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- NAUVOO RECORDS:
Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register p 68
Nauvoo Marriages, p 68
Members, LDS, 1830-1848, by Susan Easton Black, Vol 40, pp 595- 596
-97
LYDIA MASON SNOW (7)
When the Snow family moved west in 1850, Aunt Lydia and her family remedned in Montrose, Iowa for some time. In 1852 they moved to Irish Grove. Two years later they moved to the
Lewis homestead five miles south of Rockport,Missouri. Here in this vicinity Aunt Lydia's husband, Dr.John Lewis, and her brother Dr. Charles V. Snow, practised medicine for a number of years After moving to this new home, Aunt Lydia had six more children. They were Jane, born July 25,1853, Adelaide, bor March 11,1855, Dan March 20 Mary Helen Oct. 18,1859, Grant March 20,1863, and Sherman May 6,1866.
When the Civil War broke out Dr.Lewis became a surgeon in the Union Army with Peneck's Regiment, His headquarters were at St.Joseph,Missouri from March 1861 until the close
of the war. The day he left to join his company, he was hurriedly called home to attend to his four years old son, Dan, whom they didn't think would live. Jim Doughty, a sixteen year old neighbor boy, had cut Dan's head open with a hoe because he insisted on yelling for Abe. Lincoln instead of Jeff Davis, as Jim had ordered him to do. Dr. Lewis pulled Dan through to where he thought he was safe then joined his regiment as a surgeon. As a result of the accident, Dan wasn't able to go to school until he was about 8 years old.
From exposure during the war, Dr.Lewis acquired chronic sore eyes and a cold that finally terminated in consumption. During the fall of 1868, he often expressed his desire to live long enough to see General Grant elected President of the United States, which was granted him, and he was willing and ready to go in peace. Jan 22,1869 he died at the age of 53. He was buried with Masonic honors in the Rock Port Cemetary about three miles south of Rockport, Missouri.
After his death, Aunt Lydia went forth with a courage and determination as firm as the granite of her native state and that shown by her Puritain forefathers. She was now left with eight children. She worked hard, and with their help she made a good living for them and gave them all a good education. She endured many trials and hardships. Just prior to her husband's death, she lost her six year old daughter, Mary Helen, with spinal meningitis, and her two year old son, Sherman, Two years after the death of her husband, her daughter, Iowa Ann, a girl of twenty, died of consumption.
Aunt Lydia raised a family that she could justly be proud of. Her oldest son, Perry, became a lawyer and filled many important offices. He taught school to earn money enough to attend Taber College in Iowa and the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He graduated from Ann Arbor law school in 1867. In 1868 he was admitted to the bar at Rockport. He was judge of the Superior Court. He was States Attorney General for the state of Missouri for many years, up to his death. He being the oldest of the family at the time of his father's death, did much to help his mother care for the younger children. His brother, Dan, says he had a great influence for good over all of them. Amos became a doctor and druggist and was noted for his practical common sense along those lines. Her son, Dan, became a schoolteacher, and was the youngest Supt. of schools that Missouri ever had. Later he became a banker. He helped to start Sears and Roebuck. Her son Taylor was a pratical farmer and stockman out in Nebraska, and made a fortune of a quarter of a million dollars before he died. Jane became a school teacher. Her son Grant stayed home longest and helped his mother run the old farm, He became a farmer.
Aunt Lydia managed her affairs with wisdom and intelligence. When she died, she left each of her children $1800, besides a good education. Her son Dan says of her "One of her favorite expressions was ' I can but say that which I have felt and heard.' Some of her favorite songs that she used to sing and hum as she went about her work were "The Old Old Glory," "I Need Thee Every Hour," "Rock of Ages," and "Nearer My God to Thee." My father dying when I was young, perhaps these songs ringing in my ears, and the industry, thrift, economy, and genuine all round goodness and common sense of my mother had more to do in keeping me in the straight and narrow way ( and prevent me from wandering into by and forbidden paths) and making a man of me, than all other influences combined; and I trust this influence will reach down and crop out in my children."
