Amy Harding and William Francom
How we relate:
How we relate:
They are the parents of MaryAnn Francom Selman
Who is the mother of George Llewellyn Selman
Who is the father of Veda Selman Hampson
Who is the mother of Nancy Hampson McKinnon
William Francom was born in Somerset, England on December 4, 1815. His father is unknown, but his mother’s name was Elizabeth Francom. It is suggested that a "James Brown" was the father, others suggest that "James Brown" was in fact James Francom, a 1st cousin to Elizabeth. Little is known of Williams childhood. In 1837 William Francom married Amy Harding, who was 4 years older than William.
Amy Harding was born August 25, 1811 to Sarah Langely and James Harding in Great Marrow, England. She was the sixth of seven children to be born to that family.
On September 3, 1837 William and Amy were married and started a family in England. While living in London, they had six children: William Henry (b. 1839), Samuel (b.1840 d. 1841), George (b.1842), Joseph (b.1844), Jonathon (b.1846 d.1847) and Elizabeth (b.1848 – died 2 wks later). William was a blacksmith by trade and worked as such for the 10 years they lived in England.
In 1847 William, Amy, and their three living children migrated to South Africa. At that time there was The Colonization Movement happening, where people left Europe to claim new land in South Africa. What prompted the Francom family to join that migration is not known. It has been suggested that his father financed the trip and sent him away to a new life. In South Africa he and his family settled in Uitenhage, a few miles from Port Elizabeth in the Cape Colony.
After arriving in Uitenhage, William began work right away as a blacksmith. Within the first ten years of living there, Amy and William had four more children: John(b.1849), Samuel (b. 1852), MaryAnn (b.1853) and James (b.1856.) MaryAnn was the only living daughter with six living brothers. The family lived in a row of three-room cottages until about 1856, when William started a merchandise business.
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| Uitenhage, South Africa |
"The kitchen was one long room, with the fireplace, or brick stove as it was then called, at one side of the room. All of the cooking was done over an open fire and in this brick oven. Stoves - as we know them, were not known in Africa at that time. What a good cook my mother was! The big plum puddings, the roasts of meat and the vegetables she used to cook seemed to me the best I have ever tasted.
We had about two acres of garden with a hedge of white and yellow quince on one side, while pomegranate hedges grew on the other side. We had an orchard of figs: blue, white and yellow; also there were grapes pears and apples, in addition to vegetables of all kinds We had three crops a year, since our garden was irrigated from the water in the ditches along the streets. This water came from a reservoir in the hills above the city.
Our store was built near our residence. I remember the sign painted on the store, "Francom Mercantile & Grocery - Prince of Wales Feathers”, together with a picture of a bunch of feathers. Across the street from our store was the market square where gardeners and farmers brought their produce to be sold at auction. Merchants and housewives and anyone who wanted to buy were there. They sold all kinds of fruits, vegetables, cheese, butter and eggs. On this square they also sold horses and goats at auction. Most people had goats, since that was the source of our milk supply. The square was also used as a place of punishment. The smaller offenses were punished by whippings, while the murderers were hung on the gallows in the square. I have witnessed these hangings as well as the whippings. My mother's Sister, Aunt Tabby Croucher, lived about five miles from Uitenhage on a farm. Aunt Tabby's husband was a great trapper and hunter He shipped many lions and tigers to England. He had two or three Negroes working his farm for him, paying them $1.00 or $1.50 per annum in addition to their food and what clothes they wore. Nearly everyone had, at the least, two or three Negroes working for them.
My Fatherr had two Negroes working for him who helped with the oxen. Five teams composed a load, with one man leading and another man walking in their rear with a long whip. Many a trip have I gone on to Port Elizabeth. Twenty miles through jungle and not a single habitation between the two towns.
One of our sports was to roast turtles, hooking them out of the water and burying them in a bed of coals; they would get too hot and crawl out two or three times before getting cooked. Another sport was finding the giant tortoise in the hills, mount his back and take a ride – very slow, but still a ride.
