ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILD 1796-1852

[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge), daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mark Alfred Elmer, son of Hannah Polina Child (Elmer), daughter of Alfred Bosworth Child.]

2nd home in North Hammond, New York.

Second headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.

First headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.

Third headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.

ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILDAlfred Bosworth Child was born 19 November 1796 at Greenfield, Saratoga, New York. He was the son of Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict. They were married 8 December 1793. His father was born 10 May 1771. Alfred married Polly Barber 19 March 1817. It was at Greenfield, New York, that they heard the gospel and were baptized in 1838 by Elder Charles Blakesy. Soon after their baptism they moved to Caldwell County, Missouri, stopping for a few months on the way at Kirtland, Ohio. When this trip was made their family numbered ten. They traveled by a two-horse team. While they were traveling through heavy timbered country en route from Ohio to Caldwell, a wonderful experience happened to the family. A very aged man whose hair was long and white as wool, appeared to them and commencing with the oldest of the family, he shook hands with each one and blessed them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. After which he disappeared as suddenly as he appeared and vanished from sight. Whither he went the family never knew.

While in Caldwell County, the persecutions arose against the saints, in which Alfred and Polly participated. He with his son, Mark, taken by the mob. The best horse they had was appropriated by them and a huge farm also was confiscated by the ruthless invaders. After the release of the two prisoners their remaining horse was traded for one yoke of oxen with which the family moved with the saints in mid-winter.

In February 1839 they arrived in Quincy, Illinois, where they remained for eight months while they recuperated from their destitute condition. When they were able to travel again they went to Lee County, Iowa, where they lived for about seven years. Alfred was appointed Postmaster of the Spring Prairie Post Office and held the position for about six years.

In 1846, at the time of the exodus, they moved to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where they resided five years while preparing an outfit to carry them across the plains. This being the third home they had sacrificed for the sake of the gospel. While the family was located here, Alfred and his fourteen-year-old son, Warren Gould, went to Missouri to work for provisions. While there Alfred became ill and had to return home.

On 12 July 1852 they commenced their journeying across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley on 1 October 1852. They settled in Ogden, Weber county, where two months later on 22 December, Alfred Bosworth passed away. The hardships of the journey, exposure, and disease of the lungs were more than he could withstand. He left his wife with eight children to care for.
Children of Alfred Bosworth Child and Polly Barber.
Polly Ann
Mark Alfred
Myron Barber
Hannah Polina
John Lawson
Phoebe Wooster
Warren Gould
Orville Rensselaer
Taken from the “Richardson Family Bulletin” March 1960.
Company arrived with Uriah Curtis 1 October 1852

THE FIRST MORMON RELIGION TO COME TO OUR FAMILY
Copied and adapted by Gwen Buehler Smith
Written by my Great, Great Grandfather, Warren Gould Barber Child
 

Mark Anthony Child born 8 December 1771, married 19 November 1793

Hannah Benedict born 1 January 1774
Alfred Child born 8 December 1796, married 19 March 1817
Polly Barber born 30 March 1799

“I will give a synopsis of my father’s life as I remember it and from actual dates as related to me by my mother Polly Barber Child.

My father Alfred Bosworth Child was born 19 November 1796 to Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. My father married, to Polly Barber, 19 March 1817. They remained close to the homestead till 1826 when most of the family moved to St. Lawrence, New York, to a new farm. At this time there came into town one George E. Beakely, a Mormon Elder, who after a time succeeded in getting few to come out to hear the strange doctrine of the new Prophet, known as Joseph Smith. He met with little success in the neighborhood. My father after hearing him several times continued to investigate the doctrine.

On June 5, 1838, my father, his wife Polly, Mark A., Polly Ann, Myron, an d Hanna P. were baptized, the rest of the family under age for baptism.

We started for Kirtland, Ohio, on August 11 of the same year. We were 10 in number then. We embarked on a mail streamer up the St. Lawrence River, crossing Lake Ontario, and landing at Lewiston, a short distance below the great Niagara Falls. Father having whipped his team and wagon and such as he could. All the family was loaded in the wagon. We started by land via way of Buffalo, New York, and the Forest Easton Ohio, arriving in Kirtland some time in September.