A "catty" neighbor once remarked that Aunt Lydia had the dirtest house she had ever seen, and said that one couldn't step for dirty didies. Aunt Lydia merely laughed and said, "Tell her that Mrs, Lewis said the finest strawberries she ever ate grew out of the middle of a cow pile."
When the Snow family joined the Mormon Church back in Vermont, Aunt Lydia joined with the rest of them, and was a member of that church until her death. One of the teachings of the Mormon Church is that if a person has a civil marriage, they are married for this life only. But if they are married in a Mormon Temple under that ceremony, they are married for this life and the one after death. Through this marriage a woman is supposed to be sealed to her husband and children throughout eternity, otherwise they may be separated after death. As Dr. Lewis did not believe in the Mormon religion, he and Aunt Lydia weren't married in a Mormon Temple. Aunt Lydia believed this Mormon doctrine, it worried her greatly. So after the death of her husband, she came to Utah to visit her people. She came to Pine Valley and stayed with my Grandmother Snow. While in Utah, she went through one of the Mormon Temples and had herself and her children sealed to her sister Mary's husband, Jacob Gates Sr.. February 2,1900 she died of paralysis at Rockport, Missouri and was buried beside her husband.
BIRTH: The Snow Family, Boston Transcript, Note 2685 pt I, gives her b. date as 23 Dec 1823; pt XIV gives her b. date as 7 Dec 1823 and name as Lydia Morrison Snow; Valiant in the Faith (Gardner Snow History), p 643; TIB card gives birth as 7 Dec 1823
MARRIAGE: Valiant in the Faith, p. 643; The Snow Family,
Boston Transcript, Note 2685 pt I and XIV says she was married to John Lewis of Rockport, Missouri
1860 CENSUS: Missouri, Atchison County, Clark (FHL Film #803606) enumeration date 7 Jun 1860, page 11, dwelling #73, family #73 lists: John Lewis 44 M phician, value of real estate 4750, value of personal estate 5435, born New York; Lidia Lewis 34 F born Vermont; John P. Lewis 15 M born Iowa; Amos Lewis 13 M born Iowa; Taylor Lewis 4 M born Iowa; Iowa A. Lewis 9 F born Missouri; Jane Lewis 7 F born Missouri; Aallade Lewis 5 F born Missouri; Daniel Lewis 3 M born Missouri; Mary Lewis 8/12 F born Missouri; Joesmith? Norris 19 M born Indiana; Isaac Barney 24 M born Ohio; John Barney 21 M born Ohio; Alexander Bolinger 21 M born Ohio; Manon M. Neale 25 M born Ohio; John Duffy 38 M born Ireland; Martin Ruki 35 M born Ireland.
1870 CENSUS: Missouri, Atchison County, Clark (FHL Film #552255) enumeration date 31 Aug 1870, page 25, dwelling #164, family #164 lists: Lydia S. Lewis 46 F, manages farm, born Vermont; Amos Lewis 23 M physician born Iowa; Taylor Lewis 21 M born Iowa; Iowa Lewis 19 F born Iowa; Jane Lewis 17 F born Missouri; Adelaide Lewis 15 F born Missouri; Daniel Lewis 13 M born Missouri; Grant Lewis 7 M born Missouri; Enoch Sifley 22 M born Germany.
1880 CENSUS: Clark, Atchison, Missouri (FHL Film 1254672) page 474C, lists: Lydia Lewis, self, F widow 56, keeping house, born Vermont, father born Connecticut, mother born Rhode Island; Taylor Lewis son single 29, farmer, born Iowa, father born New York, mother born Vermont; Jane Lewis dau single 26, school teacher, born Missouri, father born New York, mother born Vermont; Dan Lewis son single 22, school teacher, born Missouri, father born New York, mother born Vermont; Grant Lewis son single 17, farmer, born Missouri, father born New York, mother born Vermont; George Brindle other single 20, farm laborer, born Tennesee, father born Tennessee, mother born Tennessee.
DEATH: The Snow Family, Boston Transcript, Comment on Note 2685, pt XIV;
Valiant in the Faith, p 643
BURIAL: The Snow Family, Boston Transcript, Comment on Note 2685, pt XIV
ENDOWMENT: TIB also 7 Sep 1882, SGEOR
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