In the year 1862 My eldest brother, William, went to America, The following year Joseph, my third eldest brother followed. In the year 1865, my father gave mother his consent to leave Africa with the children to go to America, At this time my father’s business was thriving to such an extent that my second eldest brother, George, had to stay in Africa with father to help him wind up his affairs in anticipation of following the rest of us to this new country.
“My twelfth birthday had passed when the Mormon Elders came to Uitenhage preaching the gospel to us. My parents seemed to be very much interested in what they preached. Although it was a vary unpopular religion, they partook of the spirit of it and said that it harmonized with their feelings, and the bible as they understood it. They embraced this new religion and thus came the turning point in my life as well as the lives of my family. The spirit of gathering in the Land of Zion came upon us. Even though we knew at this time that the Church was persecuted by their people being driven from Kirkland, Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois, and thence to the Rocky Mountains. "
Soon MaryAnn wished to go to America and so William sent her along with the 4 youngest children: John, Samuel, MaryAnn and James. The cost of passage was 18 pounds per adult, families were 20 pounds and it was 25 pounds to be able to have a cabin. The ship they were to take was called The Mexicana and everyone boarded on April 1, 1865. William spent the night with them and the other Mormon members in the ship as it lay in harbor, but the next morning said his farewell as he was to stay in South Africa with son George, in order to close things up with the business. In his memoir, Samuel wrote of this:
"Sometime that night a little breeze came up and in the morning I heard the Captain and his mates throw out the life buoy to measure the speed of the vessel which they said was going about ten knots per hour, They seemed quite pleased with this headway. That next morning the watchman hollered out that there was a whale in the path of the boat. The Captain gave orders to turn the boat so we would pass the whale. He was spurting water like a fountain, and to me he looked like a mountain in the ocean, After that we passed several whales and many schools of flying fish.
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| Samuel Francom |
Two or three days later the first mate said to the Captain, "Captain, I believe we are going to have a storm”. The Captain looked up in the heavens made some remark and went down into his cabin. In a few minutes he was back again. He ordered all the passengers below, at the same time ordering the men to take down the sails. While the sailors were still up in the masts starting on the last sail, the storm struck with such force that it broke one of the yard arms throwing it, together with one of the men on the deck. Part of the yard arm was hanging overboard so the Captain ordered it cut loose and sent adrift as it was pulling the vessel to one side.
Due to the persecutions of the Latter Day Saints, and indifference to my father’s business, mother left in secret. No one knew of her contemplated Journey except father. Early one spring morning before dawn, father loaded us in the wagons. With five teams of oxen we started for Port Elizabeth, with one Negro leading the oxen, another one walking in the rear driving them. Upon arriving that evening in Port Elizabeth, our baggage was loaded directly on the ship. We stayed the night in a hotel, boarding the vessel the next morning.
There were 35 families, all converts to the Mormon Church, besides the Captain and crew on board. In addition to the passengers, there was a cargo of hides, tallow and wool, all bound for America. Most of the day was spent in loading the ship and getting settled for the journey. Father came aboard with us and it was a sad farewell when he went to leave, for we felt that there was indeed a chance we would never see each other again, although his intentions were to follow as soon as possible.
Sometime during the night our little sailing vessel, the Brig Mexicanna set sail. The next morning when we awoke and went on deck we could see the shore line in the distance, It was then we all gathered together, most hearts full to a breaking point.”
The day-by-day report of the voyage offers sharp contrast to present day passage, though it was considered a reasonably comfortable voyage for that time. They were herded together in two compartments, one for men and another for the women and younger children. Atwood laid down certain rules and regulations amongst them one to the effect that smoking must be done on deck and not in the compartments.
In the diary of Minor G. Atwood, the man who organized and conducted to Utah in 1865, he wrote about the daily activities. He enforced and supervised the cleaning of compartments. This was not a very easy task as all possessions and food was stored there. They had had their own cook and steward and used the ships galley in which to do the cooking. Atwood warned them against complaining to the captain or accepting medicines or other things from him. The second day on board a school was organized for the children. Mr. Atwood and two others took turns as teachers.