It was while traveling through a dense forest in Ohio that a very singular incident occurred. The road was quite narrow and seemingly little traveled, through the forest was quite clear of underbrush at this particular point. There was two other teams traveling in the same direction as we were. We were casually acquainted with them at this point. They were not of our faith, but made very pleasant company for us in traveling in a comparatively wild and savage country. All was still around us except the slight jolting of our wagon wheels or an occasional chirping of the birds.

The family was all riding in the wagon with the sides of our painted cover rolled up a few feet at the sides and fastened with strings to buttons on the bows to admit the fresh air and permit the family to view the various changes along the roadsides. When a voice was heard to say (who)? Our team being in the lead, and the other two following close in the rear. Father setting in the front driving, had not heard, or seen any person in that vicinity. At the word (Who)? From a strange voice the team stopped so suddenly that the teams traveling behind came in contact with your wagon. When Father recovered a little from the sudden and so abrupt a stop. A personage walked unconcernedly up to the wagon. He had the appearance of being very aged, well dressed with an unusual long white beard, tidy in his appearance from head to foot. Apparently about six feet in height of rather spare build. He had a very pleasant and happy look on his face. He asked no questions as to who we were, or where we were going, but proceeded to shake hands with the family, commending with father first, then mother and each of the children according to age, blessing them in the name of Jesus Christ. The writer being the next to the youngest.

After getting through the family, he turned to me the second time and promised a further and special blessing, placing his hands on my bare head. Without further words he slowly passed on. Father expected he would do likewise with the family behind us, but he simply made a light bow as he passed them. Some of the family got out to hail him and get a further explanation of so strange and unlooked for occurrence. The visit was so sudden and unlooked for that not a word had been spoken by the family. They went quickly to the rear and to their surprise he was no where to be seen. They made a hasty search in every direction, he was no where to be found. No tracks were found.

The families traveling with us remarked that we had received a very strange blessing from a stranger. Upon arriving in Kirtland, Father related the occurrence to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He told father that the stranger was no other than one of the Nephites who were permitted not to taste death and that they made occasional visits where they were permitted.
While in Kirtland, the Prophet Joseph, taking the writer then 3 1/2 years old in his arms and carried him up the different flights of stairs.

The family stayed in Kirtland only a few weeks. Under the direction of the Prophet, we continued our journey to Missouri. We arrived some time in October of the same year. Father purchased a farm in Shal Creek, Coldwell County. On the farm were several cribs of corn on the ear, which served us and the team for food during the winter of 1838-9. However, before spring came we were relieved of our best horse, which was confiscated by the mob which invaded the county as they also did Jackson and other adjacent counties where the Saints were settled. The Saints were in constant fear of more cruel raids being made on them at any moment. Father and Mark, my oldest brother, were taken prisoners with many of the other brethren, including the Prophet. During this time, mother had to devise every way to procure food for the family. Most of our little store being exhausted or confiscated by the mob. My brother Myron, the oldest left home, being then quite young, helped mother get the loan of the neighbor’s horse to work with the one we had left. Start for Jackson County to get such supplies as was necessary to feed and cloth the family. Myron was a great help with the team of horses.

During this time, Brother David W. Patten was mortally wounded on Crooked River. Our team was used to carry him to a place of safety. The persecution such as driving peaceful citizens already poverty stricken from their homes and possessions was hard to bear. Some still have deeds to their property to this day.

We left Missouri and arrived the first of March at West Hawk on the Mississippi River. We had exchanged our only horse for a yoke of cattle which pulled our wagon. The greater portion of the family walking bare footed on the frozen ground, we had to stop a week to 10 days and wait for the floating ice to clear before boats could cross.

I can’t remember his name, but he was very kind to us and let us occupy one room in his home. We put down bed rolls at night.

Soon the river was down so we could cross. The wagon and team going first. The family followed in the second boat. We landed in Quincy.

The roads were too muddy to try to go on. Father rented a farm four miles from Quincy. After we harvested some corn, wheat, and a few varieties of vegetables, my father and brother Mark started on foot to locate a suitable place in Nauvoo.

The locality selected as situated between Big and Little Sugar Creek about six miles from Nauvoo, near the east banks of the Mississippi. 160 acres of land was staked off, and the family was sent for.

