the bedding clean. He had no bedstead. His clothes and clean sheets he also kept in a cupboard in his room."

According to Johns granddaughter, in 1877, John Jr. was awakened by hearing his father moving around in his room. John Sr. had taken the sheets off his bed and folded them up and put clean sheets on. He put clean underwear on. When asked about these activities by his son, John Sr. advised that he was going on a trip and wanted things clean. The son helped him back into bed. Later that night, sounds of groaning came from the father's room. They found him unconscious in his bed. He died at 3am that same night, of heart failure. John Sr. was a High Priest at the time of his death.

Further Reading

https://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu/

Journal of Wilford Woodruff

Manila Camp, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers of North Utah County, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Volume II, 1958-1961, from the Biography of John Watson Bell, Sr., compiled by Myrtle Louisa Bell Labrum, his granddaughter, and submitted by Sarah Evans Adams, his great-granddaughter., pg 40-46

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/07/the-trail-of-hope-exodus-from-nauvoo?lang=eng

https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Missouri_Conflict

Journal of Brigham: Brigham Youngs Own Storey In His Own Words, Council Press, Utah, USA, 1980

Journal of Wilford Woodruff, https://Mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu

https://history.lds.org/article/trek/nauvoo-city-beautiful?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/07/the-trail-of-hope-exodus-from-nauvoo?lang=eng