The long two months and four days of the passage cooped together as they were, it was inevitable that nerves would wear thin. There were bickering and an occasional rebellion against rules and "much complaining by the women". Mr. Atwood records that "Sister Francom took the office of chief of the grumblers".
In the diary of Minor G. Atwood, the man who organized and conducted to Utah in 1865, he wrote about the daily activities. He enforced and supervised the cleaning of compartments. This was not a very easy task as all possessions and food was stored there. They had had their own cook and steward and used the ships galley in which to do the cooking. Atwood warned them against complaining to the captain or accepting medicines or other things from him. The second day on board a school was organized for the children. Mr. Atwood and two others took turns as teachers.
The long two months and four days of the passage cooped together as they were, it was inevitable that nerves would wear thin. There were bickering and an occasional rebellion against rules and "much complaining by the women". Mr. Atwood records that "Sister Francom took the office of chief of the grumblers".
Atwood also wrote:
Thursday, April 27. I am some better today. Met for prayers this morning. Before the meeting was over Brother Kershaw came down in a passion about the conduct of Samuel Francome. I soon settled it. Attended the school. A fine day. Ship on her course. Very warm. Met for prayers again in the evening.
Friday, April 28. Met this morning as usual for prayers. Also met in school. Samuel Francome was a very bad boy. We were obliged to tie him up to the ship's post. On promising that he would be a good boy he was released. A good breeze. Ship on her course. Met in the evening for prayers. All felt well.
Saturday, April 29. Met for prayers this morning, also attended the school. Samuel Francome was again tied up because he would not obey. Not much breeze today. A warm day. Met again in the evening for prayers. All felt well.
Apparently Samuel was somewhat of a trouble maker. In his memoir, one may be able to see Atwood’s frustrations. Samuel wrote:
“Soon after setting sail, we settled down to the routine of our life aboard ship, all things going well, except everyone taking turns at seasickness. I remember being about the last one to get sick and had a great time laughing at the rest of the youngsters, but finally I had my turn, and to me I seemed the sickest of all. We all recovered from our seasickness and were feeling fine when we reached the equator. The air was very hot and sultry, with everyone complaining of the intense heat. The ocean was so calm and smooth with not a ripple -- we could look down into the water and see the sea weeds, schools of dolphin moving along also flying fish which would fly up out of the water, some landing on deck. There was absolutely no breeze and our ship just floated along; every sail was up but we could make no progress.
Immediately after hearing the Captains orders, I ran to a life boat and hid underneath it for I wanted to see what was going on. Well, I saw most of it but I certainly wished before it was over that I had obeyed the Captain's orders. During the storm, it was necessary for me to hang on to the ropes for dear life to keep from being washed overboard. The Captain had lashed himself to the helm endeavoring to steer the boat. After the storm he told his mate that the vessel had been driven 150 miles out off course. The hurricane had lasted two hours.
The next day the crew repaired the broken yard arm, unrolled the sails and we were again sailing at a nice clip. All hands were on board enjoying the sunshine, after the wetting of the previous night, when the watchman shouted, "Something ahead!” The Captain got his glasses and told the man at the helm to steer to the leeward. All at once we spied a vessel turned bottom side up. The Captain told us that it was no doubt a vessel that had swamped the previous night in the storm. As it drifted by, the watchman said there was something else adrift in the sea. The Captain grave orders to steer to the object. He put out a boat and discovered that the object was the deck of the wrecked vessel which the men towed in, hoisted on our vessel to be taken to New York City and reported. We also saw barrels and one corpse floating in the water. “
The ship journeyed about 60 days before arriving to New York. This was about the time when the Civil War was just ending and the Francom’s recalled seeing soldiers everywhere returning to their homes. Samuel wrote:
“We were all very tired and weary from our long journey and would have enjoyed a rest but Tuesday we had to take a train starting for the West. The train was full of soldiers returning home. It was a well remembered sight at the different stations when the soldiers would get off the train to meet their loved ones, some in laughter and some in tears, mourning for their boys who would never return.