The family brought as many supplies as possible in such a small wagon. It had to last us till new crops could be planted.

During the winter we had to build fences and get the ground ready for crops in the spring. Everyone that was old enough had to help. The smaller ones would gather wood to burn during the winter.

Mark went out hunting for wild game to replenish our food. He would bring home deer, wild turkey or bacon.

We never let the fire go out. If it did by accident, we would light it with flint. The last one to go to bed had to build the fire up. And once in the night, we took turns building it up again.

Mother was a very good nurse, she was considered one of the best. No matter if it was bad weather, or night. She always went to help. She rode a horse very well.

After awhile there was a post office, Father was the Post Master. It was called the String Prairie Post Office. The following winter he was employed to teach the only school and first one in the locality which as his custom to do each winter as long as he remained in the state, as he had acquired in his youth over an average education of his day.

Father’s brother, John Child, came to visit us. He brought with him $200.00 that belonged to father. He put it in a tin box where he kept the money. One night a stranger came and asked if he could stay the night. We let him. When he left, we discovered that the money was gone. This was a great loss to father and mother.

There lived about a half a mile to the north a couple by the name of Need. He had lost a leg in the Revolutionary War. They had joined the Church. The neighbors had helped him build a small house on the portion of Father’s farm. Their principal support was from contributions. One day my sister Phebe and myself were sent to carry some food to them. There was a path through brush and timbers that was about half the distance. Rattlesnakes were quite thick and dangerous everywhere. We were barefooted, and on our return I was ahead, and stepped on a substance that felt soft and cold. I jumped back, a large rattlesnake clinging coiling himself around my right foot, having stuck his fangs just to the side of my foot. I assisted my sister in killing the monster, she carried it home on a stick. By the time we arrived, the poison had nearly reached my knee. The sensation, as I remembered it, was the feeling that my leg had been cut off at that point. All remedies at hand were quickly applied by Mother. There was no doctor in the area. Three weeks I lay there between life and death, the poison reaching nearly to my hip, before it could be checked. When I had sufficiently recovered to get up, my right leg had drawn up so bad that I could only go on my knees. Of later by means of crutch which condition lasted over six months, before I could straighten my leg sufficiently to walk.

How well I remember the day the news reaches us of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. Mother was out on the lawn. The party bringing the news rode up on horseback and asked if he had heard the news. Mother felt that it was bad news, as her whole body began to shake. He said “that old Joe Smith had been killed at last and that they or we would have no further trouble with him. Cursed and rode on to tell others. Father went immediately to Nauvoo as further trouble might need his presence, as he was ever on his post when necessary to defend the Prophet and the cause of truth.

In February 1846 the people started to move from Nauvoo in covered wagons. They crossed the river when it was frozen, and camped on Big Sugar Creek, near our place. The snow was a foot deep, and they were delayed for 3 weeks.

Father closed up his business and followed their furrowed trail that had been made in the storm and wind. Leaving his possessions of seven years of hard labor to the mercy of the enemy who were trailing us on every hand, their bloody work already commenced on the remnants of our people that had no means of going with the rest.

Our little caravan consisting of two wagons drawn by yokes of oxen. On the 10th of June descended Soap Creek Hill, which is very steep. So much so that the chain lock to the wagon I was driving gave way and the wagon pressed onto the oxen so they were unable to hold it. Mother was sitting on the front and her feet hanging over. She was thrown out between the two oxen The oxen trying to hold the wagon, crushed her. We couldn’t get her until we reached the bottom of the hill.

In the impoverished condition of the saints and bad weather at this season of the year, they having but little time for preparation. There was great privations endured and many had to be left at recurring points on the way at places christened by the Saints, Garden Grove, Mt. Pasco. Where the brethren went to the nearest point in Missouri to get work and buy supplies for their families. Some times they would meet up with the advanced party teams, at the Missouri River. They were sent back to bring up those that were left behind that had no teams or means of leaving Nauvoo.

A swollen stream had washed away a bridge. We got some wood from some nearby timer and built the bridge again. After which many wagons passed over.

July 5, 1852, they started for Salt Lake Valley. They arrived October 1st the same year, having traveled in wagon drawn by oxen and cows over 1,000 miles across the plains. He and his wife were prominent in the building up of Utah. She was a midwife for many years.

