My distant cousin handed me a black leather diary and asked, “Would you like to transcribe this?” And, that was the beginning of my testimony of family history. In the months that followed I was privileged to transcribe the journal of my great grandmother’s sister Ann Fellows. Written when she was about twenty years old, the journal tells briefly of her life up to age ten, with a more detailed description of what happened during the next ten years. I learned about Ann’s life in England, places she visited, and events leading up to her family’s immigration to America. The final pages of her journal recount the family settling in Davenport, Iowa, and her mother’s tragic death in 1872.
I knew about the Fellows family growing up. The Fellows family immigrated to Utah; Ann’s sister Georgina was my great-grandmother, and her sister Elizabeth was my 2nd great grandfather’s polygamous wife. But I had never heard about Ann—and I wanted to know more! With the help of my sisters, we began a search which eventually included telephone conversations with unknown relatives, combing through old letters and diaries, digitized census records, magazines, and newspapers—we even had a Utah court open a sealed record in our search.
We discovered that Ann was a remarkable woman. She was an artist and created pen and ink sketches using ornamental penmanship; she wrote music found in the 1889-1926 hymnbooks; she did elaborate needlework. And, she was a writer! Recently, I found thirteen articles she wrote for the Women’s Exponent. These articles show the breadth of her knowledge—she wrote on everything–The Book of Mormon, religion and science, writing, what the ancients ate, dress, intelligence, ancient manuscripts. One of my favorites is a seemingly feminist article entitled “Diversity of Thought and Education.”
But, we also learned about her many trials and hardships. Ann suffered from the debilitating effects of epilepsy, which was not treatable at the time. Because she became increasingly ill, she entered the Utah State Hospital in 1892 and remained there for the remaining 27 years of her life. I laughed and I cried as I learned about her life, and I thrilled when we finally located a photograph of her. After I transcribed the journal, we held a family reunion celebrating the Fellows family and established relationships with other Fellows relatives. And, thanks to FamilySearch, Ann’s writing, her artwork, her penmanship, and her hymns are all available in FS Memories.
In our search, we located Ann’s patriarchal blessing where Patriarch John Smith promises her ”Thy name shall live in the memory of the Saints and be handed down to posterity from generation to generation.” Although she never married or had descendants, nieces and nephews and their posterity know about Ann from her journal! Discovering Ann was my first family history experience in 1994 and, since then, family history has been an important part of my life. As I have searched for my ancestors and provided them with temple blessings and become involved in many different aspects of family history work, I often remember that it all started because of Ann!
–Marianne Bates, Temple and Family History Consultant, Canyon View Stake
Ann’s journal and related information about the Fellows family can be found at http://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/325359