At St. Louis we took a steamboat up the Mississippi. We were on this boat for about twenty-four hours and after landing camped for a day or two. From this camp we took another train in order to continue our journey westward. After some 24 hours traveling, we came to the Missouri River. We had another steamboat ride on the Missouri, disembarking at a small town in Nebraska called Wymore. When we landed we found a large camp of English and Scandinavian immigrants waiting for teams to core from Utah to carry the pilgrims to Zion, since most of these people were too poor to outfit themselves for the journey. I remember that among these poor immigrants who had been waiting here for several weeks, cholera broke out in their midst and quite a number of them died from it.
The families that had come with us from Africa were all fairly well to do and were able to buy their own outfits. My brother John who was then 15 years old, left us here, hiring out to man by the name of Ramsey for the purpose of driving a mule team to Salt Lake City. He arrived there before the rest of us.
Meantime, my mother and her four children were baptized in the Missouri River and ordained members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
Amy and her 4 children – James, John, Samuel and MaryAnn continued to travel with the Minor G. Atwood Company which left on July 28th, 1865. Samuel wrote of the trek west:
“Minor G. Atwood, the captain of our company, said, "You people who have fiddles, get them out". 'When they began to fiddle most of the people began to dance, so we held a dance on the prairie under the stars. When folks got a little weary of dancing the captain called us together. He said, “We want to start our journey right and we want to live so as to evoke the blessings of the Lord in the camp. If we do this and keep up good courage; we will be able to accomplish our journey and be happy". Then he asked us to pick out some hymns and we sang the songs of Zion that night. After singing, he asked one of the brethren to offer a prayer asking the Lord's blessings on us during our journey. Then he spoke to us, telling us what we might expect on the journey. Before we reached our goal he said there would be disappointments and hardships and no doubt some would have to lay down their lives as there was some cholera still in our midst.
Shortly before we started on this 1000 mile journey we met a widow, Mrs. Gibbet and her young daughter. As they had no means of transportation, mother took them with us in our Wagon. However they furnished their own grub. During the trip westward the captain sparked the girl, later marrying her in Salt Lake City.
Things went moderately well, although our oxen as well as the pilgrims would get weary and tired. We would make about twelve miles each day, sometimes fifteen when we had to go a little further in order to get to water.
Our people were dying every day, but the train would go on. Since my team was lively and I could travel faster, often times the captain would tell me to stay behind with a guard of men to bury our dead -- one, two, three, four and five a day --we would sew them up in sheets burying them in the same grave. Always some of the brethren would dedicate the grave, then we would pursue our journey.
Shortly before we reached Fort Laramie, we camped at noon for our meal. We corralled our wagons as usual, unyoked our cattle and made ready to drive them across the Platt River to better feeding ground. While we were driving them to the river we were attacked by Indians coming out of a cottonwood grove near by. They came upon us unawares, whooping and yelling, shooting both guns and arrows. As we had had no Indian trouble up to this time, we were not prepared. Most of the men had left their guns in their wagons. Boy-like, I felt very proud of my revolver which I had on me at the time. I emptied the six shots that were in it at the Indians but do not know whether or not any of them hit their mark.
The cattle became quite excited but some of the party got ahead of the cattle driving them back into the corral which thwarted the plans of the Indians. However, they circled around the camp twice after we had the cattle back into the corral. Nine of our men were left wounded, As usual, our immigrants were slow in coming to camp, many trailed along behind. The Indians seized this opportunity and lassoed one of the women escaping with her on their horse. At that time we did not know what to do, the woman was gone, her husband was one of the wounded. The captain called some of the strong men together and held a conference. They decided it would be unwise to follow the Indians, as it would probably avail us nothing, in doing so we would have to leave the camp with our women and children unprotected.