© Elaine Johnson. Descendants may make copies of this document for themselves and their families. No other use is authorized.
Alfred Bosworth Child
15 November 1796 - 22 December 1852
by Elaine Johnson
Alfred's grandfather, Increase Child, was a captain in the American Revolution and was impressed by the country of upper New York state when he passed through it with General Gates army. Afterward, he settled in Saratoga county. Alfred was born in Greenfield to Mark Anthony and Hannah Benedict Child. His mother was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, where the Childs had resided before the war. Saratoga county is on the western side of the Hudson River. Alfred grew up as the oldest of eleven children. There were twins, a boy and a girl, born before him, but they died at birth.

On 19 March 1817 Alfred married Polly Barber of Greenfield and they moved north to
Morristown on the St. Lawrence River. The following year he received news of his mother's death. The Alfred B. Child family was living in Boonville, Oneida, New York in 1820. A child was born to Alfred and Polly in Ballston, Saratoga county, in 1821. But the next child was born in Morristown in 1825. About 1828 he moved his family up river to Hammond where he also farmed. During the 1830 census Alfred's family resided in Gouverneur almost fifteen miles southeast of Hammond. In 1837 another child was born in Ogdenburg, up river from Morristown.

They seem to have lived in almost every corner of St. Lawrence county except Stockholm township where the prophet Joseph Smith Jr.'s grandfather lived until his death in 1831.

Alfred and his wife were baptized 5 June 1838. He sold his farm and moved his family to
Kirtland, Ohio, but the main body of the church had moved on to Missouri. After a few months they continued to Caldwell county, Missouri, where he bought a farm.

A public meeting was held in Far West. A committee was assigned to devise the best way
to aid the poor in fleeing from Governor Boggs' death threat and how many poor were worthy of help. They were to draft a resolution of the plan for the next meeting. The resolution was signed by many including “Alfrod B. Childs.”

Alfred took his family to Lee county, Iowa, and in 1840 bought a farm in Half Breed
Reservation. The Child family were members of the Iowa Territory Branch of the church. It was located in the town of Zarahemla. Erastus Snow, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, and Ezra T. Benson and their families were also members of the branch. He was Endowed at the Nauvoo Temple 7 February 1846 in the last session conducted there and sealed to his wife the same day.
When the Saints were forced out of Nauvoo, Alfred again sold his farm and moved west to Council Bluffs in 1847. The High Priests Record recorded in Pottowattamie county gives his residence on the north branch of the Pigion river. He bought another farm and made improvements before selling to move westward as part of Uriah Curtis' ox-team company.

After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Alfred took his family to the more northern
settlement of Ogden, Weber county. Alfred started a sawmill in Ogden, but had been weakened by the long journey to find safety for his family and the hardships of starting over so often. His grave in the Ogden City Cemetery is one of the oldest and reads only Alfred B. Child.1

The somewhat eventful history of Mr. Alfred Bosworth Child, which we here annex, is furnished by one of his sons, Warren Gould Child, who passed through many of the experiences of the father, and has much of his zeal for the Mormon faith:

Alfred Bosworth Child, my father, was married to Polly, daughter of Ichabod and Anne Deake Barber. He soon after his marriage moved to the town of Morristown, St. Lawrence county, New York, where he purchased a small farm, of which he cleared and cultivated some thirty acres, and through economy and industry acquired a limited amount of property. It was here, in the year 1837, that the principles of Mormonism were sounded in his ears, and after a careful investigation of the same he embraced Mormonism, sold his farm and moved west to Kirtland, Ohio. Staying there but a few months, he then left with his family for Caldwell county, Missouri, where he arrived in the fall of the same year having made the entire journey with only one team consisting of two horses.

The family had been settled upon a farm purchased by them, when the persecutions commenced upon the Mormons. We were compelled to leave the following spring. The farm and one horse were taken and confiscated by the mob.

