Alice Eckersly

Alice Eckersly  (GGGM, 1860 - 1950, as recorded from Grandmother Anderson, from Life History of Alice Anderson by Alice Griffin, from the personal history of her sister Emma Eckersly Stoddard and A Brief History of the Life of Hans Jacob (Michael Anderson) -

 

     Alice was born the youngest of 10 children on March 4, 1860 in Lark Hill, England to Joseph Eckersly and Alice Hulme.  Alice’s mother was previously married to John Haslem, by whom she had 3 children, one daughter and two sons - William and Henry.  Joseph and Alice had 6 daughters and one son all born in Lancashire, England.  

     Her father, Joseph, was a weaver by trade and so were most of the children who worked in the factories to support the family.  The family lived in the poorest of conditions.  Most of the children had no opportunity for education.  Alice’s oldest sister never attended her first day of school.  At the age of 8 most of the children began working full time.  Alice’s eldest sister, Emma took employment nursing small children from the time she was eight until she was twelve.  The family weaved cloth in their home for extra income and most of the children eventually worked in a local silk factory. 

     Alice’s parents and the 3 children from her mother’s previous marriage all joined the LDS Church in England before the birth of their 7 children.  Alice’s father, Joseph, was very involved in the administrative duties (serving as a clerk) in the Middleton Branch of the LDS Church.  The family soon decided to emigrate to America to be with the saints.  Her two oldest brothers went to America nine years before the rest of he family to earn money to help pay for the rest of the family to come to Utah.  The brothers in Utah worked hard as farmers and sent most all their money to the rest of the family in England. 

     Alice was 2 years old when her family left Liverpool (in May of 1863) bound for New York City on the ship SS John J. Bye.  The trip by ship took 4 weeks.  Her family then travelled by train for 2 weeks.  In order to afford the train trip, they booked the least expensive passage which consisted of riding in a car so filled with people that she couldn't lay down but had to rest on benches for the entire 2 week ride to St. Joseph, Misssouri.  Her older sister Emma recalls seeing a camp of Indians for the first time.   Next her family went up the Mississippi River by steamboat.  During their trip they picked berries along the river bank for food.  They eventually reached Florence, Nebraska (later known as Winter Quarters).  Soon the teamsters came from Utah with their oxen teams.  It then took 9 weeks traveling by oxen team to reach Salt Lake City in 1863.  The older children walked most of the way.  They camped in tents for a week until one of her older brothers (William) came from Wellsville with a horse team and conveyed them to Wellsville.  It had been 9 years since they had seen him.  Ironically, the team and wagon belonged to Alice’s older sister Emma’s future husband 

     They then traveled with all their belongings 90 miles to the town of Wellsville, camping by roadside at night.  The 9 year separation made for a thrilling reunion.  The younger brother Henry was soo poorly dressed it made their mother cry.  Both brothers were tired and nearly destitute owning no more clothing than what they had on.  Her family had exausted all their life savings but had accomplished their task without the loss of a single member of their family.  The now reunited family of 12 settled in Wellsville.  They children all were put to work farming (mostly picking potatoes) and building a home.  They gathered enough supplies to weather the first winter in Wellsville. Alice’s older brother played the cornet for dances and earned enough money to buy a winter’s supply of flour.  Alice’s father built a loom and they began weaving cloth and rugs made from wool.  They were hard working souls and attended school as much as time would allow.  Living conditions were very bad and the winters were very cold.  Alice remembers snow drifts as high as the their windows.  The entire family lived in a one log room until most of the girls had married.

     Some 6 years later her father would die leaving the family destitute.  She recalls being so poor that most of the children's shoes had no soles on them.  Her feet were so cold they nearly frozen during the winters.  She recalls that almost as soon as you were old enough to “work out” you were expected to earn their own living.  At the age of 25, she and her Aunt Sarah Stoddard traveled to Evanston, Wyoming where the two of them began working as cooks for the railroad crews.  There she met a man who was the section or “gang boss” for the railroad.  A short time after they met he began getting serious, but although she had taken a liking to him from their first meeting, she did not encourage him because he did not belong to the LDS Church.  There was a large room where they danced and Michael loved to dance.  They would start dancing early in the evening and dance until one o’clock as hard as they could dance.  The dances he liked the most were the Waltz, Danish Tucker, French Four, Finger Polka, Sextour and the Virginia Reel.  He promised her that he would join the church if she would marry him and 11 months after they met, they were married.  The were married on Christmas Eve December 24, 1887  in Aspin, Wyoming.  He was 29 years of age and she was 25. 

     The family that Alice was now working for were LDS and threw a big dance for them the night before they left for Salt Lake City, Utah on their honeymoon.  They stayed at a hotel called “Cliff” for 3 days.  Then they came to Wellsville and spent the rest of the holidays with her family.  They danced nearly every night.  Alice, his new bride, recalls having to sit out some of the dances because she couldn’t keep up with him. 

     After their honeymoon, they reurned to Aspen, where they made their home.  Their nearest neighbors were 25 miles away.  They travelled by foot and train because Michael didn’t own a horse and buggy until after they moved to Utah.  Shortly after their marriage, Alice became very ill with “arisipilis” and nearly died due to their remoteness from medical care.  She recovered, but while in a very weak physical condition, she contracted typhoid fever and was again very ill and near death for several weeks.  Michael decided  he wanted to do something other than being a boss of a railroad crew, so  they decided to move to Wellsville, Utah where Alice could be closer to her family.