We made quite an early start the next morning after our needed rest We knew Fort Laramie was ahead of us a short distance and we were anxious to report the missing woman to the authorities at the Fort.
We reached the fort that night. Instead of relieving our troubles, our troubles increased as the officer of the fort came with his soldiers to our camp. He demanded the release of some women that they claimed were forced to go to Salt Lake against their will. They informed us they had received a telegram from the East ordering them to search our camp.
Our captain said, "Gentlemen, we are willing that you shall search the camp, that is, the officer and two of his men, the rest must stay on the outside. We will do still better than that, I will call our congregation together". So our captain had the bugler call the people together. Here they came --men, women and children --the captain telling them the message this officer brought about his claim of women in our camp being forced to go to Utah against their will. He said, "is there are any among you who are forced to go to Utah against your will, or are tired of traveling with us and want to stay behind, manifest it by raising your right hand".
Not a single hand was raised, Our captain then said to the officer, “Are you satisfied?" The officer replied, ”No, I am not, as I believe you have some women secreted in your camp and we want to make a search". "All right," said our captain, "you and two of your men can search the camp, go into every wagon but your soldiers must stay on the outside". Our captain appointed a guard to see that the soldiers were kept out.
These men inspected the wagons and after finding no ones they questioned many among the women but found they all wanted to remain with us. Owing to the hostility of the soldiers our captain deemed it unwise to tell them anything about our trouble with the Indians and the capture of the woman, so the next morning we started out again? all feeling happy that things were as well as they were with us.
We were now passing through hilly country. Tedious traveling and hard pulling made it necessary to take it slow. We had encountered quite a little rain, but when we got into the hilly country we struck the Platt River again --what is called “The Three Crossings". Here we struck our first snow storm. It was the first snow I had ever seen and to me seemed very beautiful. Later on I began to dread the snow as the cold was almost more than we could stand, especially those of us who had come from the hot countries, Later the snow cleared off and we had sunshine during the day, although it was still quite cold at night.
When we reached Green River, we had to ford it during a snow storm. We got across in time to camp for the night. It had taken the entire day to cross the river. Upon arriving at Devil's Slide, our journey started down hill. It was here that our brother Joe, who had been in Utah for two years, joined us.
Joe advised Mother to leave the train as they were traveling so slow that he figured it would be late in November before their could possibly arrive at their destination. Our captain was against the idea and advised us to stay with the train but brother Joe influenced Mother to start ahead, regardless of our captain’s advice. So we bid our captain good by and all our friends whom we had been with so many months. We started out alone with our one wagon and three teams of oxen. The widow and her daughter who had been traveling in our wagon stayed with the train, leaving mother, my brothers Joe and Jim, my sister Mary Ann and myself to complete the balance of the journey alone. We made very good headway but only beat the camp by two days.
One evening is fresh in my memory. At dusk when we drove out of Emigration Canyon onto the beach and there before our eyes were the lights of Salt Lake City. What a glorious sight! The street lights, the lights shining from the windows of homes were the first lights we had seen for nearly four months. We drove to a dear friend’s home that had been a neighbor to us in Africa. They made us comfortable and rather encouraged us to stay in Salt Lake. We felt that this was impossible since brother Joe had his place in Glenwood, further South, and was anxious to go on again the next morning.
With our Cattle padded, tired and partly sick, it was impossible to travel more than a few miles each day. It took us about four days to get to Payson, about sixty miles south of Salt Lake. There was another wagon that had joined us at Salt Lake enroute to Glenwood. When we reached Payson we stopped one night with another friend from Africa and he tried to prevail on us to locate in Payson but we continued on.
When we left Payson, one of our oxen gave out entirely so we traded him off for a gun. A few days later another of our oxen died.
Many of the pioneers after first arriving to Utah would live in temporary dwellings called dugouts - homes that were sometimes fully recessed into the earth, with a flat roof covered by ground, or dug into a hillside.