He settled in Lee county, Iowa, in the year 1840, taking up and improving a farm on what was known as the half breed track, remaining there about seven years. In 1841, he accepted the position of postmaster at what is known as Spring Prairie post office, which position he held as long as he remained in the county, which he left through the persecutions of the Mormon people, in 1847. He then started further West, travelling through that portion of the state which at that time was inhabited by the Pottowattamie Indians. He settled again at or near where Council Bluffs City, Iowa, now stands, taking up and improving another farm on which he lived about five years.

Salt Lake Valley having been selected as a last resort for the more peaceful settlement of the Mormon people, he again, now the fourth time, left all he had.

On the 8th day of July, 1852, he started for Salt Lake Valley, where he arrived on the first day of the following October, having travelled in wagons drawn by oxen and cows over one thousand miles across uninhabited desert and mountainous country. On the 22nd day of the next December he died of disease of the lungs, brought on through exposure and the hardships of his journeyings. His age was 56 years, 1 mo. and 7 days. He left a wife with four sons and three daughters.2

Contact:

Elaine Johnson
PO Box 755
Rexburg ID 83440-0755
elaine@ida.net
www.ida.net/users/elaine/
1 The original marker has been replaced with a new one.
2 “Genealogy of the Child, Childs and Childe families . . .” , by Elias Child, page 95
© Elaine Johnson. Descendants may make copies of this document for themselves and their families. No other use is authorized.
Life of Alfred B. Child

Alfred Bosworth Child was born on 15 November 1796, in Milton, Saratoga County, New York, son of Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict.

Alfred B. Child was raised in a very religious home. His father was instrumental in establishing the first Universal Church of Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. This church believed in the Bible as printed with explanations from his grandfather, Captain Increase Child and his Uncle William Child's printing press.

Alfred's picture shows that he was a large man with a rounded face. He wore the fashionable long sideburns and beard, typical of pioneers of the day. Alfred had a good head of dark brown hair, which was well groomed with some recession, typical of his age. Alfred was a handsome man with a prominent Child nose and high cheekbones. He was robust with a jolly stomach, showing his prosperity. He was a leader and a patriarch of his family, which now numbers in the thousands.

Alfred learned to work on his father's land and learned farming. We know nothing at all of his childhood and growing into manhood. Our story is taken from 4 sources and blended from each mostly in their own words.

1. A short history of Alfred.

2. His wife, Polly Barber.
3. His daughter, Polly Child Richardson.
4. His son, Warren Gould Child.

Alfred met Polly Barber, daughter of Ichabod Barber and Annie Drake, born 29 March 1799 in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. The couple fell in love and were married 19 March 1817. Soon after they were married, Alfred and Polly moved to Morristown, St. Lawrence County, New York. He took up a farm and with the aid of a hired man cleared 30 acres for cultivation. In 1820, he sold his farm of 100 acres to Mr. Taylor, a native of Scotland. He bought another farm, 160 acres, in the same town for $10.00 an acre. This farm was on the banks of the St. Lawrence River and was covered with trees.

From Polly Child Richardson's history, we learn that 3 generations of Child's were born in this area. The Kyadeross Mountains surround this area, and it must have been very pleasant, especially in the summer time when the cooling saline breezes of the Atlantic often traversed up the Hudson River; giving a climate much like the sea coast. The deep ravines and valleys cut irregularly into the mountainsides, the marshes and swamplands at the headwaters of the Hudson River. Numerous stands of beech, maple, wire and hemlock must have contributed immensely to the pleasure and enjoyment of growing and raising a family in this area.

We are not sure whether Alfred and Polly were farmers or stock raisers. The stony, rough earth of the area would lend itself to the possibility that he was a stock raiser, since the ground is more suitable for pasture than farming.

On 5 June 1837, Polly and her parents were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This day is important because it marks the severance of the old, fairly secure, and comfortable life, insecure arduous future they were to endure. By August 11, the entire family had turned their backs on three generations of family and begun the long, laborious trek to join the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri.

Sometime prior to June 1837, the Child's had been contacted by a missionary named Charles Blakely. Alfred evidently was sufficiently convinced of the truthfulness of the message that he was willing to sell his farm in Greenfield, pile his belongings into a wagon and suffer hardships of a 1,500 mile journey to Missouri.

Polly's statement: "My father came the entire route with one pair of horses and a wagon and ten in family."

It takes little imagination to fill in the blanks in Polly's statement.

