ANN MARIA PRICE RODERICK
Ann Maria Price was born June 14, 1859, at Merthyr
Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales,
to John Evan Price and Ruth Williams, who were natives of Llandeilorfan
Parish, Breconshire, Wales.
When she was six years of age the
family left Wales for America. This was in the year 1865. They sailed on the ship Bridge
Water and were five weeks crossing the ocean from Liverpool
to New York. They moved to Pittsburgh
and remained there for eleven months where the father worked to earn enough to
take them to Detroit, Michigan.
After a short time they went to Wyoming,
Nebraska. From there they came by
ox team in Captain Holladay's company. Ann was seven years old and walked seven
hundred miles barefoot. Her feet were cracked and bleeding. Perhaps a lot of
her trouble in later life was caused from the hardships she endured. It was
necessary that she walk so that her invalid mother could ride. She would walk
ahead of the company with her father. When she got so tired she couldn't go any
further, her father would leave her by the side of the trail to rest and wait
for the wagon train.
One day while sitting on the roadside she heard a noise,
looking up she saw a herd of buffalo. They were stampeding and coming right
toward her. She crawled into the brush and lay very quiet. They almost stepped
on her but passed by without harming her. When they crossed a river or stream
her father would carry her on his shoulders. The captain was very cross and
stern and never allowed her to ride.
Ann never tired of telling how Brigham Young met them as
they arrived in Salt Lake,
September 25, 1866. He
lifted her up and kissed her and shook hands with the others. Then he turned to
Bishop Huntar and told him to bring food for them.
They stayed in Salt
Lake only a few days and then went
to Brigham City. Her mother and
father became very sick with mountain fever and they had to stay there for two
months. True to pioneer history she endured many hardships to come to the
untamed country for the Gospel.
In 1869 she was baptized in Malad, Idaho,
by Daniel Daniels. Later she moved eight miles south to Samaria,
Idaho, and lived in a dugout. She was the
first white girl to live there with only Indians as neighbors. The Indians
molested them but never injured them as they remembered the words of Brigham
Young, "It is better to feed them, than fight them."
One day her parents went to Malad.
The children were alone. Chief Washakie pounded on the door. The children
crawled under the bed and kept very still. He came in, took a side of bacon,
and left.
Ann cared for her invalid mother and didn't go to school,
but she would go to the teacher and get the assignments. She learned to read
and write by studying by herself. She was a very good
reader and loved to read to her chil dren. She also kept a diary of her life.
The mother died while Ann was still a very young child.
Her father brought his second wife and baby from Brigham
City to take the mother's place. Ann could not accept
a second mother so left home and worked from place to place doing very hard
work as no one hired unless it was absolutely necessary.
At the age of 14 she met William Roderick whom she
married. Sixteen children blessed their home - eleven grew to maturity. In
1898, William and Ann took their eleven children to the Logan
Temple where they were sealed for
time and eternity. It wasn't an easy thing to do as they traveled in a covered
wagon drawn by a team of horses over rough roads with mud as deep as the hubs.
They were all happy and thought it an enjoyable trip.
Ann was a loving and devoted wife and mother and worked
hard. It was often said that no one worked harder. She was never idle and was
very quick at her work. Her hands were always busy knitting. She could make her
needles fly. She was a good seamstress and made all of her children's clothes.
She could put a patch on the boys' overalls that they were proud to wear. Her
fingers could shell peas or pick over gooseberries faster than anyone I know.
Her kitchen table always boasted a clean red or blue checked tablecloth and her
front apron always had at least a foot of cross stitch work on it.
Ann had a great deal of personal pride. She always kept
herself clean and neat. Her hair was her crowning glory. It was beautiful and
every hair in place. When she went away from home she usually wore a full dark
skirt and white waist. The waist was always completed with a beautiful
crocheted collar of a lovely design that laid very
neatly in place. She loved the better things of life. Whenever she found a good
book or reading material, she shared it with her children. In the evenings she
gathered her family around her and sang songs, recited poems and often she got
out some old letters she cherished and read them aloud to the children.
She had a gift as well as a magnetic power to draw her
children and friends to her. She made friends easily and had many wherever she
went. Ann enjoyed people and everyone was welcome in her home. No one ever left
her house hungry. She was a tasty cook and made the most of everything.
Ann's happy disposition brought sunlight to her children
from the time of birth until her death. But in spite of her cheerfulness and
efforts to make the best of everything, when sorrow, sickness or death came to
her family, her sorrow was so deep that it cannot be described. One daughter
passed away in childbirth. Her grief at this time was so deep that everyone's
sympathy went out to her. It was probably more noticeable because of the change
from an unusually sunny disposition.
Our dear grandmother taught her grandchildren many poems
and songs. Some of them learned quite a bit of the Welsh language which they
still love to quote. Her memory is cherished dearly.
The last few years of her life she suffered poor health
and spent time with her different children where she was very welcome. Most of
her life was spent in Malad
Valley. Shortly before her death
she requested her son, John, to take her back to the old farm where they had
lived most of their lives. It was then owned by her daughter, Ann, and her
husband, Willard Bailey. It was in this dearly beloved home that she passed
away November 21, 1924,
and was buried in Samaria. At this
writing this large family have all passed away but two
daughters, Esther Ashton of Ogden,
and Mary Bailey of Rupert, Idaho.
- Ruth R. Hayes and Bertha R. Howard, Granddaughters