"Our next stop was Santiquin. As we were coming into Santiquin the remaining Oxen were getting so tired that they would swing off the road wanting to make camp. I was endeavoring to get them back on the road when all of a sudden there appeared a woman, what seemed to me right out of the ground, waving at me and frantically shouting, "What are you doing on top of my house?". And thus, I was introduced to my first dugout, The knowledge that people would live in a hole in the ground gave me a great shock, but before the winter was over, I became very well acquainted with dugouts.
We found a lot in the little town of Glenwood, near Richfield, consisting of about an acre of ground with a one room dugout on it. The acre was fenced and we thought it would make a nice place to build a home so Mother bought it and moved into the dugout.
The spring of 1866 we started preparations for gardening and building a new house, but the Indians were very troublesome, attacking ranchers and travelers on the roads until it became necessary for our little settlement to abandon their homes and move to Richfield where there was a larger settlement. So in April l866, we abandoned our dugout and moved to Richfield.
It was during this time that Mother decided to move to Cache Valley in a little settlement near Logan, We got there in the fall early enough to mow hay on the prairie with a scythe and stack it on a lot where we also camped out of our wagon until we got enough logs to build a one room log house, 14 by 16 feet. Then we felt happy that we had a house and were away from the Indians, as they did not bother the people in this locality. . We rented a little farm and put in a small crop of corn, potatoes and wheat. We raised a fair harvest and during this time my brother Joe wrote to us from Payson advising us that a new field had been opened and an eight mile canal started. We resolved to move down there. After we gathered most of our crops that fall, disposing of some, Mother, John, Jim and my sister went to Payson, leaving me behind to finish harvesting our crop.
Around 1867, Amy arrived in Payson and bought a log house with 2 rooms. Soon Samuel owned ten acres - which he would farm for himself and his future family and for his mother and sister. About a year later in the fall of 1869, Amy’s husband, William Francom, finally came to America from South Africa. He traveled to Utah with the first immigrants to come on the railroad from the East. Amy and her son John traveled by oxen from Payson to Ogden to meet him. Soon after they all arrived back in Payson, William and Amy were sealed in the temple.
The winter of 1869 passed with the whole family being together. Early the next spring of 1870, William left for New York and sailed back to England to acquire supplies to establish a mercantile business in the west, but never returned. William didn’t like the wilderness of the country and decided to stay in England. He moved in with his son George, who never came to the US from Africa, but straight to England to open clothing stores. He got remarried to a woman named Martha Moore. And died in August of 1896.
Amy is an example of a strong independent woman. She accepted whatever grief or hardship that came to her from the death of three children, to uprooting her family and traveling the seas, to traveling westward by wagon in wild country with no husband to depend on, and to settling in the wild west prairie - she stood her ground and held her head high as she lived amongst the fellow members of her faith and lived her religion to the last days of her life. She died on August 26, 1896 -the same month and year as William. She is buried in the Payson Cemetery.
Amy is an example of a strong independent woman. She accepted whatever grief or hardship that came to her from the death of three children, to uprooting her family and traveling the seas, to traveling westward by wagon in wild country with no husband to depend on, and to settling in the wild west prairie - she stood her ground and held her head high as she lived amongst the fellow members of her faith and lived her religion to the last days of her life. She died on August 26, 1896 -the same month and year as William. She is buried in the Payson Cemetery.
Sources:
· Picture of dugout home: http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house-landscape/tiny-house-in-a-landscape-18/
· "Saints on the Seas" a Maritime History of Mormon Migration, 1830-1890 by Conway B. Sonne
· "The Francom Story" by Fern Dalby (1956) Courtesy of Martin Francom.
· “Memoirs of Samuel Francom” by Samuel Francom, scanned and retyped byJames P. Francom on 1 Dec. 1996
· DIARY OF MINOR G. ATWOOD from lds.org
· “Amy Harding Francom” from Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude – Vol II, Daughters of Utah Pioneers
· Ancestry.com