Carrying food, clothing, bedding, cooking utensils and a few meager spare parts in the wagon; thus, most of the 1500 miles would have been traversed on foot, sleeping in tents, or under the wagon at night in this sparsely settled and often savage wasteland. One must admit that a journey of this sort required a great deal of courage and fortitude, courage and fortitude that would be tested to the breaking point within a few short months.

On the way to Kirtland a man neatly dressed, having a white beard, stopped the wagon and came over to them and laid his hands on each member of the family and blessed them. He then came back and blessed Warren G. again and then disappeared and later Alfred told the Prophet Joseph Smith about the incident. He was told that the man was one of the three Nephites.

Alfred's destination was Kirtland, Ohio about one-third of the distance to Jackson County. Here we hoped to join up with a body of moving Saints, who were moving from Kirtland to Missouri. However, events moved faster than he did, for many of the Mormons had vacated the city by the time he arrived. "The Saints had left a few days before we arrived." The city of Kirtland offered the Child family only a brief respite from the rigors of the trek. They stayed a few days, resting the animals and replenishing supplies before returning to the well-defined trail of Saints moving west. They had been traveling almost a month by the time they reached Kirtland, and would be another month and a half to two months before they reached their destination in Missouri.

It was late fall when the Child family finally reached Missouri. Here after months of back-breaking travel, they found a temporary resting place at Adam-ondi-Ahman, in Daviess County. Polly describes the place as a city of tents and wagons.

However, one may well imagine the hardships the family must have had to experience that first winter in Adam-ondi-Ahman. They arrived too late in the fall to plant crops or prepare adequate shelter against the rapidly approaching winter. They would have to live as they traveled, in the meager shelter of the wagon, or in a tent pitched on the frozen ground. It would be spring before a house could be built, land cleared and crops planted. In the meantime they must share and share in whatever sustenance was available for the entire community.

"Some time during that year (1838), possibly in the spring, my father let his wagon go towards a piece of land." This land was located on Shole Creek, Caldwell County, Missouri.

Mother Polly wrote a letter to her relatives in New York and in it she explained that the Saints had been driven from Missouri to Illinois. She explains that their flight had taken them up to Far West where they stayed for a short time. We assume from the letter that they settled below Far West in either Caldwell or Ray County. The people here showed sympathy for the Saints in times past.

It was undoubtedly comforting to sink their roots into the soil again. I am sure that Alfred and his entire family looked forward to the security that a good crop and a new home would bring. The hope for security was not forthcoming, however, for in February 1839 they, with the remainder of the Mormons in Missouri, were driven into Illinois at gunpoint. Polly Barber Child gives us a look at what took place. "Fear, jealousy, and political ambition led an onslaught of persecution which rolled over Mormon people like a great wave tumbling and rolling them before it like so much flotsom and jetsom." Some of the fear and determination of the time is mentioned in a letter by Mrs. Child. "Alfred was called to go to Diammon. It was evening. Some of the brethren came and said the order was, that every man that was able, and family, will help what he could for the mob was gathering fast. Already at Grindstone, some five or six hundred, just a few miles away. I was getting supper. I stopped motionless, until one of them asked me if I was willing that he, Alfred, should go. All fear, all fluttering of the heart was gone from me. I was all calm as ever I was when sitting in hour house, mother. In the morning, it was Monday, he came home on Friday. It was thought to go to Diammon for safety."

From Polly Child's daughter. "The men were taken prisoners, My father and eldest brother Mark, were taken with the rest of them but they did not keep them very long. They let all the men go except the leaders of the Church, with orders for all of them to leave the state. 15 days warning. They took heads of church or most of them and put them in prison while the rest had a hard struggle to get out of the state. Mother Polly Child took our leave, a span of horses and wagon and with Myron Barber Child, a small boy, started to Far West, about 18 miles away from where we were living, for supplies. While on the way, news was received of the shooting of David Patten, in the Battle of Crooked River, and her team was taken to bring the body to Far West."

The Child family was forced to flee the State of Missouri in dead of winter, leaving behind a large farm - confiscated by the ruthless invaders - as well as their best horse without compensation. The best horse Alfred had, was stolen by the mob or taken. He traded another for a yoke of cattle with which he moved the family to Quincy, Illinois, where he rented a farm from Mr. Bartlet and cultivated it for one season.

The oldest living daughter, Polly, presents a very pathetic picture of her family and Mormons in general as a result of the forced exodus. "A few of us had teams and some had to go on foot, across the frozen prairie, destitute of food and clothing... there was a great deal of suffering by women and children before we got to the Mississippi River - the line between Missouri and Illinois. When we got to the river the Ice was running so that we could not cross. Consequently we had to camp there for the next three weeks before we could cross Into Illinois. By that time it was the middle of March. I will not attempt to describe suffering of the Saints up to that time, as you have history of Saints to read."

Can you imagine the misery that Polly was describing. Alfred homes and subjected to the rigors of winter on the prairie, not knowing where they were going or what they were going to do. How can any of us today appreciate what these people bore. What our ancestors family bore. It defies the imagination as it defies description and this was merely a foretale of what the future held.

By the end of March the river was sufficiently clear that the Child family was able to cross over into Illinois. Alfred and Polly stopped in the vicinity of Quincy, Illinois there they remained throughout the summer of 1839. Polly and Polly took in washing to help maintain the large family.

Mrs. Child again supplies details, stating that in March, the oldest living son, worked for two weeks on the railroad, didn't like it, so he hired out to Mr. Thompson, a real old fashioned Baptist man from the state of Maine for eight dollars a month, a half mile from home. Polly worked there two weeks and three days for six dollars. "They would pay her two dollars a week all summer if I could let her come, but the baby is so unwell with his ulcers and leg that it takes one of us all the while to just take care of him."

Spring Prairie was located in Ambrosia Ward, Zarahemla Stake, the fifth Stake of the Church. Church was held in different homes of the members in that area. The calling that was given Alfred and his family, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, was to stay in Iowa and help the Saints that were coming west.

In November of 1839, Alfred decided to move again. The new farm was located in the State of Iowa, just across the river from Commerce or Nauvoo, as it was called now. Polly, the daughter, called or describes it as "halfbreed land as it was purchased from Black Hawk Indians." Unfortunately, winter arrived before Alfred had the house finished. Evidently, Polly and her mother didn't go immediately and Alfred went to build a house. The description is as follows: "Just the body of the house and a few slabs on top that he had hewn out of logs for the roof. We had no floor. We built a fire on the ground, as we had no chimney." The move evidently took what little money the combined efforts of the family had accumulated during the summer. "My father had his house unfinished and him and my two oldest brothers had to go find work to get something to eat. My mother took in work and worked for 75¢ a week. We all done all we could to live until spring. The nearest neighbor in half breed track was five miles distance."


With the coming of spring, the fortune of the family seemed to be infused with a swelling, a newness of life. By the assistance of his boys, he fenced and put into cultivation quite an extensive farm on which he planted out a large peach and apple orchard. (From the journal of Warren Gould Child).

The whole family worked continuously at any and all jobs they could find. Polly taught school as several families had moved into the area by 1842. Alfred was elected Postmaster in their little settlement called Spring Prairie, Iowa.

Alfred planted flax and harvested a large crop, so large in fact, that Polly and her mother Polly spent a larger portion of 1843 spinning it and making it into clothes. "The cloth was made into clothes for the children and pants and shirts for father. We made sheets and pillow cases and we made dresses of flax." Polly captures the happiness and prosperity they were enjoying in the following lines: "Father attended to the office and with the help of my brothers, had a nice farm. We got along splendidly."


In 1839, in a letter Polly says this about the gospel and she is writing to her family. "Yes, there has never been the smallest moment or thought flit across my mind like wishing I had never had embraced the gospel and come here. No, my friends, there is peace and comfort to the true believer of the gospel. Mother says that we have caused her a great many sleepless nights and no doubt of it, for I am her child and a great way off. Mother, I am content, not because I like the country. If had never heard of a Mormon, I would rather live here than in New York for we can support our family ten fold easier. But mother, if you come to this country, I will give you old Browny as soon as you get here. She is a first rate cow. We have four cows. Butter has been two schillings a pound, but warm weather has fell it to sixteen cents , money."

"It rained this afternoon and we are both writing. He has left out our fruits in his letter to John. Wild plums grow in abundance. Our peach trees are so full that Alfred had to prop them up to keep the trees from breaking down. Peach trees bears in three years from seed. Hannah and Phoebe and Warren are in school. They learn very fast. I have saved a peach seed for you that was ripe two weeks ago."

In the spring of 1846, Alfred again disposed of his farm for a trifling sum and like many others started West. June found them there at Bluffs as there called, now Pottawattamie County, which was an uninhabited land and country except for Indians known as Pottawattamie Indians, who were very hostile, like all their race would bear watching.

Alfred took up another farm on or near the banks of the Missouri River, near where Bluff City now stands. The land was very fertile and productive especially for corn and vegetables, but not so good for wheat and other small grains. The country abound with wild game such as deer, turkeys, and raccoons. Wild bear also abounded to a considerable extent. A few weeks in the way of a hunting tour was usually indulged in the fall of the year which added to our winter supply of eatables.

During the wintertime, he with the boys used to go into frontier settlements of Missouri and work to procure such necessities as were needed in the family. Our remuneration for a days work would be about 50¢ or 50¢ per hundred for cutting the timber and splitting rails. In this way we procured a scanty fit-out for the great journey to Salt Lake Valley.

On July 1, of 1852 we started on the trail made by the pioneers in the Sixteenth Company of the season under Captain Uriah Curtis as captain. Our teams were two of cattle and one yoke of cows to each wagon and two wagons.

We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the first day of October, 1852 and settled in Ogden where we commenced making preparations for winter quarters.

In November, Father, Alfred Bosworth was confined to his bed from a severe cold which settled in his lungs and brought on a long fever which terminated in his death on the 22nd day of December, 1852, at the age of 56 years, 1 month and 7 days.

In a letter in 1853, by Polly Barber Child, "I am tired, let us all go into the garden and get some currants and cherries. I have plenty of them this year and you may have as many as you like to dry. I will tell you how to dry them. I don't like to fix in bags, so I take a milk pan and fill it with fruits of any kind I wish to dry. I like raspberries best. Put a lb. of sugar in and set them over the fire and let them stew for 10 or 15 minutes, then pour them in a pan or platter and set them in the hot sun to dry. Stir them once or twice a day and they will dry in about 3 good days. Then when you wish to use them, put them in cold water and then let them boil 20 or 30 minutes and they are ready for use, with or without sugar, just as you like. A few currants with dried apple pies and raspberries for mince pies are a great improvement to taste. I make no preserves now, only in this way. You can have a few at a time and have them fresh. If it is cloudy weather you can set them around the fire, but they aren't as good as when they are dried in the sun."

Also read: Funeral Sermon of Sister Polly Barber Child Journal History, L.D.S. Church 183 Feb. pages 5 and 6 From Warren Gould Child Record or history. The family narrative was recorded in May, 1854.

Pieced together by Sherman A. Child, Nov. and Dec. 1979
found on http://www.childgenealogy.org/home/stories/afredb/alfredb/htm

ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILD
Was son of Mark Anthony Child, born May 10, 1771, and Hannah Benedict, married December 8, 1793. He was born November 19, 1796, Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York. Came to Utah October 1, 1852, Uriah Curtis Ox Team Company.

Married Polly Barber March 19, 1817 daughter of Ichabod Barber and Anne Drake, who was born March 30,1799, and came to Utah with husband; died February 4,1883. Their children: Polly Ann born July 20,1821, married E.C. Richardson; Mark Alfred born October 19, 1823, died; Myron Barber born November 25,1825, married Emeline Elmer; Hannah Polina, born January 24,1828, married William Elmer; John Lonson borned October 28,1830 married Eliza J. Curtis; Phoebe Wooster born January 17,1833,
married E.C. Richardson; Warren Gould born Feburary 21,1835, married Hannah A. Wilder; Orville Rensselaer born October 11,1837 married Sarah Urinda Rawson. Family home Ogden, Utah.

Postmaster, at Spring Prairie, Lee county, Iowa, 1841-47, until the persecutions of that time drove him westward. Settled in Weber county and started a sawmilL, Died December 22, 1852.
THE ABOVE TAKEN FROM THE BOOK PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN OF UTAH PAGE 802